New staff members aren’t the only changes people are noticing. The new school year also comes with a new look for the district's social media presence!

Recently, the school district’s Twitter account was redesigned. The updated page features a stylish new banner as well as frequent updates and announcements!

Dr. Jess Hiles, Principal of College Square Elementary School, and Emily Sanders, the district’s Assistant Superintendent, are both in charge of running the Twitter account. Additionally, they have created a new Facebook account for the district which posts similar content.

The purpose of both of the social media platforms are to strengthen the district’s community, and to get those community members involved in school activities.

“We’re highlighting teaching and learning in the buildings. It is a way of connecting with our community: our school community and our greater community. That’s connecting people to people, and that’s connecting people with information and things that we’re celebrating in the district,” explained Dr. Hiles. “There are a lot of big things happening, and [Twitter and Facebook presence] is one way that we can connect with our greater community to share that.”

The content for both accounts ranges from photos from high school athletic events to first day of school pictures from Dutch Ridge to video updates from High School Principal Sean Snowden to recognizing any and all other activities or achievements among the student body.

An important part of maintaining effective communication with families in the district is to ensure that everybody has access to the conversation. The automated alerts text messaging system is still in use and will continue to be utilized for important updates. The combination of those three platforms with the official BASD website ensures that information will be brought to the hands of families.

Dr. Hiles said, “you have to think outside of the social medias too, looking at our website and our automated alerts too to get communication like that. Those are platforms we can really reach everybody with . . . we have to be mindful again about multiple platforms for communicating so that we are reaching our total population of families.”

Although the social media pages can not reach families as quickly as the automated alerts system can, and although not all parents are active on social media, the Facebook and Twitter pages provide something that mass text messages can not: a real look into student life in the district.

“I think it has a lot to do with helping to tell the district’s story . . . It’s a way of spreading good news, and again, it’s celebrating; highlighting all of the good news that’s happening in our district. “[Administrators and staff] don’t always know, once you leave College Square, I don’t always know some of the great things that you are learning and doing in the other buildings. I think it’s a way of sharing that and making that a part of the discourse in the community too,” said Dr. Hiles.

For a look into the lives of students and staff at the Beaver Area School District, visit @BASDOfficialFB on Facebook and @BeaverAreaSD on Twitter.