It is a busy time of the year where schools are sending messages to parents/guardians regarding weather announcements, upcoming spring events, and even plans for the fall. As you compose messages for your families, consider the following guidelines to ensure the importance of your message is not overshadowed by language or grammatical errors.
 
Establish a communication process between the school and the district as a whole. If the school district is sending an official communication to families via a mass communication system (Blackboard, Seesaw, PowerSchool, etc.), it does not need to be resent by an individual school. Families receive enough emails as it is and inundating their inboxes with duplicate messages not only causes frustration, but implies a lack of coordination and communication within the district. If a district-level official is sending a communication to families, request they share the message and timeline with the appropriate staff (principals, administrative assistants) to ensure staff are equipped to provide additional customer support.

Utilize an inclusive greeting as many families do not fit the mold of a heterosexual, two-parent household. Rather than identifying the message recipient as a parent, consider the following examples:

• Attention Washington Families:
• Good Morning, Tiger Families!
• Attention North Parents/Guardians:

Reference the school and district in their entirety and with proper capitalization. This is especially important if your school district includes names that could be mistaken as generic nouns, locations, and directions:

• North Elementary School
• South Elementary School
• West Fargo Middle School
• Northern Cass High School

Spellcheck. Consider composing the message in Microsoft Word first and then copy and paste it as plain text into your mass communication system, email, or website.

When referencing a date and time, spell out the month in its entirety. This is particularly beneficial for comprehension, translation services, and English learner families.

• Please submit your permission form by 10:00AM on Friday, March 3.

Utilize a closing to identify who is sending the message and who may be contacted for additional parent/guardian questions.

• ​Rochester Area Public Schools
• Jefferson High School Activities Department
• North Elementary School
• Ms. Hansen, High School Principal

Avoid abbreviations and acronyms that the intended audience would not quickly recognize. This guideline is especially important when communicating with stakeholders outside of the district (families, businesses, senior citizens, etc.) who do not have a background in the education industry. Always use the full name of a person, institution, or organization upon first reference; follow first reference with the appropriate acronym in parentheses. Avoid using abbreviations or acronyms in headlines or titles. If your district has not done so already, establish a word bank to support your brand during written and verbal communication. Establish consistent verbiage and adjectives to describe your operations, teaching methods, and learning methods.

By implementing these guidelines in your organization's communication procedures, you're providing your audience with a more concise and accessible message. In doing so, the important elements will not be lost amongst confusion and errors. Continually strong messaging builds a brand of accuracy, reliability, and trust.

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