Archived News

The DeKalb County School District has launched a social networking initiative to interact with stakeholders and promote student success.

Officials unveiled DCSD’s new Twitter handle @DeKalbSchools at a May 3 event recognizing salutatorians and valedictorians within the district.

School spokesman Walter Woods said when Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson met with parents and community members during her 90-day entry plan, they said “loud and clear” they wanted more ways to interact with the district.

“Other districts have been fairly successful with using social media,” Woods said. “We really wanted to create a channel so we could report student success that doesn’t always make the news.”

Additionally, Woods said officials wanted to use social media as a way for people to keep up with what was going on in the district and to improve visibility.

“This is just the first phase and we’re going to do more. The reason why we chose the valedictorian event was because we really wanted to focus on the student achievement aspect. The next phase will be Facebook but we don’t have a timeline on that yet,” Woods said.

A press release for the event stated DCSD would be streaming it live on the district’s Twitter page and would be using its social media channels to promote “up-to-the-minute news, photos, video and other content to promote student achievements, as well as district news and information for parents and residents.”

In total, the district posted five tweets that consisted mainly of quotes from Atkinson such as, “These students will be our first posts on social media. We have arrived!” and “Our social media channels are dedicated to our students…Because there are miracles in DeKalb every day!”

In response to DCSD’s Twitter debut, resident Lauren S. Shankman tweeted, “@DeKalbSchools where was the dialogue? Insight? Conversation? Better luck next time.” Additionally, Parents for DeKalb Schools tweeted, “After @DeKalbSchools 5 tweet social media debut, we hope to see a more impressive showing soon. Social media guru needed!”

In addition to its Twitter page, DCSD’s YouTube channel 1DekalbSchools posts videos of events and information for students, parents and community members.