Letters to the Editor

HOW TO SUPPORT OUR CANDIDATES BY WRITING LETTERS TO LNP

Writing a Letter to the Editor (aka “LTE”) is an easy and effective way to educate voters and elevate the conversation about the issues facing Warwick School District and the importance of supporting our slate of pro-public education candidates in the November 7th election!

It’s okay if you don’t consider yourself a top-notch writer—your voice and your opinion matter and simply sharing them with our community can help raise awareness and get out the vote.

CONTENTS 

LNP Lancaster Online vs. Lititz Record Express

Should you submit your letter to LNP Lancaster Online or Lititz Record Express?

Your letter has a better chance of being read by Warwick voters in LNP Lancaster Online.

Lititz Record Express is technically the “more local” paper, but they don’t publish LTEs in every issue and it has a smaller Warwick readership overall. We recommend starting with LNP instead.

If LNP opts NOT to publish your letter, then try submitting it to Lititz Record Express.

Guidelines for letter-writers

KNOW THE WORD LIMIT

  • LNP Lancaster Online has a 250-word limit for letters to the editor submitted via their online submission form. They have stated elsewhere that the limit is actually 300 words, but you’ll have to submit your LTE via email to make use of those extra 50 words.
  • Lititz Record Express doesn’t have an official word limit and they have published letters of up to 500 words! But don’t push your luck; we suggest still aiming for about 300 words.

YOU MUST LIVE IN LANCASTER COUNTY & PROVIDE YOUR CONTACT INFO

  • When you submit your letter, you must include your full name, address, email, and phone number. However, the only details that will be published with your LTE are your name and municipality (i.e.: Steve Smith from Lititz Borough).
  • If your letter is chosen for publication, someone from LNP will contact you, usually by phone, to verify your identity and residency.

LIMIT ONE LTE PUBLISHED PER PAPER EVERY 30 DAYS

  • If your letter is published in LNP Lancaster Online, you must wait 30 days before submitting another letter to LNP. However, you can still submit to the Lititz Record without waiting!
  • If LNP doesn’t publish your letter, you may immediately submit a new one, or you can try submitting the same letter to Lititz Record Express instead.

Example Letters

Tips for writing your letter

✅  DO MAKE SURE TO COVER ALL THE BASICS.

✅  DO SHARE YOUR PERSONAL STORY AND YOUR ‘WHY’.

Your story and personal experiences are powerful tools to help people understand your positions and view things from your perspective. Why is this election so important to you? What are the stakes for you, your kids, your family, or other people you care about?

✅  DO SHARE YOUR CONCERNS.

What is happening or what might happen if our board falls into the wrong hands? This could be concern for your kids, the future of education, teachers, families, or our community.

✅  DO BALANCE THE NEGATIVE BY SHARING SOLUTIONS.

It’s okay to express your concerns, but remember to also shine a light on our slate of candidates and paint a picture of the better, brighter future possible for Warwick if we all VOTE in November!

✅  DO CLOSE WITH A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION.

This will usually be: VOTE FOR THESE 7 CANDIDATES ON NOVEMBER 7! But you might also invite the reader to learn more about us by visiting our website, attending our events, reaching out to us with questions, or volunteering and donating.

✅  DO USE OUR CANDIDATES NAMES.

Don’t make the reader guess who you’re talking about—you are allowed to use our names in your LTE! Letter-writers do this ALL the time in support of candidates. No need to beat around the bush!

  • COPY AND PASTE THIS LIST OF OUR CANDIDATES’ NAMES!
  • Lydia Walker de Ardón
  • Kellye McMillion
  • Amanda Chap
  • Cynthia Wingenroth
  • Kimberly Regennas
  • Cyndi DeLong
  • Dick Hall

✅  DO CONSIDER A LETTER-WRITING PARTY!

Writing letters together with friends is a great way to get a lot written in a short amount of time. Host an LTE-writing party, brainstorm ideas, write your letters, and then trade to proofread each others’ work and suggest improvements! When you’re ready, strategize when to submit your letters and stagger them to send 2-3 letters per week.

