Communication in action

As an elementary teacher, I believe increasing the effectiveness of communication in a school starts with consistency, clarity, and collaboration. One actionable strategy I use is setting up regular parent communication through weekly newsletters or digital platforms like Google Classroom or Bloomz. These tools keep families informed about what’s happening in the classroom, upcoming events, and student progress, helping to build a strong home-school connection. 
A real scenario that showed me the power of clear communication was during a recent grade level show.  A parent had told me that they didn't actively check our google classroom and was therefore behind in the classroom news.  I sent out a paper flyer reminder to check our class page so they would not miss anything further.
Another way I support effective communication is by fostering strong collaboration among grade-level teams. We hold structured weekly planning meetings with clear agendas and shared documents so everyone stays aligned. This helps avoid miscommunication and ensures we’re all working toward common goals for student success.Lastly, I actively listen. Whether it's a parent concern, a colleague's suggestion, or a student’s idea, making people feel heard is one of the simplest but most powerful ways to build trust and strengthen communication across the school.

Effective communication includes creating a clear message that fits the audience and situation which is received and understood.   In a heated traffic incident, we see some motorists clearly and effectively send a "message".  Humans are adept at succinctly letting others know their thoughts. When it comes to using communication in a professional setting we tend to get lost in the weeds. Positive Communication should always build relationships (personal or professional), and be based on respect.  While the purpose of the message, and the formality of it may change the goal of being understandable and seeking to unite people effectively should not.  

In our school we use 4 methods: 
Emails - These are typically formal, and shared with colleagues, families and students.  This can be an effective way to keep large and small groups updated, and also provide a followable train of thoughts, progress, and feedback.
Texts - We use these for informal communication, items we need feedback for quickly from an individual or small group, and for emergencies or updates we need everyone to read in real time.  Texts are also a way to check in on one another during the day, or after work.  
Phone calls - This can be between teachers, the office and calls home to parents.  These run from formal to informal and are the first go to for a sudden emergency
Face to Face meetings - These again can be formal or informal depending on who is involved and the purpose.

Each of these items are useful in their own right and have their own place in the school.  The purpose of expected/hoped for result as well as the recipient often decide the method.  

Emails are the most effective way to get the information out to the larger school community of parents and shareholders.  This broad sharing of information about a school event, reminder about up-coming vacation, or issue which has occurred is not looking for a response, but is informative. Emails within the school between faculty and staff make up a huge portion of what comes to our inboxes.  Our system currently lists the last response to the feed.  Finding this later can be a frustrating process if you do not remember who sent the original email.  This is a tech issue.  A key to communication is making it available and if written, retrievable.  Having a tech person on staff would be a benefit.  

Texts - where would we be without these?  This is the quick text to the secretary to double-check if a student is   absent.  Sending out a group text to remind everyone of a meeting if you know the day has been overly busy and people may not have gotten to check their email frequently.  Improved uses: I frequently message a teacher to see if their day is getting better - or to give them a heads up that a student coming to their class next period is having a bad day and what to do to possibly help it.  In some cases I text a parent to send them a photo of their child giving a presentation, or getting an award, or simply having a great day.  Another improved use - This is how we are informed of Snow Days. We also have tested - have not needed to use - a faculty and staff text in case of an in-building emergency.  This is here in case of a lock down, or lock out, and would allow us to "quietly" communicate with each other if the PA speaker were not possible or in our best interest.  While this seems dark, it is part of teaching in today's world, and offers an line of defense if you would. 

Phone calls are the more personal reach out to our parents.  While we often use these to inform them of a problem, I do like to call a parent with a positive message about their student.  If communication should build community, and provide a clear message . . . this does it.  

Face to Face Meetings offer a relaxed or formal way to truly make progress.  If there is a conflict I prefer a meeting to turn it into an opportunity for better relations, clearer communication where both can see each other, read body language, hear tone and inflection - and shake hands in the end.  If this is with a person I do not know well, I truly prefer this so that all parties can begin to form a positive relationship.

In the end effective communication is that the intended message is delivered and understood.  It involves creating or maintaining relationships.   In a classroom and in an administrative role we work to clearly and effectively send positive messages with our words and actions. We are looking to build healthy relationships in our small and larger communities that are part of our school.  

