School Administrators and Twitter Description This session will exhibit ways that school administrators can successfully use Twitter to engage their students, staff, parents, and community.

Background 

I’m going to talk a lot about what York Public Schools has done and is doing with Twitter but I deserve ZERO credit for any of it o Chris Ericson is our phenomenal “tech manager” that creates our vision and keeps us moving forward in a very proactive manner o Stephen Sautter and Liz Kavan are our outstanding media center/technology integration experts that do amazing things with students and staff every day o Craig Badura, a former media center/technology integration expert in York, really helped us start on the path we are on today o Kris Friesen, Ken Booth, Kenny Loosvelt, Mitch Bartholomew, Aaron Plas, and Beth Ericson all use Twitter on a regular basis and have helped me along the way

Create the Brand, Promote it, and Protect it  “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing” – Pat Riley 

#yorkdukes is our hashtag on Twitter and we work very hard to promote it/protect it o We include it on our annual report posters, display it in our buildings, send it out in newsletters, on emails, show it to students, etc. to build up our “followers”  @YorkDukePower has over 1,500 followers & over 8,000 tweets o We encourage and get many of our students to tweet to it daily o I conduct a #yorkdukes search each morning and each night to make sure nothing derogatory is included  Have had to clean up some “trash talk” tweets from rival schools and their parents but for the most part, it is very educational, fun, and appropriate o We have multiple teachers and staff members in each building that tweet pictures and lesson tid-bits daily o All building principals use it regularly to promote what’s going on with their programs o We showcase #yorkdukes at quarterly community coffees or luncheons, at service club presentations, at parent open houses, at technology integration nights, and pretty much any time we have the opportunity o You need to tweet on a regular basis and get rid of the “egg” profile picture  I use Twitter as a daily “newsletter”  1998 newsletter notes vs. 2015 Twitter  It allows YOU to tell YOUR SCHOOL’S story….YOU control the content, the delivery, the twists and turns….not the coffee shop or not the Drama Mamas in town….  I’m always pleasantly surprised with who uses Twitter and follows us  GREAT opportunities to tweet with local, statewide, and national media on behalf of your school  GREAT opportunities to have strategic re-tweets to build up followers as well

o Interactive Tweets to engage students, parents, community, etc.  Show a sense of humor and that school admins are “people” too…not just these serious, no-nonsense robots that walk around all day….

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Attention #yorkdukes -- Tweet me your Final Four picks. Let's see who the best bracketeers are in York Duke Country. I just picked out the shirt to give to @jskretta for our bet. He will look fantastic!!! #yorkdukes @NASBonline It is hard to sleep when you can't quit smiling...York is special...academics, fine arts, athletics....it's great to be a Duke! #yorkdukes It was great to discuss K-12 school funding with @NTVsSteveWhite this morning. Thanks for coming to York! #yorkdukes YHS Speech is Conference CHAMPIONS!!! BOOM!! #yorkdukes YPS would like to go on record as NOT CARING if the dress is black and blue or gold and white. #yorkdukes That "extra mile" is a lonely place....definitely no traffic jams....#yorkdukes It's another awesome day at YMS....extracting DNA from strawberries! #yorkdukes YPS students and parents are encouraged to visit http://www.yorkpublic.org for important info regarding Tuesday. #yorkdukes o All of our schools are in session with no incident. Every day our buildings are secure with our buzzer entry systems. Go Dukes! #yorkdukes We would like to get an updated forecast at 5 AM before a decision is made. (Despite the pressure from my 6th grader) #yorkdukes o I keep getting approached for u to say no school…pull the trigger pops…you’ll be a hero…at least a late start Something to keep in mind....there are 8,760 hours in a year. Schools are in session for around 1,125-that's only 13% of a year. #yorkdukes YPS is HIRING an ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FOR THE DISTRICT OFFICE. The application deadline is February 3rd. #yorkdukes Objections left and right at a rapid pace.....YHS Mock Trial is handling it like champs! Round 2 will end shortly. #yorkdukes York Girls improve to 2-0 on the season after a 45-27 victory at Waverly tonight. #yorkdukes #nebpreps I include my weekly blog as “tweets” also and am amazed 8-10 times a year about how many people read those silly things

o Pictures from concerts, school plays, field trips, and assemblies o Score updates from athletic contests  #nebpreps is a whole lot of fun on Friday nights o Another Outlet for COMMUNICATION  January 27th and Bomb Threat brought lots of sadness and bad publicity to YPS  Twitter and Facebook allowed us to remind ourselves and everyone else about all of the GREAT THINGS going on within YPS as well….we needed that!  Snow Days  Reminders

It’s not all Rose Petals and Chocolate Ice Cream 

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“Energy Vampire Bean Counters” that will…. o Look to see if more tweets/facebook posts are made about volleyball than golf o See if there are more retweets for speech than one-act o See if there are more “likes” for basketball than wrestling Snow Days are NEVER fun on Social Media o Everyone is a meteorologist and knows what the stupid-intendent should decide AND they’re not afraid to post this to your school’s Facebook page…. o My favorite are the “cold day” debates….January 6, 2014 was classic…. Have a SUSTAINABLE plan in place for your social media footprint o Who is going to post? How often? Who will do it when they’re gone? o How will you make it as fair and balanced as possible?

Questions, Comments, Concerns…