District websites and social media become crucial resources during Irene/Lee aftermath
This
is part of our ongoing series about how Capital Region BOCES staff
are helping districts recover from Hurricane Irene; today we focus
on help provided by the Communications Service.
BOCES communications specialists live and work by a mantra they relay daily to their client districts: “Always be the first and best source of information for your community.”
This concept was never more important than during the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, when some districts were dealing with devastation on a level never before experienced.
Schools are hubs of community – especially in rural areas. During a crisis, district buildings are often pressed into service as evacuation shelters, and donation collection and distribution centers. During and after hurricanes Irene and Lee, the communications tools already in place in many districts created “virtual community hubs” that allowed districts to quickly and effectively communicate with district residents through district websites, Facebook pages and School News Notifier systems (opt-in e-mail alert systems for districts).
|
Topics shared:
• Information on the shelter located at the school At the same time they were disseminating disaster-related information, the district still had to keep parents abreast of school-related items such as:
• Bus information |
Cobleskill-Richmondville
http://www.crcs.k12.ny.us/
Twitter:
@crcsdistrict
C-R
on Facebook
In Cobleskill-Richmondville, the district’s website and social media sites became go-to resources, not only for members of the school district community, but for district towns and Schoharie County as a whole.
It was a definite team effort: Superintendent Lynn Macan and volunteers were in constant contact with communications specialist Nanette Morges to make sure information was shared in a timely manner through all available avenues including the school website, Facebook, Twitter and press releases to the local media.
The sharing paid off: Website visits increased by more than 220 percent, and the Cobleskill-Richmondville Facebook page picked up more than 115 likes in one week.
"Because there was a lack of a place to compile information, we went beyond district information to include information for the entire county,” said Macan. "I could not have gotten to all that needed to be attended to, without Nanette as a partner."
“Our goal was always to provide the most up-to-date, accurate information at a time when things were changing every minute,” said Morges.
Schoharie Schools
http://www.schoharie.k12.ny.us/
Schoharie Central School District's website also became a central resource for the community, providing not only the latest information about school schedules and services for students and their families, but also links to FEMA, lists of donation and distribution sites, and even the latest evacuation notices. Beyond the website's home page, a special Hurricane Irene Update section was set up for important info.
Communications Specialist Monique Jacobs worked closely with Superintendent Brian Sherman to coordinate all of the information for the public. She also worked with Sherman to issue a news release to the media, as well as use emails and smartphones to connect Sherman with reporters while he moved about the district and waited in traffic amidst road closures due to flooding.
"As you can imagine, we had a ton of information that we needed to get out quickly. Throughout the crisis, Schoharie Central School's website has become known and appreciated as a community resource for storm-related information,” said Sherman.
Urgent news, such as evacuation orders and school opening delays, have gone out through Schoharie CSD's School News Notifier (SNN) system, informing SNN subscribers via text and email messages. Schoharie Central acted as a staging center for the Department of Environmental Conservation, county fire services, NYS Department of Transportation vehicles, and support services. The school even hosted and fed 150-190 emergency personnel, which delayed the start of the school year to Sept. 12.
Schalmont
Schalmont's
Flood relief resources page
Twitter:
@Schalmontcsd
Schalmont
on Facebook
Schalmont Communications Specialist Audrey Hendricks has been busy communicating with the district community about the impact of storms and subsequent flooding in the hamlets of Rotterdam Junction and Pattersonville.
Hendricks created a new website section detailing recovery and relief efforts underway, the availability of transportation for displaced students, schedules and updates about the district's donation distribution center, hyperlinks to web pages with pertinent resources and access to district-written news articles specific to the flooding. All information was also distributed through the district's Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as School News Notifier.
Hendricks continues to monitor and respond to posts on the district’s Facebook page as well as monitoring news coverage and responding to media requests on a daily basis.
