Welcome to the first post of my Superintendent blog! I have used blogs in the past with various groups including new teachers, administrators, and students; however, I have not created a blog for the Palisades School District community. There were four questions I needed to resolve before venturing into blogging on a larger scale.
1. Why write a superintendent’s blog?
This was the first major question I had to answer. The district has numerous communication outlets including: the District Web site, building Web sites, The Palisades Patch (if you are not on the distribution list please register using the “The Palisades Patch” link to the right), Community Newsletter, Board and sub-committee meetings and posted minutes, articles by local news agencies, videos posted on Service Electric channel 103.4 or 261 (with a digital box), and notices via SchoolMessenger, to name a few. We are also in the process of placing our district videos on YouTube with a link from the district website. The purpose of this blog will be to add the Superintendent’s voice to current topics or events that may not emerge through our already established methods of communication and to solicit your feedback on those topics.
Another benefit of a blog is that the conversation will be available when you are ready to participate. I have also set up an email subscription so you can receive my posts as an email instead of having to access the blog. Please go to the “Follow by Email” text box to the right and enter your email address if you are interested in receiving this blog via email.
2. What will I write about?
I mentioned in the previous section that the posts are available when you are ready to read them which implies the posts are not time-sensitive. For example, in the midst of an emergency situation, the community will continue to receive alerts as opposed to needing to refer to the Superintendent’s blog. Similarly, if you are interested in all of the amazing community and district events occurring in the upcoming weeks, please continue to rely on The Patch since it is distributed weekly during the school year.
The Superintendent’s blog will highlight special interest stories and educational issues from the district and community as well as feature guest bloggers. I would also like to know what you would like to see written in a blog post. Please use the “Make a Suggestion!” link to the right if you would like to share a topic idea with me.
3. How will I handle comments?
The benefit of a blog is that it promotes two-way interaction which is why comments will be allowed. However, if you already communicate with me via email, phone call or meetings to discuss issues please continue to use those methods of communication if they work best for you. This blog does not take the place of those communication methods; rather it simply adds another option.
The two issues that concern me regarding blog comments are being inundated with spam and handling inappropriate comments. This is how I plan to address both. If a comment looks like spam (a one-line response, anonymous, contains a link, written in a foreign language, or includes “visit my blog”) I will review the comment more closely and if it is spam, the message will be deleted. If a comment is inappropriate (profane or disparaging, names an individual, is not relevant to the topic of the blog specifically or education in general) I will delete it.
4. How often will I blog?
I will set an initially conservative goal of at least once a month but I plan to post more frequently. I already plan to blog again soon, so stay tuned…
