How to have happy district parents
Written by niki juhasz
Working parents are burned out.
They are can’t concentrate, take it one day at a time, can barely make butter pasta for dinner kind of tired.
You know the feeling.
That means it’s up to us as communicators to ensure we’re meeting burnt out parents where they are. We’re including three tips for how to do so as you return back to school!
coordinate district and school communications
The beginning of the school year is overwhelming for parents/caregivers. They’re getting messages from central office, principals, individual teachers, school counselors and more.
It’s your job to make it easier for parents by working with district leaders to coordinate who is communicating about what and how.
Families don’t need to hear about your district-wide back-to-school pep rally from a head coach AND your superintendent AND a principal. (That’s the fastest way to ensure parents start deleting your messages and miss important updates in the future.)
If you concentrate now on streamlining your messages, you’ll spend a lot less time answering the same questions 100 times later.
consolidate your outreach
Start by meeting as a central office team to consolidate your messages. For example, you could include messages from your chief academic officer, transportation director and superintendent all in one email.
Then, collaborate with your principals on their first-week communications plan.
Ask questions such as:
WHAT must parents absolutely know this week to set us up for success? What can wait til a month after school starts, when parents are less inundated with messages?
WHO should send these messages? Principals? Central office?
WHEN do we need to share them? Can we spread these messages out over several days?
Tip: We find it helpful to have an annual back-to-school communications meeting with all of your leaders.
remind parents of how to stay in touch
Recently, I saw a message that simply stated “we’ll use the same process as last year to send notifications.”
Now, I’m all for simplicity. But these parents – many of whom are more burned out than they were even during the pandemic – might not remember HOW you communicated last year. It’s possible they never signed up for your Blackboard or Class Dojo updates. Or they may be new to your district.
Reestablish who they’ll hear from, how often, how to sign up for updates and how they can reach you. Help them choose what communications options work best for them, too. For example, you could share something like the following guide.
Putting it in a chart or another easy-to-skim format helps parents absorb the information and sign up, too.
How you start the year sets the tone for the rest of the semester. By taking these steps, you can ensure you’re setting expectations and giving parents a smooth communications experience.
Now go out there and rock back to school.
PS - For more tips on school district communications, visit the School District Marketing section of our blog!
