For schools and school systems, communications has never mattered more than it does today. With millions of kids at home, the future uncertain, and parents hungry for answers and ideas, solid communications can cut through fear and confusion and make a concrete impact on the well-being of your school community.
While our team has never faced a crisis of these dimensions, we’ve dealt with big ones, and a few guiding communications principles always apply. We’ve combined those with a look at what several leading school systems are doing to compile the guidelines below. (For specific resources to share with your community, there are a variety of excellent lists, including this one from Chiefs for Change, a client of ours, and this one from TNTP.)
Build trust and set clear expectations.
Your most vital asset right now is credibility. Some of the updates you’ll give in the near future will likely be hard ones: perhaps the discovery of suspected or diagnosed COVID-19 cases, new restrictions, or extended school closures. People will never be happy about that kind of news, but they’ll hear it better and follow your guidance if they trust you.
No BS. It’s tempting to project confidence, but getting ahead of the facts costs trust. Better to follow up than to make it up. Beware of implied promises like, “See you in April!” No one can say for sure now how long closures will last.
Tell people when to expect updates. In uncertain situations, it helps people to know when they can expect to learn more. Say things like, “You can expect updates from our office every Thursday, at a minimum.” If you don’t have details yet on your distance learning plan, tell people when to expect them.
Don’t be afraid to make the hard decisions. Most big decisions to protect public health have provoked tough pushback, internally and externally, in an environment of incomplete and often confusing or contradictory information. The record already shows those are the actions that have saved lives.
Don’t delay announcing an outcome you know is coming. Once the endpoint or decision is clear, get it out and give the gift of extra time to accept, adjust, and plan.
Keep your audience in mind.
This advice (which sounds like a truism from a communications seminar for calmer times) is actually urgent when people are simultaneously overwhelmed with information and starved of guidance. Under stress, systems often revert to their own language or ways of organizing information, rather than putting resources in the form that parents, staff, and communities can understand best. Failing to keep your audience in mind will sow confusion and exacerbate equity gaps.
Keep it simple. Some families will be delighted to navigate 150-line Google sheets filled with distance-learning resources, but most are busy and just want to know what their second-grader should do in math so she won’t fall behind. Take a cue from this email:
“DC Public Schools plans to share resources whereby any students’ family can download lessons by grade level or course without a login or password.”
Anything online must be accessible on a smartphone. Pew Research found that 17% of adults are dependent on their phones for access to the internet — and the rate is higher among lower-income families and families of color.
Online only is not good enough. While technology is a vital tool in this crisis, serving all families means creating thoughtful printed materials that are not just a watered down version of what is online.
Choose the channel that suits your intended audience. Newsletters might work best for staff who are used to hearing from you that way, but they have a good chance of getting lost in families’ inboxes. Consider adding Facebook Live events in the evening for parents — they are already checking for news about family and friends.
And students? Don’t forget they are your main “customer.” Speak to them directly about their own concerns. Students around the country are worried about everything from their grandparents’ health to whether they will graduate to whether prom is canceled. And meet them where they are. If they spent a lot of time on TikTok or Snapchat before, imagine how many hours they are devoting to it now.
Support district staff with clear internal communications. In the best of times, most organizations treat internal communications as a last priority — and much more so in a crisis. It’s essential that staff hear from top leaders.
Listen too. The Education Trust–West’s Elisha Smith-Arrillaga often reminds us of the adage that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. In a crisis, your time is at even more of a premium than usual, and finding time to listen can feel like a luxury. But listening to those most impacted is what ensures your time is spent on the right priorities, and it helps instill calm and confidence. Consider weekly (or more frequent) virtual availabilities with small groups of parents, teachers, principals, etc., with video excerpts published.
Adopt new ways of working.
A district communications director we respect in an area hard-hit by the virus pointed to ways that she’s had to change how she works:
Even in the midst of intense crisis, plan ahead for the next stage. “We are already creating packages with messaging that closures will be extended and we are also planning out how we will tell everyone schools back on,” she writes. “The energy of a crisis pulls you into reaction mode — people need help planning even in the midst of it all.”
“Refresh your message approval protocol.” Typical approval plans require input from lots of people, not all of whom may move at the speed required to keep the public up to date. She says, “We adapted our [approval] process twice this week alone.”
Be visible. Be human.
More than one person can speak for a school or district, but it’s vitally important that the top leader be visible. One example we love is Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras teaching daily virtual math lessons.
It’s easy to imagine that others can handle the communications while the #1 handles tough decision-making. But school communities need to hear from you directly. Just as in our own families, school families, staff and communities need to know that they will be supported, challenged, seen, and loved. So do what any parent strives to do: Be present. Be honest. Be courageous. Be yourself.