Effective communication is vital to the success of a school, especially within the school. At my school, one tool that I like is the weekly newsletter. Our principal does one every week and includes important information / events for the week, by date and she also includes information for the next week or two to come. Whether it's a reminder about school Mass, deadlines like report cards / assessments or dates she might be out for a meeting. It's crucial for all faculty / staff to know what is going on in the building. 

I think one downfall is that, not all the staff read it. The principal sends it to us via email and yet, some teachers admit that they do not read it. I'm not sure what the best way to prevent this from happening could be. The newsletters aren't that long so it only takes about a minute to look over. 

I think the newsletter is important to utilize. It's a way for the teachers to know what is going on in the building, especially since my school has two buildings. We have our Early Childhood Education Center which has one of our PreK3 classes and one of our PreK4 classes. The main building has two other PreK3 classes, two other PreK4 classes as well as grades K - 5 and Specials Teachers classrooms. The weekly newsletter keeps us all on the same page and even mentions important information such as school wide assemblies / events that classes are expected to be part of. With two buildings and various classrooms, it's important to make sure all teachers are receiving the same information and know what is going on. I'm not too sure how to make this more effective. Maybe in addition to it being emailed, it could also be printed out and placed in our school mailboxes. Each teacher has a mailbox in the office that is up to us to check regularly. We also have a mailbox attached to our classroom doors that daily information is placed in, that is expected to be sent home to the families. Such as the monthly newsletter or lunch menus, etc. Maybe when student mail is delivered to us daily, on Mondays, a hardcopy of the newsletter for the teacher can be included in this too. Although, there is no way to enforce everyone reads it. Regardless, communication is important and lack of creates disconnect amongst the staff which would not be effective. 

     Communication in the school setting is vital for the success of the school.  We currently have a weekly staff newsletter that comes out.  This helps us stay connected, but I think the newsletter could be enhanced.  It would be helpful if the newsletter included days when staff members had scheduled the day to be out.  This would help all staff members to keep an extra eye out to help the substitute, if needed.  One of my former principals would include this in the weekly staff news and this was incredibly beneficial to keep everything running smoothly.  I would also like to see the perspective student tours mentioned in our newsletter.  This allows everyone to know that we have unfamiliar people in the building. 
     Our current principal does break it down for the individual days so that we know what is happening each day, if there is a change.  She will also add upcoming events, like which groups have field trips scheduled.  One of the biggest downfalls of the newsletter, is that several of the staff do not read it.  You can tell they did not read it when several of us have information about an upcoming event and staff either did not know about it or are confused about it.  I am not sure what the fix for that is.  
     Once upon a time, we had a comment and suggestion box for staff.  I like the idea of having one, however, I also saw it used as a way to complain about everything.  It allowed individuals to be anonymous so they could voice their opinions without worry that someone would ridicule or scoff at their idea or suggestion.  As much as I would like to believe that everyone would be gracious of everyone's ideas, we know that this is not always the case.  I think the comment/ suggestion box could work, if everyone is gently reminded that the suggestions should be positive or offer a solution to a current problem. 
     I feel our current principal strives to create positive relationships with all the staff.  I think we do need to go a step further to help develop and foster a strong sense of belonging and community.  We really need to find time to do team building as a staff.  We do not always function as one unit.  Instead, we are small groups of people who have limited contact with others in the building.  We need to spend more of our faculty meeting time on team building.  
Communication is vital for administrators and probably one of the most difficult.  This may be one area that I am constantly revisiting to find the best approach that works for me.

In my experiences as an AP for Personnel and Communications, I have witnessed the benefits of communicating with faculty, staff, parents and overall stakeholders early and with appropriate reminders and follow ups.  It really does not matter the situation, but it matters when you communicate a message for it to resonate with the receiver.  If I am working with faculty on coordinating a professional development, or needing to share appropriate protocols, it is important that timing be respected.  With general/mass communications, I have always tried my best to inform faculty and staff early so they can plan accordingly.  I will also make sure to send a reminder so it can reach the top of the inbox.  If the circumstance calls for more interpersonal or one on one communication, I like to provide some context and detailed direction if I need to request a meeting which involves a more sensitive topic.  I feel this helps to set the tone of the meeting more effectively and gives the colleague the ability to be more open and honest with me when the meeting takes place. 

