Enhancing Parent Communications
By: Andrew McKenzie

Parents are the constituents with whom you need to communicate the most. And, almost all of this communication needs to be done in writing. Will we ever see the day when the Xerox machine goes into storage and handouts are a thing of the past? Probably not. But, the expanding array of communications options available to schools provides creative administrators with the means to publish content in multiple ways, simultaneously.

As parents become increasingly sophisticated in how they consume media in general, you have new and better opportunities to get information to them without having to do a lot more work. In fact, taking advantage of the tools and tips listed here probably takes less time than handing out stacks of photocopies.

Web Site Basics
There is no more efficient means of publishing content than to put it on your Web site. But, if the information is difficult to find, then what’s the point?  Here are some tips for ensuring your information is accessible.

Have a Structure
The hierarchical structure of your Web site is vitally important. It is the framework in which your information sits.

Be Reliable
Decide where on your Web site certain types of information will reside, and then stick with it.  Your parents are repeat visitors, and if they feel there isn’t a reliable place on the site for information they need, they won’t use it.

Page, Article, or Event
Whatever you do, don’t create a Web page when you should be posting a news article or event.  Nothing is worse for repeat visitors than constant changes to your site navigation.

The School Calendar
Perhaps nothing is more vital to the smooth functioning of your school than having up-to-date and accurate calendar information for your parents. Presenting a simple list of events is good, but there are several ways that your calendars can do more for you.

Categorize
Especially important for multi-divisional schools, calendar categories give parents the ability to select the information most pertinent to their needs. Include a category specifically for parents and also ones for Athletics, and Upper, Middle, and Lower Schools.

Synchronize
iCalendar feeds are an easy, standards-based way for you to synchronize your calendar with your parents’ calendars. They work with Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail and most other e-mail clients and update automatically as events are added or change.

Using E-Mail
There’s no better way to send information than e-mail. But, if you send four a day, none of them will be read. So, send a newsletter at the end of each week with links to your Web site. Not only will you be getting your message out, you’ll also be encouraging Web site use. While your basic e-mail program can certainly send e-mails to large numbers of people, consider investing in special-purpose software with the following features.

Design
Design plays an important role in access to information, and whatever system you choose should support design customization. Simple things make a big difference. Make a space specifically for important events at the top left or right, and don’t include the entire contents of your articles in the newsletter. Give people enough information to know if they should click through to read more.

Track Readership
Choose a system that can tell you which articles are being clicked on.

List Management
You need to be able to store and update lists of parents, by grade and division, but perhaps by association leadership or other subset.

Online Directories
Consider giving parents the ability to update their information online so that you can capture their most current address.

Social Networking and Web 2.0 Tools
There are good reasons to use social networking and Web 2.0 tools to reach parents. Adoption of these tools is on the rise for your parents’ generation, and you can take advantage of these tools without increasing your workload by tying them together.

RSS Feeds
Attaching RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to your news articles is a great way to publish your content. Not only can your parents subscribe to your feeds, you can import them into Twitter, Facebook, and most other Web-based applications.

Twitter
Most schools are wondering if they should have a Twitter account. The answer is yes, and one reason is your parents are active users. Accounts are easy to set up, and, who knows, you might even enjoy it. You can establish multiple users on a single account (co-tweet), and you can establish one account for school information and another for the athletics department.

Facebook
Establish an “official” presence on Facebook by creating a Profile, Group, and Page (these are three separate things). The good news is that you do not need to spend a lot of time on Facebook to make it work for you. You can connect your Facebook Page to an RSS feed and let Facebook’s inherent networking capabilities connect the dots.

The most important thing you can do is establish a reliable “home” for your parent communications. If you give your parents consistent places to get the information they need, chances are, they will become more informed, more self-sufficient, and better able to participate in and enhance your school community.

Andrew McKenzie is director of sales and marketing for Silverpoint.net, which offers Web solutions for schools.