Tips for Your District to Kick Off the School Year Right!

We swam. We ate. We played in the sun. Now it’s time to say goodbye to summer vacation and get back into the groove by kicking off the school year right. Reconnect with your families, school groups, and community partners to ensure a smooth transition to a new school year. These tips will help everyone re-engage and re-energize for the school year.

Confirm contact information

It’s critical to the success of your school year that you have accurate contact information for the families at your school. Send an email or post a form on your school’s website, asking parents to confirm that your school has the correct email addresses, mailing address, and phone numbers for members of the family. And don’t forget the emergency contacts! All other communication for the year comes from this, so it’s necessary to make sure all your information is up to date.

Support your school groups

Help your Parent Teacher Association (PTA) leadership get a jump on the school year by recommending some tools to stay organized. The National PTA organization has a kit for leaders to help them be successful. SignUpGenius allows them to schedule activities and easily recruit volunteers. 

Educate parents

In addition to educating the kids, it’s important to educate parents. Once you’ve confirmed their contact information, you can remind them of where to find important school information like schedules and phone numbers, what resources are available online and elsewhere, and details about afterschool programs and events. Notify them of what to expect in terms of communication from the school and teachers and make sure you’re clear on anything you need from them.

Re-engage with the community

Refresh your relationships with afterschool programs and community partners. Reconfirm their interest and details and help them highlight their benefit and impact on student outcomes. Remind them of tools like Peachjar for engaging parents and families. With Peachjar, community partners can add call-to-action buttons that allow parents to register for events at the tap of a button and contact their organization easily.

Have fun!

Get kids and parents excited to return to school by kicking off the year with a fun and engaging event. An ice cream social or popsicle party is an easy way to get everyone together so kids can meet up with their friends, parents can catch up with families, and teachers can reacquaint themselves with the students.

The start of a new school year is an exciting time. There are lots of groups vying for attention and it can be confusing for families to know where to turn for the information they need. Clear communication and organization tools will enable every member of your school community to reconnect and get the school year off to a flying start.

About the Author

Lindsay Ball is a marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience helping companies seek out their value and communicate it to the appropriate audiences. She works with organizations to identify whose problems they are trying to solve and how their products and services accomplish that goal. Lindsay has extensive experience working with sales and account teams to help them be successful in making an impact on behalf of their organization.

When she’s not developing marketing strategies and writing newsletters, Lindsay enjoys spending time with her husband and two young daughters. They are active in Girl Scouts, the local YMCA, and numerous school and community activities. In her rare downtime, Lindsay enjoys reading everything from news and biographies to mysteries and science fiction.

Lindsay has a Bachelor of Science in economics with concentrations in marketing and communication from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.