The Thoughts Library
Every month we publish a practical take on school communications — what worked, what backfired, and what to say next time. The whole archive lives here.
Every school leader knows the feeling: You open your inbox and there it is—a frustrated parent, an angry staff member, or someone demanding an explanation for a decision they don’t understand. It is tempting to…
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Artificial intelligence is creating a new challenge for school leaders, and it isn’t simply deciding whether students should be allowed to use it. The bigger challenge may be explaining the decision. Across the country, schools…
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The school year is underway. Teachers are back, students are settling into their routines, and school leaders are already juggling more priorities than they probably care to count. Communications is one of them. The reality…
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Some districts get to start the year with a clean slate. Others don’t. Maybe it was a leadership shakeup that played out in the local news. Maybe it was a safety incident, a budget fight…
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Most school leaders have a mental checklist of everything that must happen before the first bell rings—staffing vacancies filled, schedules finalized, classrooms prepared, buses routed, buildings ready. Communication often slips toward the bottom of that…
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Summer is one of the few times of the year when school communicators have the opportunity to work on the system instead of simply working in it. The daily rush slows down. The inbox becomes…
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Every June, there’s a collective exhale in school buildings across the country. The hallways empty out, the buses stop running, and suddenly it feels like everyone — staff, families, even the local reporters — has…
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Not long ago, the role of a school communications director was often defined by outputs: press releases written, newsletters sent, websites updated. Important work, certainly—but largely reactive and often disconnected from the district’s core decision-making.…
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As the school year winds down, something predictable happens in nearly every district: communication volume spikes. Graduation schedules, final exams, field trips, awards nights, summer learning opportunities, staffing updates, facility reminders—it all arrives at once.…
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In districts across the country, a familiar classroom scene is quietly disappearing: students glancing down at their phones between assignments, during transitions, sometimes even during instruction. In its place, a new reality is taking hold.…
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The way people get information is changing fast—and schools are right in the middle of it. According to the Reuters Institute’s 2026 media trends report, two forces are reshaping the landscape: generative AI and the…
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In this episode, veteran school Superintendent Dr. Marc Bertrando shares why communication is no longer optional—but a core leadership responsibility for school leaders. Drawing on decades of experience, he explains how proactive, transparent storytelling builds…
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