Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Spin: LAUSD HIRES SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR TO IMPROVE COMMUNITY OUTREACH

By Barbara Jones Staff Writer, la dAILY nEWS | http://bit.ly/GIcXlF

3/19/2012 | 5:35:47 PM PDT /Updated:   03/20/2012 7:12:12 AM PDT :: Los Angeles Unified is about to go viral, with a social media director launching Facebook, Twitter and YouTube sites in an effort to broaden the district's community outreach.

<< Stephanie Abrams, Social Media Director, LAUSD.

Former CBS/KCAL reporter Stephanie Abrams, who started her LAUSD job early this month, also will be integrating other district and campus networks and working to create websites at schools that don't yet have them.

"The sky's the limit," said Abrams, whose television stint included coverage of the technology sector. "We're not sure yet what the response will be."

One of Abrams' first tasks was relaunching the district's Facebook page, which on Monday featured a photo of students from 186th Elementary School hanging out at "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno's garage.

The LAUSD's growing social-media presence

 

Using the district's new Twitter account, @LASchools, Abrams tweeted Granada Hills Charter High's weekend victory at the state Academic Decathlon and the debate over the budget at last week's school board meeting.

Los Angeles Unified's offerings on YouTube range from a video of Superintendent John Deasy grimly addressing the Miramonte Elementary sex-abuse scandal to one of math students scarfing down pizza and blueberry pies to celebrate Pi Day at Millikan Middle School in Sherman Oaks.

In the next few weeks, Abrams plans to use her experience as a TV news anchor to present a weekly update of information and events on KLCS, the district's in-house network, which will then be posted on YouTube.

While school districts around the country increasing rely on websites, blogs, email and tweets to get their message out to parents and the community, they seem to rely on a hodgepodge of public relations and IT staffers. Los Angeles Unified may be among the first to dedicate a full-time employee to increasing online traffic.

Her salary is being paid by the nonprofit Goldhirsh Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has previously funded community service grants to the city of Los Angeles.

"Having a full-time social media director on staff will help us get critical messages to students, teachers, administrators and parents more quickly and efficiently," said Tom Waldman, director of Media and Communications and Abrams' boss.

With Abrams working to boost LAUSD's online presence, the district quietly implemented a new social media policy governing employees' conduct on social networking sites.

Teachers and others must keep personal and school-related networks separate and student information confidential. The district also reserves the right to monitor email and other online exchanges on their district computers.

"District employees and associated persons should keep in mind that information produced, shared and retrieved by them may be subject to district policies and is a reflection of the school community," the policy said.

In addition to building traffic on LAUSD's main networks, Abrams will be working to launch and improve websites for individual campuses. Next month, she'll launch a survey of students, parents and educators to determine which social media they use and what schools need to get websites and social media accounts established.

"I'm here to bring LAUSD into the 21st century," Abrams said. "We're completely breaking new ground here. The breadth of what we're doing is massive."

Find out more

Los Angeles Unified's basic website, www.lausd.net, is being supplemented by a growing slate of social-media sites. They include:

www.facebook.com/LosAngelesSchools

www.youtube.com/LosAngelesSchools

twitter.com/LASchools

journal.lausd.net

btb.lausd.net/home (Beyond the Bell)

www.klcs.org (In-house TV network)

twitter.com/#!/klcstv

twitter.com/DrDeasyLAUSD (Superintendent John Deasy)

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