Every school in America depends on school announcements to communicate with its teachers, parents, and students. Many schools disperse these important messages using daily reminders broadcast to the whole school via a P.A. system or weekly printed reports sent home in Friday folders. Others have opted for higher-tech email blasts or student-led, closed-circuit television "news shows" to share morning announcements and communicate upcoming events. Regardless of how a school chooses to communicate, their goal remains two-fold: to keep families informed and to create community.
The same should be said of announcements housed on your school website.
Yet, as a parent of school-aged children (and website copywriter at School Webmasters), I encounter many school websites that don't optimize the announcement section and/or news page of their sites. (And occasionally find a school that doesn't have one at all.) What a missed opportunity! For minimal (and in many cases, no) additional cost, and only a few extra minutes a month, schools could be boosting the effectiveness of their school-to-home communication using a tool they already own.
A Missed Opportunity
In education, communication between home and school has always been a challenge. But one of the benefits of modern technology is its ability to connect people with ideas and information regardless of time or distance. That's the purpose of your school website and why each section of that site should be optimized.
A school website is the public face of your school. That sounds a little impersonal. But it doesn't have to be. With good copywriting (a.k.a storytelling), your school's personality—all the things that make you special (your "brand")—can shine any time of day or night. A school website is the foundation of your school brand. It represents everything your school is and, like your school, should be a community resource.
If you've been reading our blog for any length of time, you know that a good school website is:
- up-to-date;
- friendly in tone;
- easy to navigate; and
- full of useful, discoverable information.
- (Not to mention responsive and ADA compliant*.)
*If you're not sure what it means to have a "responsive" website or what it takes to make your website "ADA compliant," we've got you covered! Simply follow the links to read more about these important website features. And if you still need help, let us know. We'd love to share our expertise.
Expectation Vs. Reality
The announcement section of your school site should be all those things as well. But for many schools, even those with good websites, this section gets neglected.
I understand. You're busy. It takes time to maintain an online list of upcoming events—and at school, there's always something upcoming! It takes time to write messages inviting parents to join booster club or schedule a conference. It takes time to post congratulations on classroom achievements or a team victory. When you're doing your best to keep the school registration page updated each year and your lunch menu current, how can you possibly manage daily announcements?
You can't. But, no one's asking you to either.
Overwhelming your news page with a daily bulletin is a misuse of that space. (Not to mention a sure-fire way to make your office staff hate you.) Instead, use this online platform to help families feel welcomed and included in your school community. Provide them with the information they need and the resources they want.
Top 5 School Website Announcement Mistakes
Most announcement mistakes fall under the same five categories. And while they may require a little planning to fix, in general, these mistakes are easily addressed by keeping the cardinal rules of website design in mind (see "What makes a good website?" above). The top five mistakes I see schools make on their news pages and/or announcement sections are:
- Outdated Information. When people visit your school website, what do they find? A clean, friendly platform that's up-to-date and easy to navigate? That level of professionalism inspires trust. It lets a family know that your school values their time and prioritizes their needs over the school's ease. Outdated information does the exact opposite. Your school news page should be the most oft-updated page on your site.
- Buried/Hard-to-Find Information. People visiting your school website to learn about an upcoming event or celebrate a students' winning touchdown, want that information to be easily accessible. Information housed on a blind page without multiple, logical access points or announcements buried under a series of link clicks, frustrates your readership. All school announcements should be housed in one place—on your school news page. You're welcome to link to other pages of interest in those announcements, or even include a quick blurb on your homepage that links back to the full story, but don't make site visitors guess at where to find the information they need.
- Information. Overwhelm Daily announcements, classroom-specific messages, and the weather report (unless you're talking about the school's winter/emergency weather response) do not belong on your school news page. This type of information, while relevant to some, clutters your announcement feed and overwhelms those visitors looking for information about the bake sale next Tuesday. Eventually, those overwhelmed readers will become frustrated callers taking up the valuable time of your office staff.
- Targeting the Wrong Audience. Announcements on your school site are predominately read by parents and invested community members. Those readers are not interested in the math word of the day or who won the "cleanest classroom" award, so don't recycle morning announcements for students on your school site. Instead, use your news page to provide your targeted reader with the information and resources they need to support teachers and students.
- All Business—No Play. While it's true that families in your community want to access relevant information quickly and easily, don't be afraid to have a little fun in your announcement space. School isn't just about test scores and literature papers. It's also about discovery, connection, and growth. Make sure your school announcements highlight those themes as well. Celebrate the student council representatives who are spending their Saturday morning collecting donations for a local food pantry and invite other high school students to get involved. Post about the upcoming Teacher of the Year nominations or the science class' successful rocket project. Use your online platform to share announcements but also to tell your school's story.
Tools for Success
"Okay, I get it," I hear you say. "We're not using our news page as well as we could be. What now?"
Or: "Yep, my school has definitely committed one of the top five announcement mistakes. How do we fix it?"
Or maybe: "I hear what you're saying, but my teachers and staff are overloaded. How can I, as principal (or district web manager or person in charge of parent-and-family communication) ask more of my team?"
I'll get to that last question later, but as they say, "The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one." Since you're still reading this article, I assume you are ready to begin the process of optimizing the way your school presents announcements to the public. So, first things first.
Make a Plan
All good, consistent communication strategies (of which, your school website and announcements are a part) require planning. Just like you wouldn't take a road trip without a destination and pitstops in mind, so you shouldn't attempt to alter the way you handle announcements without considering what you wish to achieve or the steps you'll take to get there.
But optimizing your school announcements is only one part of an effective communication strategy for schools. If you've not already developed a plan to improve communication between home and school (or believe it's time to reevaluate the effectiveness of your current plan), check out this article about the purpose and attributes of a good communication plan. Then download a free sample communications plan from our PR4Schools initiative.
