Communicating in 2014

Within the past 24 hours, with my colleague Mr. Etherington, I have engaged in the following forms of communication:
1)  we've texted,
2)  we've spoken by telephone,
3)  we've emailed,
4)  we've instant messaged,
5)  we've met face to face for meetings.
(Note:  with the exception of one text in which he asked me if I wanted a sandwich from Harris Teeter, all of these communications were school related!  Also note: we didn't even use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc.)

These opening weeks of school involve a lot of coordinating and communicating among colleagues, but the past 24 hours has really not been that extraordinary.  I share this not with the presumption that anyone cares about the intricacies of my communication habits with Mr. Etherington.  Rather, we as a school (within our admin team, with the PTSA and School Board) are having lively conversations about how best to communicate with our parents, students, and alums -- and I think the record of my past 24 hours of communicating with just one colleague reflects much of the difficulties and complexities of communicating in 2014.  We have so many ways to communicate that choosing the correct form is often its own challenge.

The school is investigating many new tools for use in communicating with the various stakeholder of Woods.  I don't know exactly what new technologies we'll leverage in our new communication plan/strategy.  I do know that we'll need a lot of help in devising our strategy (so know that the admin team, the PTSA, and the Board would all appreciate your thoughts and insight).  And I do know that we're better off as a community if we're smart, deliberate, and frequent with our communication.

So, if you have ideas on how to improve communication within the school, please email or call or text or Snapchat or tweet or instant message or Facebook message or Instagram or . . .

We always want to hear from you, no matter what form it takes.