Albemarle Schools, Inclement Weather, and Social Media

By January 18, 2013Communications, Social Media

Yesterday, snow was in the forecast. And yes, it snowed here in Albemarle County, Virginia, but it was too warm to stick. Preemptively, Albemarle County Schools decided it would be wise to cancel school, since the impending storm had a range of a few to several inches of snow. It’s always wise to play it safe when it comes to our kids. Some parents were frustrated, as they learned about the school closure. Albemarle is great about posting updates to Facebook and Twitter while e-mailing and calling parents’ contact numbers. I know I’m not alone when I say I learn of school closings from social media channels before any other media. In response to the questions, Josh Davis, chief operating officer for the school district and the voice of school closings in the county, created a video* (again, using social media to respond to social media; BRILLIANT!) to explain how Albemarle County Schools decides to cancel school for bad weather.

When any entity gets a flood of questions on a single topic, and that topic has the same answer, or set of answers that are given again and again, isn’t it smart to capture that response in video format and share it across platforms, so everyone can find that answer, before they even have to approach to ask? I think so.

Here’s the video:

*Thanks to my bud, @gingergermani for the inspiration for this post.