Sarah Trumpp for FSB

Good afternoon

Sister Sledge - We Are Family (Official Music Video) Watch the official music video for Sister Sledge's timeless smash hit "We Are Family" from the album "We Are Family"Subscribe to the Rhino Channel! https://R...

Get to know your candidate, #2

The recent events with the rumored mass shooting got me to thinking about the way FCS Communicates with staff, families, and the public.

I love that FCS does robocalls to let us know about changes happening at the school, but I don't think they go far enough.

When you have a child in high school, the whole game changes. Those sweet little faces from my kid's first week of kindergarten are now gossipy teenagers. NO SHADE. We were all gossipy teens once!

I'm on my third go-round with a child in high school, so I'm deeply enmeshed in the world of teen gossip. When the shooting rumors were flying, I heard them all:

It was a planned attack, down to the exact date. It was an old post from January that was already debunked. The police had been called. The police hadn't been called. It was overheard in the library. It was overheard in the hall. They could have closed school but didn't because they only had one more snow day.

The last one was the one that lit a fire under my seat. My first gut reaction, as a parent, was indignation: My child's life is not an acceptable trade for an extra day off in the summer.

Of course, fires mellow and go out. Once my indignation was tapped out, I started thinking about the hows and whys of my remaining frustration with the school's communication.

The school has messaging issues. In this world of constant updates and information, I believe the school needs to create a new position or appoint someone to act as a sort of press secretary - someone who understands the power of social media and is willing to do things like address rumors and quash gossip, someone who understands how algorithms work and will be able to reach as many people in the community as possible.

An added benefit of this would be a more adept use of social media, allowing for more inclusion, highlighting all of the amazing clubs and extracurriculars that FCS offers in addition to athletics, more communication, and a healthy, well-informed public.

Mr. Dodge expressed his desire for better communication and more transparency at the last school board meeting, and this is how I would suggest starting that process!

Questions? Comments? Recipes for kombucha? Reply below!