Communication in this day of Social Media and Smart Phones

By Roger Halberg
Special to Dixon Patch

A at Dixon High School got me thinking about the challenges that educators face in regards to communication within and outside of the school when an unusual or even catastrophic event takes place.

Recently a fire sprinkler and with it the fire alarm was set off when a student broke a fire sprinkler head in the weight room.  There was no fire but an evacuation was initiated. The was dispatched and on the scene in minutes.  The district Maintenance Department was there as well to address the situation. 

The water had been in the sprinkler system for four years and when discharged was discolored.  This caused some concern among those who saw it.

At least one student in the weight room at the time the incident occurred had a cell phone and took pictures sending them to his/her parent and who knows whom else.

I received notification from staff of the evacuation due to the fire alarm going off as a sprinkler head was broken in the weight room.  Shortly thereafter the district office started getting calls from parents seeking information on what was happening at Dixon High School.  Some stated that they called the school and got no answer.  (That is what happens during an evacuation)

As superintendent, I e-mailed our school board members, principals and all district office staff letting all know what was happening so that if parents called them with concerns, they could share the basic facts.

What was interesting is that one parent shared her concern about the water that flowed from the sprinkler.  We had not heard about the water discoloration at that time. She indicated she received pictures from another parent whose child had taken pictures and forwarded them to her.

This is part of what got me thinking about communication in this day and age.  A parent had pictures that I was not privilege to from the scene and in some ways had more information than I had.  All we could do at the time was state that we would investigate the situation.  We stated that we understood that all students and staff were safe. 

The principal, after assuring all Dixon High School students and staff were safely back in their classrooms sent a parent communication regarding the incident.  An automated, Internet-based, calling system that can deliver the same message all our parents in a matter of minutes was used for this.  But there was an information blackout time from when the fire alarm sounded and all persons on campus evacuate to the designated areas until the all clear to return to classrooms.

Yet, during that whole time there were people on campus texting, e-mailing, and using other means of the social network such as Twitter and Facebook to share what they were witnessing. 

My challenge is this.  How do I assure we get adequate factual information out to the school board, staff, students, parents, and our community in a timely manner to address what is going on? 

Do we designate on our school sites a person (and a backup in case of absence) who is responsible during these types of situations to be a Public Information Officer and have them gather and disperse information quickly?  That would remove this person from helping to assist in the safe evacuation during an emergency or disaster.  Can we afford that utilization of personnel especially during this time of severe cuts in personnel and services?  Can we afford to not have this position during this time of spontaneous communication by staff and students?

I am looking for suggestions and thoughts on how we can better address the needs of our education partners, which include our staff, students, parents, and community members.  Email me your thoughts at rhalberg@dixonusd.org

Editor's note: Roger is superintendent of the Dixon Unified School District. He submitted this column to Dixon Patch, as well as other news sources that cover Dixon.