The following is a guest post by Joel Gagne, CEO of Allerton Hill Consulting.
For close to a decade, social media has been upending industries, from journalism to entertainment. But many public school leaders have remained on the sidelines, fearful and focused on potential negative outcomes. There are clearly some good reasons why educators look at social media with skepticism. For example, a Brooklyn teacher was fired for complaining about her students on Facebook (a decision later converted to two years’ suspension without pay).
But the demand that public schools market themselves in order to compete for precious government dollars has reached a fever pitch. As a consultant who has worked with dozens of school districts, I’m convinced that if schools want to improve their image with taxpayers, they must begin to use social media. The benefits are just too great, and as more of the taxpaying community ties into social media through mobile devices, “traditional” public schools have to become non-traditional, and join the conversation.
Joseph Donzelli, the communications director for the Fort Myers, Florida regional school district - one of the largest school districts in the nation - argues that Twitter has enhanced their communication efforts. Also, Fort Myers has guidelines in place for personal use of social media by their professional staff. “We put in guidelines for social media for all of our staff to reference for the last two years,” he says, “and since then, we have not had one incident.” The reality today is that public schools should be harnessing and using social media to communicate with their audience and to talk about their strengths. Today’s public demands it.
Savvy school districts are putting their toes into the water. At a seminar this summer hosted by the University of Dayton’s Department of Educational Leadership, public educators gathered to talk about the key reasons why schools should use social media. They were:
Just like websites, which eventually became “must have,” every school district will ultimately need to embrace social media. The school districts that will thrive will be the ones using social media to engage their community, and aggressively enhance and protect their reputation. The ones who do not will find themselves playing defense with an unengaged public and a healthy number of skeptics who may question the value of public education in their community.