Leadership Matters March 2014

Outreach

Weathering the storm: Sometimes blogging can help

By Superintendent Dr. Donald Owen Urbana District 116

local emergency management officials, I made the decision to close school on January 23 due to a forecast of -25˚F to -30˚F wind chill. I sent out a voice/email/text blast to all families. I immediately received an email from a parent who did not

I never thought that I would be writing a column about a blog for any publication. I am not a frequent blogger, and I would argue that a blog is pretty low on the list of tools a superintendent should use to communicate with families, community members and stakeholders. That being said, I did learn a valuable lesson about the power of a blog recently. I waded into online journaling slowly and with much trepidation. When I started my blog, “A View from Here,” ( http://dowendo-blog.blogspot.com ) a little more than a year ago, I did it for very personal reasons. I used the blog as a way to overcome writer’s block while writing my dissertation. It worked. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that my posts

agree with my decision. The gist of the parent’s email was that I was not very bright, and this decision called for a detailed explanation. I carefully crafted a reply that explained my rationale for closing school, and provided insight into my personal thought process and the steps in the decision process. I used that email as the basis for a blog post that I posted that same night. I titled the post, “Why are you closing school?!” which paraphrased a line from the parent’s email. The challenge that

might be useful for people who were interested in education. I wrote posts about whatever education issue was on my mind at the moment from Race to the Top, to mentoring, to the new Illinois Report Card. I tweeted my posts to followers and occasionally

Dr. Donald Owen attended Minneapolis Public Schools; earned his BA in psychology and education from Carleton College, and an MA in history from Illinois State University. He completed his MEd and EdD in Educational Organization and Leadership from the

superintendents and school leaders have is how to find the right communication method to reach the most stakeholders. There is not one correct answer to this challenge. In fact, the best communication method depends on a wide variety of variables. For this particular issue, in this particular context, my blog worked better than I could have hoped. My blog post generated over 20,000 page views and led to discussions in newspaper, radio, and television news programs. Now when I talk to parents and community

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked for Urbana School District #116 since 1990. He taught 8 th Grade U.S. History for 12 years before moving to the district office to lead staff development and grant programs. He served as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction from 2007 - 2013. This is his first year as Superintendent.

received a re-tweet, comment, or email response. My most “popular” post was about Race to the Top, and it received about 180 page views over the course of two months.

members about winter weather, I get a lot more empathy and support about closing school due to weather than I ever thought possible. The lesson I learned from this experience is that for some issues, especially those which are time sensitive and apply to a large audience, a blog may be the best method of communication. While I don’t plan to become a true blogger, who posts all of the time, I am now more open to exploring ways of incorporating my blog and other forms of social media into my personal communication plan.

That all changed when the Winter of 2014 hit full force in January. My mentor and predecessor told me that calling “snow days” were no-win decisions, and he was right. Despite the fact that every school district in Champaign County cancelled student attendance on January 6, 2014, I received dozens of questions, calls, and complaints from parents and community members. On the evening of January 22, after consulting with several other superintendents and

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