With general/mass parent communication, it is important as a school that our faculty and staff are aware that those communications are going out, so as to keep faculty and staff informed and prepared if any parent communication is met with an immediate return or question in need of clarification.  I make a note to inform when appropriate by providing a CC to the faculty and staff on our weekly parent letters, appropriate divisional communications, and of course on all emergency communications.    

Communication is key in helping a school run smoothly.  As an administrator, it is my job to make sure I communicate effectively with everyone.  My faculty and staff, my executive board of pastors and parents, and my school community as a whole.  Things I can do to make sure I am communicating effectively include things I have seen my own administrators do (or not do!) as a teacher that I think worked well or have tweaked to communicate better.  One administrator I had in the past used Google Classroom for faculty.  I really liked this, and so I will do the same. Inside each week, he included a faculty planner with the week's events and important details.   This was a place for all the faculty to communicate without getting bogged down with so many emails.  
It is also really important when emailing that the subject line of every email is clear, rather than leaving it out, initiating the "no subject" auto message.  Oftentimes, those emails can be overlooked and automatically deleted.
Communicating with families effectively through robocalls and schoolwide emails via our school management system has also worked.  However, you must ensure all info, such as emails and phone numbers, is current.  On the school website, I plan to create a Google form for updating parent info to help with this.  All communication must be clear and precise to families.  I am all for eliminating paper flyers to families, but to do this, the website (and social media pages must be current and kept up-to-date by both teachers and families. Marketing our school on these platforms is important, too!
When it comes to communicating face-to-face, I believe it is also important to be clear and precise in getting your point across, but more importantly, I must listen first!  Parents and my faculty need to know that I have heard and care about their concerns. With faculty, I hope to have an open-door policy!  This way, concerns and questions are dealt with in real-time.  Regarding parents, I hope to have a more "office hours" policy. One hour before school and 2 hours after for concerns that must be dealt with via face-to-face! A completely open-door policy may work for some, but I know, coupled with all my other responsibilities, it won't work for me!  Also, boundaries are important!  These are just a few ideas I have for effectively increasing communication in my school as an administrator.

Effective communication can be the difference maker in how a school properly functions. From the bottom to the top of school leadership it's important to ensure that everyone is on the same page. For example, if your school is expecting an important visitor, whether it'd be a potential donor, superintendent, or your parish priest, it's important everyone is aware so they can be properly prepared within their classrooms. Send an email or walk around to every class and let the teacher know what is happening. This is a situation most educators can identify with, as every now and then someone comes and visits their school for one reason or another. One example that might be less common is if the boiler in the school breaks in mid-January and now when you walk in the building it feels like you work in a polar climate. This is a situation where it's important to not only inform the staff, but the parents and students as well. Send an email blast, post on ClassDojo, call parents, etc., whatever you have to do to ensure the information gets out there.The students can come properly  dressed to manage the cold, and some may even choose to stay home so as not to deal with it. Whatever it may be, it's crucial for an administrator to be communicative with their faculty, students, and the school community as a whole. To not communicate problems or important updates can cause chaos and disorganization, and that can be difference maker between an efficient or inefficient learning environment.

Improving communication in a school begins with building trust and clarity among all stakeholders. In my own experience, I've seen how easy it is for messages to get lost when there are too many platforms being used...an email here, a text there, and a paper note in someone’s mailbox. To help with this, our school moved to using one main platform for announcements and updates, and it made a huge difference. Everyone knew where to look and what to expect. We also started having short, regular check-in meetings with our grade-level teams. These quick face-to-face moments helped clear up confusion, boosted collaboration, and made it easier to support one another. Another strategy that has made an impact is keeping the lines of communication open between staff, administration, and families. Our principal has an open-door policy and makes time to visit classrooms and chat informally, which creates a sense of connection and approachability. I’ve also found that reaching out to families before issues arise, sharing something positive or just checking in, makes parents feel more like partners in their child’s education. I started sending short weekly updates and posting photos of student work, and the responses from families have been overwhelmingly appreciative. Communication isn’t just about passing along information, it’s about creating relationships and making sure everyone feels informed, heard, and valued.