Friends and neighbors are talking about your school district’s fall reentry plans. Do you have a pulse on what they are saying? We know from conducting hundreds of research studies for school districts that “friends and neighbors” is the number one source patrons turn to for district news. Those same studies tell us Facebook is how patrons communicate with each other.The team at ExcellenceK12 has been studying the good and the not-so-good reentry communications efforts from districts around the region. We’ve also been looking at social media to see how patrons are responding to these efforts. It begs the question: How do you control the rumor mill and get ahead of the story, while ensuring your patrons that you’ve got this?From our research, we identified five key areas of focus, along with tips to get your started.
- Use the C.O.P.E. strategy: Acknowledging not every school district patron uses the same communications outlet to receive information from the district, employ the C.O.P.E. strategy – create once, publish everywhere. When doing so, consider ways to use images and accompanying narratives across digital and printed content.
The benefits of C.O.P.E. also include consistency in your message and in your timeline for disseminating information. Successful schools have a staff member assigned to make sure this is followed, and the person is accountable for making sure it happens. - Leverage district website home page: Keep your patrons from hunting for information. Prominently display a link to your fall semester reopening plans on the home page of your website. Use a consistent graphic that is recognizable for this information.
Your reopening web page should contain reentry plans and information, announcements, policies, procedures, COVID updates, and an easy way for parents to submit questions. - Be transparent: It is more important than ever to establish trust. One of the main contributors to trust is creating a culture of transparency. School districts who aim for this will have frequent and easily accessible information for their students, families and staff.
One way to do this is to create a video or blog series from the superintendent about what the district is planning for reentry. People want to feel assured by the organization’s leader. After holding a school board meeting, be sure to bullet point the hot topics that were discussed on the board’s web page. - Streamline your streaming: During the pandemic, school districts have been forced to rethink how Board of Education meetings take place. Due to social distancing restrictions, legal guidelines for open meetings have been relaxed in many locations, allowing for public schools to hold these meetings virtually for the first time. If your district is streaming public meetings, like a board meeting, it is most important to have a one-click solution to access the meeting. Do not require logins or passwords to dissuade people from viewing.
- Manage perceptions: When you realize your school district needs help managing perceptions, it’s usually too late. So, perception management should start with not only measuring the sentiment, or feelings, but learning from this information in such a way as to sharpen and improve your ongoing communication efforts – only then can you begin to actually manage perceptions.
By following these five ideas to communicate your district’s reentry plan, you can help to minimize the rumor mill.Need guidance in this process? Contact Rick Nobles at rick@excellencek12.com or 913-484-0920.
