Are you looking to improve communication for your Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and, in turn, transform engagement?
This is something all parent groups should strive to do because of just how important communication is to support for the PTO.
Any school parent group can use the strategies outlined in this post to improve their communication and reach more parents in their school and in the larger community too!
And when you reach more people, you’re boosting the opportunity for them to get involved in your PTO.
Because they can’t take action on what they don’t know about.
And so, you want to be reaching as many people as possible because you just never know who might get involved if given the opportunity.
So, let’s get to the strategies for improving communication for your PTO!
Why the PTO Secretary is the Perfect Messenger
The PTO Secretary role is one that goes far beyond just taking meeting minutes.
Maintaining, if not improving communication is also a core responsibility of the officer’s position.
Since the details about PTO’s news and events are often documented in the meeting minutes, the Secretary already has the information needed to share with others.
Good communication on behalf of the PTO to reach stakeholders within the school community (students, parents, guardians, teachers, staff and administrators) and beyond (community residents, local government representatives, area journalists and businesses) is key for involvement.
There are a number of ways to broaden your PTO’s reach with its communication to reach more of these stakeholders.
If needed, the Secretary can act as the chair of the Communications Committee, and members of the committee can split up the different communication methods.
This ensures not all of the work falls on one person and at the same time, provides different types of volunteer opportunities.
Leverage Social Media
The first platform that you can be leveraging to improve your PTO’s communication is social media.
If you haven’t established a space on any of the most popular platforms, I would suggest doing so, stat.
Start with Facebook.
That’s one platform many people are using and the content is more permanent, than say, Snapchat.
Plus, I don’t know how many parents are really hanging out on Snapchat.
You can ask parents to see what platforms they use the most and then use the answers to establish where to start, but Facebook will undoubtedly be a top response, so it’s a safe bet.
I recommend getting a Facebook page and then establishing a Facebook community as well.
Once both are set up, use them!
Post at least weekly to both.
It’s not necessary to post different messages on the Facebook Page and in the Group, simply share the message posted on the page to the group.
Promote upcoming events and use the platform to educate your audience about what your PTO is and what you do.
Thank volunteers.
Shout out to teachers and staff to show your appreciation for them.
Give your audience a glimpse of current opportunities for involvement.
Still stuck for ideas?
Look at what’s going on in the PTO or the school that you can post about.
What would you want people who don’t know what’s going on to know?
That’s what to post about!
Master Email Communication
The next thing that you should be using to improve communication is leveraging email to reach parents and community members.
Collect email addresses of parents and send an update of PTO happenings.
Don’t rely on your school to send out communications for you.
A few years back, all communications from school were getting marked as spam and were routed straight into the junk folder.
Even when parents clicked the “not spam” button, nothing changed.
So if my PTO had been relying on the school as our only communication method with parents, we would’ve been fresh out of luck.
The other reason to not reply on the school is that you’ll forever be at the mercy of the Principal, which may or may not be a good thing.
If your PTO has a good relationship with the Principal, then this won’t be a problem at all.
But if the relationship isn’t solid, or the Principal is not a team player, then your messages may not go out at all, unfortunately.
Email Best Practices
When you’re sending out emails on behalf of your PTO, there are some very important things to remember.
First, people do not have time to read a novella, so get to the point with concise messages.
Pay attention to the length of the emails you’re sending- do the action items stand out or are they hidden in a jumble of text?
And also watch how often you’re sending emails to PTO members and school community members.
Daily emails are too much.
At the very most, send one email a week.
Next, make sure to use a catchy subject line so people are enticed to open the email.
I would not use “Bluestone PTO’s Newsletter” as the subject line.
That’s boring and no one will be inspired to open it.
Instead, use the subject line to showcase what’s going on this week “Last chance for fun run” or “Pizza Fundraiser Thursday” or what ever else is going on.
Use short paragraphs in the body of the email.
Don’t have huge chunks of text people will need to slog through.
That’s not how people are accustomed to reading anymore.
Make the text scannable, not dense.
Next, get right to the point when you are sending these emails.
Frame the emails in a very action-oriented way and let them know what next step to take.
Taking a “just the facts, ma’am” approach is smart because again, people don’t have time for a lot to read.
If they need more details, they of course can reach out to you to get them.Â
Proofread your emails before you send them out.
It doesn’t look great if you have an email newsletter riddled with typos.
People aren’t going to take your PTO seriously if the communications are sloppy.
Want to see all of these best practices in action?
Sign up for a freebie resource (take your pick in the menu bar at top- there’s a ton to choose from!) and you’ll get a taste of what I’m talking about here since I practice what I preach.
Use a PTO Branded Email
Send out emails using a PTO email address instead of a personal email address.
Not only will it make it easier to transfer the email account to the incoming Secretary, but your audience will understand clearly understand that the sender is the PTO when the email comes from bluestone.pto@gmail dot com versus sally.jones@gmail dot com.
If you really want to make your emails look professional, buy a domain so that your email can become secretary@bluestoneptodotorg.
If you are wondering about how to send out emails, explore Google Workspace.
They have a nonprofit plan that is very cheap or free that can give you a way to send out customized emails and also purchase a domain as well.
Another reason to use branded emails is that bulk emails sent from a personal email address are likely to end up in spam and the email address will be marked as a junk sender.
Not good, so use a branded PTO email address instead.
Utilize Newsletters
Once you have established a system for send out communications via email, you can use a newsletter to spread the word about PTO news and events.
It doesn’t have to be an old school paper newsletter.
You can take advantage of the digital options we have now and reach a wide audience with once a month messaging.
Start an email list to include city leaders like the mayor or city council members.
Who is the local journalist covering schools?
Add them to the newsletter list too!
Use a template to speed up production.
Two template style options for you:
Watch this!
Over to you!
I hope this post has inspired you as the PTO Secretary to cast a wider net with your communications to reach more people both within the school community and outside of it too.
These are some really top-level things that you can do to reach more people:
- Use social media
- Send email updates to the school community using a PTO branded email address
- Issue a monthly newsletter to both school families and the wider community
Utilizing these different forms of communication boosts your communication with the community as a whole, not just the school community.
When you expand your reach beyond the walls of your school, you’re going to get more people involved, which will only benefit your group in the long term.
Resources You’ll Love
Get Organized Instantly: The Ultimate Secretary Success Kit for PTO Secretaries!Â
Don’t waste another minute juggling paperwork.
This complete bundle provides the exact resources you need to build a powerful officer binder, simplifying meeting preparation, execution, and post-meeting tasks.
Designed for both Recording and Corresponding Secretaries, this kit is your key to efficient record-keeping and streamlined communication.Â
Take control of your PTO role now!
