JCCS Seeks Improved Parent Engagement and Communication

By CARA BOCKHOLT

This school year began as many others with the hustle and bustle of getting ready for a new year. Both parents and staff alike were preparing for the first day of school. The only difference? The district has been preparing for 2400 students. Every year someone says, “You must be glad it’s summer so you can relax.”

Hmm, what? No. At the district office, we begin preparations for each school year before the current one ends. Our year at the district office begins officially on July 1; so contrary to popular belief, summer is one of the busiest times of the year for administrative staff.

Every summer we always look at what we can do to improve all areas of our system to better serve the community. One area that all schools and districts struggle with is parent engagement and communications. JCCS is no different. In a survey conducted by the National PTA in 1992, parents surveyed stated that lack of time, child care and transportation as well as scheduling conflicts were common barriers to communication. Twenty-five years later, these barriers remain. So what can the school system do to help parents overcome these barriers?

Begin the conversation. Over the summer, JCCS drafted a communications plan. As we go through this school year, we are working in many areas to make improvements to how we communicate with parents, and all stakeholders as well as ways to make it easier for parents to get the information they need. The trend, globally, is digital communications. In a report conducted by Blackboard (our website and mass notifications app vendor), parent expectations for digital communications is on the rise. According to the report, in 2010 only 58 percent of parents carried a smartphone. In 2016, that number rose to 94 percent. What this means for JCCS is that we have to step up the game.

Over the last few years, we have worked to improve our presence online. We rely on Pam Mayer to manage the district’s Facebook page and we have seen marked improvement in the number of people we are reaching. We have also worked to improve the user experience on the website.

Last year, we transitioned to a new website vendor that also manages mass notifications so we were able to consolidate two apps into one. This year we moved a little further out on the digital plateau and have added Twitter to our line up of social media tools. If you use Twitter, please follow us at @JasperCharter.

But this is only half the battle. The other half relies on you, the parent or community member, to be actively engaged and vigilant. How? Make sure we have accurate contact information. Take this short online survey, http://tinyurl.com/JC-ParentSurvey, so that we can provide information to the right place and in your prefered format.

*Attend school events.

*Email your child’s teacher.

These are all ways that you can help us help prepare your child for life beyond school.

Novelist Thomas Berger once said, “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Listed below is the district’s public relations contact email.

Cara Bockholt is the district webmaster/public relations contact for Jasper County Charter System. Email questions and comments to jccs_pr@jaspercountyschools.org.

References include Blackboard Community Engagement report http://blog.blackboard.com/expectation-for-digital-communications-in-k-12-schools/

National PTA data: http://performancepyramid.miamioh.edu/node/313