If a newsletter is your PTA’s main means of communication, it is important that you define your audience as broadly as possible. Even if your PTA uses other means of communicating value and success, think about the people who will access the newsletter and could help your PTA thrive. Generally speaking, consider your audience to include current and potential PTA members and volunteers; school teachers and staff; district leaders; all parents and caregivers; school administrators and board members; and potential sponsors and partners.

How you publish your PTA’s newsletter will be affected by your community’s needs, your PTA’s financial and volunteer capabilities and your PTA’s desire to measure the newsletter’s impact. Some things to consider:

Community Needs: Is internet connection an issue for some? How do people prefer to access their digital communications (phone, home computer, public computer)? Is print preferrable for a group or the majority? Consider surveying your community about these questions so your PTA produces the type of communication most likely to be valued and read.

Cost: How much does printing cost vs. publishing online? What are the fees with each, such as distribution and production costs? Are there ways to distribute at low or no cost? Do school district rules allow your PTA to send items home with students?  What method is most sustainable this year and beyond for your PTA?

Volunteer Capacity: What skills are necessary to edit and produce a newsletter? Do you currently have a volunteer willing and able to oversee the newsletter? Does that volunteer have the capacity to produce the newsletter as often as we want? Will you have volunteer capacity to produce the newsletter beyond its first year? A good newsletter editor will need editing and design skills and will need to be good with technology.  

Tracking and Data Capabilities: Would your PTA benefit from knowing how many people read the information in a newsletter and visited websites mentioned, or how much time readers spent viewing your messages? Does your PTA have an accurate email list? A print newsletter provides none of this information. E-newsletter services often have tools to allow your PTA to track this type of data and assess the reach of your communications.

If your PTA has a newsletter, your committee will need to appoint an editor who will be responsible for deciding on and acquiring the content for each issue. Ideally, the editor will have some experience producing publications, a flair for language and an understanding of the needs of the audience. The editor should be responsible for keeping up-to-date on education and school-specific issues and finding out from readers what interests them.

Once you have determined the format of your newsletter and selected an editor, a good next step is to develop a general outline for the school year, or an editorial calendar. Start with content.

Although the content of a newsletter varies with the interests and purposes of individual PTAs, there are some core principles to keep in mind when planning what to include. The main interests of the audience are:

• The school, district or community your PTA represents
• The students and families who are part of the school community
• Issues facing your communities’ schools and families
• How your PTA benefits all the above

An editorial calendar should provide a general outline of the topics each newsletter will contain, as well as regular features that will appear in every newsletter. Editorial calendars take into account seasonal events, for example, an annual book sale, conference or PTA program (e.g., Take Your Family to School Week always occurs in February).

A partial editorial calendar might look something like this:

In every issue:

• PTA president's message
• School or district calendar (for school or district-based PTAs
• PTA calendar
• School or district contact information
• PTA contact information
• Link to PTA membership form or an online link to join

September issue – Back to School:

• Requirements for entry to school
• PTA volunteer sign-up opportunities and mail-in form
• Back-to-school PTA and school events

October issue – Fall Fun:

• Pictures from the first week of school
• Halloween pageant
• Annual PTA family nature walk

November issue – Holiday Happenings:

• Pictures from family nature walk and/or Halloween pageant
• Thanksgiving food drive information
• School holiday pageant auditions announcement

In addition to establishing an editorial calendar, it is important to create a schedule for your newsletter and stick to it. When deciding when and how often to produce a newsletter, it helps to ask your audience for their preferences—monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, etc. You will also need to consider the amount of time available to create and post your newsletter when deciding its frequency.

When your editorial calendar has been established, you can pencil in people to write articles. It is normally a good idea to have a person write the article who is directly involved with or interested in a particular topic or event. When assigning articles, you should ensure that the person has the time and is willing to do it, and you should provide them with:

• the length of the article needed, usually given in number of words
  
• the deadline for submitting the final article
  
• the general focus the article should take
  

You should follow up with the author before the deadline to ensure the article is on track for completion. If the right person does not have the time or writing skills to do the article, set up an interview to get the important details to write the article.