Communications for School Leaders

Establish a communications strategy that extends and deepens the district strategy.
Ensure communication is accessible to all stakeholders (including low-income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities, their families, and other authorized guardians) and that it is culturally sensitive and responsive.
Designate a staff member who will have single-point accountability over external recovery and renewal communications.
Reevaluate stakeholders’ preferred communication channels and frequency of communication at least twice a year through means such as translated surveying.
Utilize or build upon the district framework to employ multimodal communication channels (e.g., email, social media, online video, phone, text, website) based on stakeholder preference and what is being communicated.
Foster on-going engagement by creating public spaces and meaningful two-way communication channels—online or in-person—focused on recovery to ensure questions and concerns are heard and clarified.
Define a recovery communications calendar and make it available to the public to establish clear expectations of the frequency of knowledge sharing. Ensure that there is one owner of the calendar to make certain that it remains current.
Confirm that all contact information for families is current.
For families that have not been reached, conduct home visits.
Solicit family input on recovery and renewal policies and practices by instituting communication that links learning and parent engagement.
Analyze communication methods to measure effectiveness (e.g. login, delivery, open, and response rates from students and families).