WEYBURN — Keeping connected in a variety of ways and using a variety of platforms and programs is a vital cog within the South East Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD).
The needs are obvious and the delivery and acceptance of information becomes a stream of connection when required.
To this end, communications officer Kassandra Lawrenz and director of education Keith Keating presented to the division’s board members information and ideas regarding the needs and uses of communications systems. These systems have taken some precedence as one of the goals requiring regular check-ups and reportage.
The job of delivering the messages regarding messages was carried out during the board’s May 28 regular business session held in the SECPSD’s head office in Weyburn.
Keating provided the introduction and baseline information regarding communications, including the recent visit with the four MLAs who serve constituencies within the SECPSD borders. The visit included questions from the legislative members as well as information released to them regarding the operations of the extensive school system in southeast Saskatchewan that involves more than 8,100 students.
Keating said discussions included the ongoing construction of a new school in Carlyle, transportation issues, budget and funding needs, and upcoming financial pressures and possible reductions in service or programs.
He also noted annual meetings with the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division board and attendance at sessions with other agencies that work in concert with SECPSD.
School and division levels of communications were outlined by Keating and later expanded upon by Lawrenz.
She provided an introduction of definitions that included the terms “reach and views”, as well as shares and reactions along with qualitative versus quantitative in analyzing communication results.
Lawrenz said that shares are a term used primarily on Facebook and Instagram, referring to the action of distributing or reposting content to one’s own social media platform. Reach and view refers to the number of unique users a piece of content was shown to on social media while views refers to the number of times a piece was seen by a user including if it was viewed multiple times by the same user(s).
Lawrenz had some numbers to share with the board members, noting that Facebook was the favoured media channel with just over 3,000 regular followers within the school division, with many being teachers and parents. She even had a breakdown of centres where the SECPSD postings had been followed with the leader being Weyburn, followed by Estevan, Moosomin and Carlyle and Regina, and then a number of smaller centres plus followers in foreign countries.
Various posts received as many as 2,700 to 9,300 followers.
Instagram, she noted, had 583 followers within the SECPSD region, with similar age and gender breakdowns plus follower locations.
LinkedIn had 348 followers, she noted, and they were mainly public organizations and businesses that generally use that platform for their operations.
X had 770 followers who are primarily public organizations as well, and not as popular among individuals, with many of the organizational followers being the same as those who followed the division on Facebook.
“Unlike Facebook and Instagram, X does not give follower data charts,” she explained.
The posts that were followed and/or shared focused on such items as mental health, school highlights and accomplishments, school information (holiday breaks, calendar) and student and staff recognition and days of importance.
The views versus reach numbers provide information for the school system, she said, and encourages ongoing conversation around mental wellness or age-appropriate resources to staff and families, as a couple of examples.
Lawrenz said the types of posts are varied and most schools in the division have Facebook accounts, noting that social channels are a big part of how schools now communicate with families. Many family users say they use Edsby as their first choice to go to for information with social channels being a close second for usage.
These posts engage users in interesting or fun events within the school and are also used for engagement with school accounts.
Typical posts might include such things as employment opportunities, yearly calendars, registration information, bus information (cancellations due to weather), and recognition days such as Red Dress Day, Pride Month or Orange Shirt Day.
Posts can also include bus driver recognition and appreciation, individual staff members or student award winners, and division-wide accomplishments.
The communications leader also noted other communication vehicles that are used within SECPSD, such as newsletters directed to families, the division websites or SharePoint that is strictly an internal resource tool. She said the newsletters are sent out every month and may include such things as hiring ads, mental health features, important dates, media links and school highlights. More than 8,100 potential readers pick up the newsletters with about 54 per cent engaging with it.
In conclusion, Lawrenz noted that communications, whether they be external or internal, is a team effort with everything she shared that day, being a team project.
“There is no way possible one person can do the roles of everyone on a team. We rely on the specialization of others to create the best outcome possible,” she said.
Lawrenz concluded her presentation, and received a round of applause from board members and words of appreciation from board chairwoman Audrey Trombley.
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