✅  DO GET IN TOUCH IF YOU NEED HELP WITH YOUR LTE!

Our LTE coordinator Sandy Knaub can help proofread, edit, and make suggestions to improve your letter before you submit it to LNP. Sandy is a former high school English teacher and pastor who has written many sermons, so she has lots of experience with persuasive writing and has had MANY of her own LTEs published in LNP!

Email Sandy: sandyknaub@windstream.net

Things to avoid in your letter

🛑  DON’T CONFUSE READERS WITH TOO MUCH DATA.

Too much data or too many wonky policy details can lose people. When using facts and numbers, stick to only one or two of the most powerful details.

🛑  DON’T REPEAT MISINFORMATION OR EXTREMIST BUZZWORDS.

Don’t give extremist talking points more oxygen by repeating them, not even to criticize them, and don’t use their terms like “grooming” or “CRT”. They want to push the discourse toward these false narratives, but these issues do NOT resonate with average voters.

🛑  DON’T REFERENCE OPPOSITION CANDIDATES’ NAMES.

Seeing their names repeatedly, even in criticism, might mean those are the only names some voters will remember on Election Day! Only name the opposition candidates if you are directly criticizing something a specific candidate has said or done, and make sure that you can back up your assertions if the paper asks.

🛑  DON’T TRY TO FIGHT MISINFORMATION WITH FACTS.

As counterintuitive as it seems, reciting facts is one of the LEAST effective methods for fighting misinfo and persuading voters! They’re more likely to dig in and become even more entrenched in their original viewpoint.

🛑  DON’T BEAT AROUND THE BUSH.

We want the reader to VOTE, and to vote for OUR CANDIDATES. But don’t assume they’ll come to that conclusion on their own if you don’t say it. Tell them exactly what you want them to do and name the candidates! It’s okay to be very direct in an LTE.

How to get help writing your letter

Our LTE Coordinator Sandy Knaub can help by proofreading, editing, and making suggestions before you submit your letter to LNP.

Sandy is a former high school English teacher and pastor who has written many sermons, so she has lots of experience with persuasive writing! She has also had MANY of her own letters published over the years, so Sandy has an excellent eye for what the LNP editors like to publish and can help you craft your letter accordingly.

How to submit your letter

  1. Check your letter for proper grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. Reading your letter out loud can help you catch your mistakes! (Need help?)
  2. Have a friend read your LTE to make sure it’s clear, easy to understand, and lands with the tone you want it to have. (We can help!)
  3. If you’re part of a group writing LTEs together, strategize when to submit your letters so you stagger them out and send 2-3 letters per week.
  4. Decide how you’re going to submit your letter. You have 3 options…

OPTION 1: SUBMIT YOUR LTE VIA EMAIL (*Recommended!)

  • 300 words or less. Type your letter in the body of your email or attach a Word Doc / Google Doc. Make sure to include your name, address, and phone number.
  • LNP Lancaster Online: LancasterLetters@lnpnews.com (1st choice)
  • Lititz Record Express: Pburns.Eph@lnpnews.com (2nd choice if rejected by LNP)

OPTION 2: SUBMIT VIA LNP’S ONLINE FORM

OPTION 3: SUBMIT VIA U.S. MAIL

  • For handwritten letters. This option takes the longest to be published.
  • LNP Lancaster Online:

Letters to the Editor

c/o LNP LancasterOnline

PO Box 1328

Lancaster, PA 17608

  • Lititz Record Express:

Letters to the Editor

c/o Lititz Record Express

PO Box 527

Ephrata, PA 17522

After you submit your letter

1. WE WOULD LOVE TO RECEIVE A COPY OF YOUR LETTER!

Our LTE Coordinator Sandy Knaub tracks who has submitted letters and on what topics. By keeping tabs on the letters that have already been submitted, we can help steer future letter-writers toward fresh topics that haven’t been covered yet.

2. IF YOU DON’T HEAR ANYTHING WITHIN TWO WEEKS, FOLLOW UP.

If no one from LNP has contacted you after two weeks (check your voicemail and your email spam folder) you can try emailing the Deputy Opinion Editor, Chris Otto, to check the status of your letter. His email is cotto@LNPnews.com.

