Spreading false information about what is taking place inside schools today is a rapidly increasing problem in communities. An AASA national conference workshop on Thursday afternoon provided suggestions for how to combat the harmful trend.
According to attendees at the one-hour workshop titled “From Distortion to Clarity: Helping School Districts Overcome False Information,” the main concerns of school leaders relate to parents posting false or misleading information on social media, the speed at which this information spreads and the fact that misinformation erodes trust in public schools and their leaders.
The session’s organizer, the National School Public Relations Association, represents school communications professionals and supports school districts’ websites and social media. NSPRA conducted a recent survey to better understand the impact that false information had on school district leaders, leading to strategies to take on this issue.
False information is contributing to a crisis of trust and affecting the safety of students. According to the presenters, misinformation lessens trust, damages relationships among parents, students and educators and increases workloads on school staff and impacts staff hiring pipelines. Educating students requires school districts to be considered trustworthy by the public so when false information breaks that trust, it harms students.
Cathy Kedjidjian, director of communications at the North Cook Regional Office of Education/Intermediate Service Center in Des Plaines, Ill., said school districts being a trusted source of information and being aware of current events is of the utmost importance.
She and her colleagues created advisory groups composed of parents and students to better understand what was happening in the community. As Kedjidjian said, “You can’t respond unless you are aware.”
The presenters said school leaders need more training when it comes to tackling false information because the spread of misinformation can be costly for school districts and is becoming a more prevalent concern.
Melissa McConnell, manager of professional development and member engagement at NSPRA, spoke about the relationship between false information and social media. She said it is important to use social media wisely and limit comments or messages that may be spreading misinformation. McConnell said the key to trust is being consistent on websites and social media and she stressed the importance of only using verified sources.
Barbara M. Hunter, executive director of NSPRA, listed a few strategies to combat the spread of false information. She suggested school administrators should not wait for things to come and quickly debunk rumors by communicating with neighboring school districts. Hunter also stressed the importance of media literacy to make sure sources are unbiased and suggested that schools’ communication teams should be knowledgeable about untrustworthy sources.
(Charli Slaughter, a sophomore at Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleans, is a reporter for Conference Daily Online.)
