Manhattan Unified starts Twitter page
MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews in the office from which he sends tweets about school district news. Photo courtesy of MBUSD
In an effort to provide news and updates in a more timely and accessible manner, new Manhattan Beach Unified School District superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews earlier this month set up a Twitter account for the district.
“The idea is it’s hard to get news out there sometimes,” said Matthews, whose former employer, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, used the social networking site. “We have newspapers covering things, but there are also other ways to get things out.”
The MBUSD Board of Trustees at its August 25 meeting adopted several goals, including increased communication with employees and the public.
“In its adopted goals for the 2010 to 2011 school year, the Board of Trustees has made it clear that communication with our community is a priority,” Matthews said in a statement. “Twitter will provide a technologically relevant and instantaneous way of getting that information out.”
Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to post brief messages, called tweets. Users can become followers of other users to subscribe to their tweets.
On August 1, Matthews — who does all the tweeting himself — sent out the district’s first tweet welcoming people to the site. He has since posted about everything from test scores to Mira Costa High School football to President Barack Obama signing a new job bill.
On Tuesday, the MBUSD Twitter site at twitter.com/mbusdnews had 59 followers.
“More and more, sites like this are personalizing information for each user,” Matthews said. “If you’re interested in getting information about a school district or a city or anything, it almost creates your own personal newspaper.”
Matthews plans to tweet updates about any and all relevant district news, including student and faculty achievements, board meeting agendas and superintendent comments.
The district will continue other forms of outreach, including newsletters, email blasts, a website with an up-to-date calendar and through the media.
“[Twitter] is certainly not our only method of communication,” Matthews said. “But we know it will meet the needs of some of our community members. It gives us one more way of involving our parents and our community.”
Matthews said the district has no plans at this time to use other social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.
The City of Redondo Beach recently eliminated its Facebook page for liability reasons. Facebook allows users to post comments on other users’ pages, a feature unavailable on Twitter. Redondo, however, kept its Twitter account.
At last Wednesday’s meeting, the MBUSD Board also included in its goals maintaining high levels of academic performance, reviewing programs and curriculums, and being responsible with the district’s budget.
For more information, visit www.twitter.com/mbusdnews.