WHAT'S YOUR SCHOOL'S STORY?

If a total stranger came up to you and asked you to tell them about your school what would you say? What if a parent of an incoming kindergarten student asked the same question what would you tell them?  How about the realtor that sells homes in your school district?  Does she know the story of your school and is she sharing it with prospective buyers? What’s the parent of last year’s graduate saying about your school to others?

Telling the story of your school is as important as many of the other aspects of the principalship. Proactively telling your school’s story and communicating it every day in every way possible is critical especially in today’s education-bashing climate.  If you don’t tell your story someone else will and it may not be the story you want told.  If you find yourself constantly trying to combat negative news and perceptions, it’s time to rewrite your school’s narrative.  You do that by telling your story, by flattening your school walls and becoming as transparent as possible.

When we talk about telling your school’s story we are essentially talking about branding.  The process of branding one’s school means creating a unique name and image designed to attract and retain support from within the school and from the community at large in a very proactive and purposeful way. Information can be powerful.  In the case of storytelling, the more often the story is shared the better.

Telling your story in a proactive, purposeful and frequent manner helps ensure you are creating the school identity, brand and vision that you desire. Doing so allows you to influence or change the perception of your school, both with your team and within the community by:

1. Highlighting all the great things happening
2. Showcasing your people and programs
3. Focusing on students and learning
4. Articulating your reality and vision

But where do you start? Telling your school’s story must start inside the walls of your school before you can ever credibly tell it to the outside world.  It is important to start with your own school team.  Your team must be on the same story page.  They must know the story of your school and be communicating the same story.  Not sure how to get your team to tell the same story? Start simple.  Use faculty meetings, informal conversations, team meetings, weekly email messages – any and all modes of communication that are already in place – to communicate your school story to your staff.  Incorporate the values, beliefs, philosophy, and principles that you want your school to be remembered for relative to students and learning. These are what become the foundation of your school’s story.

The true test to determine if your school’s story is woven into the fabric of your team is whether or not your team members can tell someone else the story of your school with clarity and if their story matches the experiences within the school. Essentially, does what we promise through our story match what is experienced within the walls of the school from both the student and employee perspective?  Once your team understands, embraces, and embodies your school story it’s time to share it with the world.

Deciding which tools to use to tell your story can be overwhelming.  The following list is not exhaustive but represents the vehicles districts are using to communicate their school story with employees, students, parents, community members and beyond. One suggestion that may help you decide what to use is to find out where your audience “hangs out” on the internet, if at all, and what method of communication they prefer (i.e. print, video, images, recordings, live).  Be certain to include members in your community without children in school as they are often key budget vote determinants. Tools you can use to promote your school story include:

1. Social media - Twitter chats, Facebook posts and Facebook LIVE, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram
2. Podcast
3. Newsletters: Monthly, Budget vote (A great resource for creating newsletters is Smore.)
4. Blog posts
5. Email
6. Images posted on various platforms
7. Your school website
8. Videos-kid created videos and adult videos
9. Where in the world is (your school name)? (community members take pictures of themselves on vacation etc. in school gear and share it via virtual world map)

Finally, a few other things to consider when deciding how, where and when to tell your school story include:

• What structures do you have in place for community involvement/feedback?
• Use the same username/handle across all social media platforms. You want your school identity easily recognized whenever someone sees anything about your school.
• Create a school logo if you do not have one.
• If you decide to post to social media or other platforms, try an online scheduler to schedule out your posts. This saves valuable time and ensures consistent and frequent posting.

Remember, proactive, purposeful and frequent messaging is how to best tell your story.  If you don’t tell it, somebody else will.