Schools

Schools Tweet, Facebook and Blog to Reach Parents

Pierce Elementary's new Twitter account is the latest in a districtwide trend of schools using social media to better communicate with parents and the community.

If your children attend , you could visit their building during an open house. You can discuss their grades during parent-teacher conferences. You can learn about school issues at Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) meetings. You can even sign up for eNews alerts, so that Pierce news, information and volunteer opportunities are delivered straight to your inbox.

Now, you can also check Twitter. Pierce Elementary is one of the several buildings in the district experimenting with social media through Facebook accounts, Twitter handles and blogs — all efforts, district officials say, to improve communication with parents and the community.

According to Jim Lalik, principal of Pierce Elementary, the impetus behind creating the Pierce Twitter account — @PierceBPS — was simple: more communication.

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"Our plan is to tweet out things that are happening at Pierce: announcements, reminders, pictures and great classroom activities," Lalik said.

Administrators welcome to experiment with social media

Birmingham Schools spokeswoman Marcia Wilkinson said building administrators are not required to create separate websites for their schools — whether they be on Facebook, Twitter or a blog — though social media training is part of the district's professional development courses.

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"I think in any of our efforts, communication is something to be fine-tuned," she said. "There are always new ways to communicate, and I think our use of social media is going to continue to grow."

Wilkinson said building principals enjoy a relatively hands-off policy when it comes to launching their own blog or Facbeook page, as long as they follow the district's Technology Acceptable Use Agreement, which outlines what messages are acceptable and appropriate.

All schools currently have their own separate pages at the district's website, birmingham.k12.mi.us. Many, however, have gone beyond that template and created their own space online for students, teachers and parents.

Parents from the created and now manage bcsonline.info, a separate website with announcements, enrollment information, parent resources, the BCS wait list, a staff directory and grade-level academic links. Out of the country but worried that your BCS student didn't remember his or her hat and gloves this morning? At the BCS website, you can even check a special weather camera installed on the roof of the school.

Other Birmingham schools with a social media presence include:

Social media results varied, followers growing

The district is also in the social media game, Wilkinson said, with a Facebook page and a Twitter account, @BirminghamPS, both of which are run out of Wilkinson's Community Relations Department.

Wilkinson said the use of social media has seen varied results across the board, though followers of the district's Twitter account and Facebook page continue to grow. As of early January, @BirminghamPS has 480 followers, while the Facebook page has 320 followers. Meanwhile, Wilkinson said close to 9,000 email addresses have registered to receive various eNews alerts across the district.

Looking forward, Wilkinson said the district is constantly re-evaluating how it communicates with the community and is researching ways to grow alongside the rapidly changing world of social media.

"We are researching what we're doing right now because as social media continues to change, we need to change our policies and guidelines," she said.

At @PierceBPS, Pierce administrators are learning as they go along. Using his own Twitter handle, @jimlalik, Lalik is already documenting student efforts — "Hands on is the only way to learn Science. Mrs. Olexa class learned how air pressure keeps objects dry submerged in h2o."

Meanwhile, even Pierce teachers are joining the efforts: "Getting parent projects ready! A lot of work, but worth it - the kids LOVE it!" tweets kindergarten teacher Kristen Padgett, @kp02bps.

And the community is responding. With the Twitter account less than a month old, 41 people are already following Pierce Elementary's every move.


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