Communication Conflagration

I am constantly struggling with electronic communication. I received over 26,000 emails at school during the course of the last calendar year. I have not counted the number this year. Nor have I counted phone calls. I have more important tasks to accomplish. I will count them in July. 

My blog has been viewed 13,137 times since it was created in August, so someone is reading it. Hopefully not the same person, over and over again.

We use three major methods to 'get the word out' to the entire Medway community:

• Blackboard Connect
• Contant Contact
• MMS Family Portal

Blackboard Connect is a service designed to send voice messages and emails to an audience. Contact information is created by transferring parental unit (i.e. parent, grandparent, guardian) email addresses from our database. It contains over 1,100 email addresses for the high school (parent and staff).

Constant Contact is a service wherein anyone who wants to receive emails from the district may enroll. On our district web page, the blue "Join Our Email List" button is the path to being placed on our list. It contains almost 1,300 email addresses.

The MMS Family Portal allows us to post messages to parents and students that are viewed when they log into their account. It can be targeted and individualized for students, as it is protected by a password. Every parent has access to it, for 805 students.

Ironically, these three methods do not communicate with each other, so maintaining these three databases is a challenge for our tech. department and secretaries. Emails change, and it takes time to correct errors. If you are a parent, and are not getting Blackboard Connect emails, please email me. Include the name of your child and your email address. I will try to get it correct right away.

Of course, how would you know you are not getting the emails....Hmm. Ask a neighbor? I could send a letter home asking parents to check and see if they got my email. No. It would cost $400 for postage. Maybe a postcard...

In addition, I have to decide which one is the best to send out the message. I prefer Blackboard, since it is updated at the start of the year. Constant Contact is prettier, with nice templates that are easy on the eyes. MMS is the most accurate, but you need to log in to view the emails. I could use all three to send out a message, but then I've doubled the number of emails, and cluttered up MMS.

I share this information with you to let you know that I will continue to explore ways to efficiently and effectively communicate with you, right after I delete all of this spam...