Schools have a mind-boggling number of communications needs. Schools communicate to parents, students, staff members, and community members. These communications can affect how these people perceive your school. Since No Child Left Behind mandates parent surveys asking them to evaluate your school's performance, you should try to make the most of every opportunity to make a good impression. Did you know that the number one reason parents become angry at schools is a failure to communicate? This article addresses some ways you can ensure parents are impressed with your communications.

Many times you send documents home with kids who are hard on their backpacks and, therefore, your publications. For larger documents, binding protects them from your kids as they transport them to their parents and caregivers. In addition to protecting your publications, binding will make them look much more professional. Let's talk about some of the publications your school can bind to open the doors of communication with your students' parents.

Parent Handbook Featuring School Policy and Procedure Documentation
You and your staff have invested countless hours in developing rules and guidelines that are fair and appropriate. If you fail to communicate these to the students and their parents, you create more work for your teachers and administrators, not to mention more frustration for families. You can avoid that by compiling everything parents need to know into a single publication divided into sections. Have students or a creative staff member design an attractive cover and then bind the publication. When your students and their families see it, they will know it is not just another throwaway, and they will keep it on hand to answer their questions first before picking up the phone to call the office.

Custom Workbooks and Planners
Why settle for generic planners when you can easily put together your own? Glossy planners from publishing powerhouses can be very expensive. With a customized planner, you can put all of the school's important events and dates right into the hands of the kids and their families. This can be especially helpful if you require your students to have their parents sign their planners on a daily basis. Doing this keeps the lines of communication open between the teachers and the parents. You can also include key school information such as phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Quick access to that sort of information keeps parents feeling connected even when they don't choose to use it.

School-wide Directories
Another great way to enhance that feeling of connection among families and the school is to publish a school directory. Be sure to give parents the opportunity to opt out of including information about their kids and family to ensure compliance with laws. Think about organizing the directory by classroom. This makes it easy for parents to find and contact the parents of their children's classmates. Some schools even use the directory as a fundraiser by selling it.

Hopefully this article has inspired you to take a few simple steps to keep parents in the loop and on board with your school. You can start to build a positive relationship with parents today by communicating professionally using bound publications customized for your school.