Holy Cow, you charge $25-$75 to advertise local businesses in your school directory??
Nice work if you can get it but that sooooo wouldn't fly in my corner of the world.
I would carry over data from year to year, so the only real free typing would be the entering kindergarten class. New class assignments could easily be handled with update queries. I like the idea of getting all the master data from the school but our administration would never allow that.
I always solicit other working parents to 'donate' the printed copies to our school. In years past, I had 2 other parents who printed 100 copies each on their office copiers. I took all the copies, borrowed my husbands companies binding machine, bought binding combs (cheaply at Staples, my treat) and bound 300+ copies in an afternoon.
Cost to PTO = $0.
I always got our directories to families by mid October.
One word of advise, always have others proofread your master copy. No matter how good you are, you can't catch your own mistakes.
We create a directory every year ( sixe 8x 5.
The school registar provides us with a list of all the students, by classroom including name, address phone & parents' names- at the begining of the school year a form is sent home asking permission from the families to include in the directory- anyone who says "no thanks" is taken off the list.
We get this list electronically so we can inport into the directory.
The PTO then sells advertsiing space to local shops, and parents that have their own businesses $25 for a Business card size up to $75 for a full page-
we have a parent that is great at graphics so he puts it all together and we have printed at Kinkos, they collate and bind it for less than $2 per directory. Usually the adverstising $$ pay for the printing. The PTO then distributes the directory to all students at no charge.
Hope that helps
There are all different types of directories so I guess it depends on what format you're using. Try searching the boards for suggestions about that because it's been a really hot topic lately.
You can do the work yourselves for a lot less money but it's time consuming. If your budget allows it and you prefer to outsource the work you get a nicer directory into the hands of parents and staff much more quickly!
My last team typed the info into a spreadsheet and printed out master copies which then went to the printers for the rest - copying, folding, stitching, etc. There was a local connection so we got a good deal.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
This is our first time to make a directory for our elementary school and I was wondering how you do it. We have someone typing the information, but we don't know if we should try to copy and staple it ourselves and what kind of equipment we would need or if we should send it out. Any suggestions would be great.
