School districts: Blog your storms!

[See updates at end of post]

Parents of kids stuck at school during wild storms want info right now. They want to know: Why doesn't the school district update its damn Web site!? Not only to get the information out and update it. But to listen to and respond to feedback.

Engage your community. Blog the storm. Your parents will thank you.

One person was killed Wednesday as a brutal, howling, rain and wind storm rushed through the D.C. metro area leaving 300,000 homes without power for hours. At least two big Maryland school districts will be closed on Thursday. Loudoun County, Virginia blogging school board member John Stevens points out that because of the severity of the storm, school officials were delaying sending students home. But there was a problem:

The LCPS website is being hammered by parents and as of now does not have information about the delay on it.

That was at 3:13 p.m. More than nine hours later, still no info to be found on this site whatsoever. Nor is there any attempt to use the site to engage with parents about the school districts' decision, to provide continuous updates, to encourage email questions or allow comments, etc. Where is the superintendent? Get that guy his own blog. It is days like Wednesday when he needs it most.

There could even be some of this stuff actually written in advance. The superintendent makes the call, the communications staff clicks away for 30 seconds, and several posts are set in motion, over several minutes. Mix in original reporting. In minutes, your blog could be filled with engaging, important info for parents, the media, your own students, teachers and staff, etc. But because it is a blog, it is two way. Ask your readers to contribute, to leave comments, to email ideas and suggestions. Get the discussion going. Get a few kids, teachers, and staff involved in a district blog team. Hook the thing up with cell phone blogging capacity. Your kids will think you are cool. Your parents' collective blood pressure will drop a few points, in such crisis moments, because they feel like they are heard. This is not hard.

Stevens adds that his county's automated alert system, however, seems to have performed well. Stevens writes that he received phone calls minutes apart with updated information. That is fine. And important. The system also sends out email and pager messages. But automated phone calls are one-way communication. Blogs are discussion vehicles, or should be. Public school districts, like almost all of government entities in this country, fail these type of tests over and over. And with the tools available, and cheap, and easy to use, it remains a mystery as to why.

One parent commenting on Stevens' post says the call system was too late for her. This issue could be one of many addressed on a blog the next day. Let the discussion begin. And you as the school district itelf lead it. Why should the local news media do it for you?

We saw a photo on a D.C. news station at 11 p.m., of kids at a school in Loudoun County lined up and crouching in the halls. A scary image. Does anybody out there get this?

Update: The school district says it had power outage issues itself. And that it sent out the automated alerts immediately, as soon as it realized that a tornado warning was in effect. Hard to criticize anything there. The word got out. But get a blog anyway! Or blogs. Have a discussion with your community. The next day. Over the next week. And on and on. Let it be shared and linked to and debated and praised. Be a player. School districts are not news organizations. But they are massive news generators. Blogs are efficient and fast and useful. Try it.

Update II: That photo from the Loudoun County elementary school of the crouched kids in the hall is on the front of washingtonpost.com at 10:38 a.m.

Update III: Municipalist June 18, 2008 post links to a K-12 magazine piece that backs our case.

Update IV: Washington Post links here to Municipalist in a follow-up story about the controversy.

Comments

[Alex]

I'm in the 8th grade and a lot of people have lost their virginity already. They use dating just as an excuse for sex. My school district is the biggest STD school in the area and it's kind of disgusting. How can these 12 and 13 year old girls go blindly from man to man. And how can the very same men go after these very same girls that cheat and hook up with everyone. It's disgusting. About half of my school has lost their virginity. Why are girls getting sluttier younger and why do they complain about the guys they 'date' when they cheat and hook up with everyone?

[Elva]

What happens if you don't want your child t attended the schools under the district you live? Is there anyway of sending them to a different school district that is closer by?