3. IF YOUR LETTER IS PUBLISHED, PROMOTE IT TO YOUR NETWORK!

Your Letter to the Editor is published—great work! Now, help get even more eyeballs on it by sharing it with your own friends, family, and local contacts.

  • Copy the link to your LTE from the LNP website and share it on Facebook.
  • Take a photo of your letter in the paper and share it on Instagram.
  • You could even get creative and record a video of yourself reading your LTE!
  • Tag us @SupportWarwickSchools on social so we can share your LTE, too!

Topic ideas for your letter

Not sure what to write? Here are some ideas to get you started. Most of the topics below come directly from our platform, so you may point to these as positions we agree with and support.

GENERAL LTE TOPICS:

  • Highlight the background of our candidates or highlight a specific candidate.
  • Share your personal experience with public education. Why is it important to you?
  • What concerns do you have for your kids or grandkids who attend Warwick?
  • What concerning changes have you seen since you were in school or since your kids or grandkids began school compared to now?
  • What positive changes have you seen since you were in school or since your kids or grandkids began school compared to now?
  • Share a time when a public school teacher or employee went above and beyond for you, your child, or your grandchild when they needed extra support.

HOW WE WILL SUPPORT WARWICK STUDENTS:

  • Why we should go above and beyond to meet the needs of every learner and offer proactive support rather than waiting for students to fall behind.
  • Why public schools need to prepare students for the future by teaching life skills, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and offering career coaching.
  • Why supporting students’ mental health is crucial to keep our schools safe from violence.
  • Why it’s important for schools to provide training to teachers and staff on how to recognize threats of violence, bullying, drug use, or signs of self-harm.

HOW WE WILL SUPPORT WARWICK PARENTS AND FAMILIES:

  • Why families, teachers, admin, and the board must all be on the same side and consider themselves partners on the same team to meet the needs of Warwick students.
  • Why the district must provide clear, easy-to-access communication to busy parents in an increasingly smartphone-based world.
  • Why each family should be able to decide what topics are appropriate for their own child, but they should not get to decide for other people’s children. 
  • Why blanket bans on books and curriculum materials take away parents’ right to make decisions about their own child’s education.

HOW WE WILL SUPPORT WARWICK TEACHERS AND STAFF:

  • Why Warwick needs to offer competitive working conditions and treat our teachers with respect to make sure our great educators don’t leave and go to other districts.
  • Why we should trust the experience of our teachers and make them part of the conversation when deciding district policies.
  • Why we need to ASK our teachers and staff what they need to keep them in our district.
  • Why our teachers and staff should reflect our local community.
  • Why villainizing our teachers and teacher’s unions ultimately harms students by driving great teachers out of our district.

HOW WE WILL SUPPORT OUR WARWICK COMMUNITY:

  • Why the district’s spending decisions should be guided by experts, public feedback, and the overall good of our students and community.
  • Why the board must remember its responsibility to our community and be good stewards of taxpayer money.
  • Why a district that makes smart spending decisions is good for the entire community, even those who don’t have kids in the district.
  • Why it's important that the board raises community awareness of board meetings and seeks community feedback in additional ways, outside of regular board meetings.
  • How Warwick can improve transparency by posting official, unedited recordings of school board meetings (currently we rely on audience phone recordings, often heavily edited).
  • How Warwick can improve transparency by providing livestreams and recordings of all board subcommittee meetings (currently we have neither).

Thank you for your support!

Thank you for taking the time to write a Letter to the Editor in support of our campaign and Warwick schools. Every voice that speaks up in support of our kids, families, and teachers helps us get one step closer to victory on November 7 and responsible, professional district leadership.

If you need help with your LTE or have questions about LTEs in general, please reach out to our LTE Coordinator Sandy Knaub at sandyknaub@windstream.net.

For questions about us or our campaign, please email hello@supportwarwickschools.org.

You can also connect with us at SupportWarwickSchools.org and on Facebook and Instagram!