Getting the Word Out at Blackwell:

Informing Our Community about Activities and Events 

At Blackwell, we have a number of effective mechanisms for communicating with families and students about events and activities.  Of course, it is not necessary to use all of these resources to share information with our community.  However, it is often helpful to have all of the information in one place.  We encourage you to share this information with committee members and other Blackwell volunteers who may want to utilize our communication tools!  Please feel free to contact us with questions, suggestions for improvement, etc. 

Zarqa Javed/ Stella Adamski

Blackwell PTSA Co-VP’s of Communications

            communications@blackwellptsa.org 

PTSA Communications 

PTSA news, event announcements, and other calls for action are published weekly via several mechanisms. 

Announcement/Article Submission guidelines apply for all communication to be published to: 

• Bobcat Bulletin (published via Constant Contact, sent via email, on Sundays, to all parents who have signed up to receive it)
• Blackwell PTSA Website (blackwellptsa.org)
• Blackwell PTSA Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blackwell-PTSA/484069401653820?ref=br_tf)
• Reader Board (street-side, outside the school)
• Blackwell PTSA Bulletin Board (across the hall from the office)
• Morning Announcements

Deadlines for submission: 

• Please send articles, including fliers, if you have them, as early in the week as you can before the bulletin/website are posted on Sunday.
• Please allow for turn-around time to approve articles and make allowances for holidays/week-ends.
• For morning announcements: An approved announcement forwarded to the school secretary, Lisa Nelson (lnelson@lwsd.org) by approximately 8 am will be in the morning announcements the next day when possible. You are responsible to contact the school for morning announcements.

Guidelines for article submission: 

• If you need, check with the communications team for sample text for your articles and announcements.
• In general, all announcements should have:
  • A headline
  • Succinct and engaging text; maximum 130 words
  • Date / Time / Location of Event
  • Contact info including any emails and necessary links fully written out
• Your announcement will run automatically every week until your event, unless you make a more specific request. Generally an announcement should not be run more than 2-3 times total.
• If your announcement has a separate document, please send in PDF format. Send to communications@blackwellptsa.org
• Graphics are optional. If you do include small graphics, attach separately to your email.
• Please be aware that editors reserve the right to change your content, fonts, photos, and layout (without alerting you) to display effectively as posts.
• Send all submissions to communications@blackwellptsa.org

NOTE: All announcements that are NOT PTSA or school sponsored can be posted to PeachJar.  PeachJar is a Lake Washington School District newsletter distributed to all LWSD schools announcing community events of interest. Detailed instructions can be found here: http://www.lwsd.org/For-Community/Advertising-in-LWSD/Pages/default.aspx 

Event Registration and Payment

We can create event registrations and allow participants to pre-pay for tickets on the website. Contact communications@blackwellptsa.org to set up registration for your event.

Volunteer Sign-Ups

Committee chairs seeking volunteers often prefer to use volunteer sign ups such as SignUp Genius.  We're happy to link to your sign-ups. The Blackwell PTSA web site also has a volunteer sign up function and we encourage using it.  Contact the communications team communications@blackwellptsa.org at least two weeks in advance, if you would like us to create a sign up for you.

School Communications

Use the PTSA's communications channels whenever you can. If you really need to post something directly from the Blackwell office, here's their policy:

1. The school will send a weekly newsletter the last school day of the week (Fridays, most weeks): Bobcat Beat
2. Lisa creates the newsletter draft and administration approves it prior to sending.
3. Send Lisa any newsletter articles, blasts, etc. for inclusion in the weekly newsletter by Thursday @ noon.

1. Please let committee chairs know that Blackwell will send event messages, but only in the weekly school newsletter.
2. “Blasts” for events will not happen mid-week.

4. Mid-week school communication will be only for school-wide “must know” information (e.g. immediate safety issues, unanticipated changes of schedule, district directed communications, etc.).  These communication will be approved by administration in advance.