Written by: Karyme Bravo 🇸🇻🇲🇽
Prince George’s County Board of Education members discussed communication strategies at the Prince George’s County Public Schools at the Sasscer Administration Building on Oct.17, 2024. (Karyme Bravo)
In response to community and parent feedback, the Prince George’s County Board of Education members are implementing new strategies into practice to improve communication for the school district.
There is a movement to improve communication and regular updates to parents from the school district on social media platforms and the website, according to Delores Millhouse, Vice Chair of the Parent and Community Advisory Council of District 7.
Luis Morales, the Chief of Communications and Community Engagement Officer presented a communication plan during the PGCPS Board of Education meeting, to establish the proper accountability within the Communications and Community Engagement Division.
The division seeks to elevate stakeholder voices to guarantee that families are provided with the information they need upfront so they can receive automated notifications and customized guidance.
Stakeholders are students, parents, teachers, school administrators and resource officers who are affected or have an effect on the school environment.
“PGCPS, employees, students, families and communities, do amazing work and deserve to be uplifted in a strategic manner that promotes a culture of transparency educational excellence and highlights why we are all PGCPS proud,” Morales said.
There has been a 37% increase in post views on social media platforms, as the division supports 206 schools with various services and manages 100 partnerships.
The division plans to produce media toolkits that support schools in tailoring their communication strategies, ensuring cultural responsiveness and leveraging digital natives for developed individual campaigns that include materials for all stakeholders to be accessible.
These resources aim to help stakeholders become boots-on-the-ground advocates and increase ownership in sharing content and stories.
“I don’t want it to be just we’re doing more presentations with our community because I don’t think that’s something that’s needed,” Dr. Kenneth F. Harris II, Vice Chair of District 7 said, “I think they need intentional engagement.”
The Department of Family and Community Partnerships has several programs that seek to engage parents as partners to promote all children’s academic growth. These programs allow children to learn at home, school, and in the community. According to Harris II, the number of schools with active parent engagement will increase by 10%.
Additionally, some challenges act like a barrier for each school as some do not have the infrastructure like paid time off or Parent Student Associations which causes a lack of engagement, according to Harris II.
Pamela Boozer-Strother, a District 3 Board member, said that the academic platform Canvas needs to be treated as a communication platform. It provides an opportunity for organizations and teachers to introduce themselves to families.
“There needs to be an expectation of consistency of that land because that is the land where parents go,” Boozer-Strother said. “It can become a major stream of communication.”
There will be an increase in the website to ensure information is accessible and accurate to encourage families to visit the site where students would be featured, according to Morales. AI chatbots would be implemented into the website to provide more direct links between the information and the visitor.
“Our division will be performing audits to ensure best practices are being followed and we are in compliance with state and federal law. This will include language branding and web page audits,” Morales said. “This will be an important opportunity to provide education to bring items back into compliance and branding guidelines.”
Morales emphasized the importance of two-way communication and feedback rather than just one-way dissemination of information. “We want our communities to know that we are committed to enhancing our communication and engagement efforts and improving the consistency and quality of communications together,” Morales said.
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