How We Communicate - Can We Get Better

How We Communicate – Can We Get Better?

by

Bob Diepenbrock, Superintendent of Schools

A failure in communication is always an issue school districts face with their parents and patrons. Therefore, I would like to explain the different ways we try to communicate events and other important news and ask for suggestions if you have other ideas. As a school and district, we are always looking for efficient and timely methods to improve communication.

First of all, Kingman Elementary and Middle Schools along with Norwich PK-12 sends a monthly newsletter to all the parents of students in their respective attendance centers. The newsletter highlights past events and activities along with informing parents of upcoming events in the school. The newsletter also provides information about the in-service days, food service, and how to find out about school closings in case of inclement weather or other necessary closing. Kingman High School does not send out a newsletter, but has a journalism class that produces the Oracle to highlight events and run news stories of interest as determined by the teacher and students. Norwich also produces a newspaper at the middle school level.

Students at middle and high schools work in their web design classes to post pictures and write regular blogs that are posted on the school and district website. If you haven’t visited the website lately, you should definitely take a look. The websites are regularly updated with blogs written by students and teachers and most are posted on the district Facebook site as well. You can view the district website at www.knusd331.com or the Facebook website at USD 331 Kingman-Norwich Schools and I hope you indicate you “like” us. From either site you can also access each school’s site. I also plan to begin the superintendent’s blog and post updates on district events and issues in education that affect the schools.

 You may have received updates or reminders through our Bright Arrow Notification system as well. Using Bright Arrow, we can send out messages to all parents or to any number of people based upon the groups we set up. For instance, if an event necessitated the closing of all district schools, I can send out an emergency message notifying all the phone numbers and emails we have on file at our schools within a few minutes. We can also select groups such as the elementary parents only, a middle or high school athletic or activity team or others and send messages only to those groups. To work effectively, please make sure your contact information is updated with the school your child attends. Bright Arrow is even capable of sending text messages.

The above described a few ways we are trying to communicate with you. If you have additional ideas or ideas on something you would like our schools to highlight, please don’t hesitate to contact our schools. We will continue to strive to improve our communication to you. Thanks.