UX trip: school communication

School communications are frustrating. I often find them incomplete or confusing, and I think the schools are tired of hearing parent complaints about communication, too.

As a parent, I don't know what technology support the schools have for their communications, so I feel like I might be unfair expecting a bunch from them. On the other hand, I think there are some low hanging fruit the schools could fix.

My thoughts:

Don't make me click through

Shocker, I know, but school emails are not on my must read list. I want something quick and easy to scan, with critical dates and action items front and center. If I get an email like this (links removed):

In this week’s issue of The Weekly SPARK:

  • DPS Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
  • DPS Heroes Celebrated at Duke Football Game
  • Morrison-Danner Named Vice President of National Association

…and much more!

I'm probably not going to click. Looking at that summary, maybe that's OK.

Communication hub

I would love to know what school communications are available, and which I'm signed up for. My kid was sick last week, and I didn't get any communication from the school that they were absent, even though we forgot to tell the school for a few days. I don't know why - I get emails from them regularly, but I unsubscribed from texts, because I got too many.

I suspect this ask is quite a heavy lift for the school. They have many disjointed systems that send parents info: absences, the school newsletter, emergency texts, homework assignments (through canvas or Google classroom), report cards (through Powerschool). I don't know how they would aggregate all of this, but I'm just the UX designer, I don't have to implement it, right? :D

Emotional impact, review

I want email communications to be reviewed for tone and likely emotional response before being sent. We had an incident the first day of school in which an unknown person entered the school, was ushered out immediately by staff, then entered a car waiting in the drop-off line, then exited the vehicle and was detained by police. The email from the school more or less communicated these facts, and didn't emphasize that the person actually presented no danger - there was no weapon, and they probably were having a mental health episode. The original email induced anxiety about safety, and a quick review could have identified that problem.

Also, make sure the links work, please!

Honestly, I'm conflicted about these points, because I recognize that the school reps that are communicating on these channels may have better ways to spend their limited time and attention. All I can hope for is a little improvement, I suspect.

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