Over the past 6 years of working in education, I’ve learned a lot about communicating with parents. Even in private schools, where parents are paying thousands of dollars per year, it’s often hard to get information across in a way where parents will see it and take action.
We’ve learned a couple of tips at our school, so I wanted to share them with you.
1) Say the same thing over and over
I often say to my oldest son that I only want to say things once. If you are a parent, you know this is a pipe dream; I have to repeat myself over and over again. School communication is no different. You are going to have to repeat important messages multiple times and in multiple ways.
2) Focus on short messages
We are starting to focus much of our school-wide communication in Facebook/Twitter size status updates. Why? It’s because that is what people are used to reading. Focus on what you need them to know, and then provide a way to get more information if they need it. Don’t bombard them with countless details to things that are not relevant to them.
3) List DRI (directly responsible individual) on all events Whenever we are talking about an event or activity, we always end with “If you need more information, contact X”. This allows parents to go straight to the source should they have any questions.
4) Track what works
If your email system allows you to track opens/clicks, monitor this information so you know what works. If you have an event that wasn’t well attended or information that no one seemed to know, analyze how you communicated it.
5) Get social
When we announce school closings, we find that Facebook is the way that most people find out about it first. We certainly update our website and send out mass emails, but social network is where people spend most of their time, so we go to where they are. If it’s an important announcement, we often pay $5 for Facebook to “boost” the post so more people will see it.
6) Don’t get irritated School activities are all that school employees think about. It’s top of mind all day long. For parents, these are additional things to keep track of on top of their jobs, home life, etc. If someone makes a comment like “I wish I had known about this”, don’t respond snidely about “reading their email”. I always just mention that we are sorry they weren’t informed, and we will do a better job in the future. It is annoying? Yes, but this reinforces my first point: “keep repeating yourself”!