Learning Curve
Newsletter Draws Parents
Posted on January 25, 2024, by GAPMP
Meet Lauren Graves from Marietta City
“I send out a monthly newsletter to parents and a parent reached out based on that newsletter!! She was having issues with her daughter in the middle school. Her and I met this morning and then I was able to bring in a district administrator. She cried because she felt like someone understood and heard her!! It was the best and the whole reason I applied to be a Parent Mentor.”
The newsletter is published on a platform called Smore. Lauren’s newsletter features a table of contents which makes it easy to click on the item you are interested in, or, you can scroll down item by item to see what you want. At the top of the list are coming events. This is an easy and organized way to offer parents information about the things going on at school that they care about. How often have parent mentors heard that parents who have students in special education don’t know what is going on at their child’s school? Here is a way to help parents feel more connected and informed. It is also a great way to get your name out to parents on a regular basis.
PM TIPS: Find out from your district’s IT dept. if there is an account in place for newsletter distribution. SMORE is free, but your school district may have filters or blocks for certain free platforms, so the dept. may encourage you to use another platform (Constant Contact is another platform school districts frequently use). Also… make sure you give yourself enough time to share the unpublished version of your newsletter with your supervisor or someone in your department prior to hitting the send button.