Quincy board focuses on media

QUINCY - Quincy School District officials will be looking for ways to contact parents, especially using electronics, as part of an ongoing effort to improve communications with district patrons.

Quincy School Board members reviewed community involvement efforts at their regular meeting Monday. Superintendent Burton Dickerson said district officials try to work on it year-round, and review the effort at least once each school year.

Dickerson said school officials have been working on new ways to talk to parents, with Twitter being one option, and obtaining the most current contact information.

District officials have discovered that flexibility helps when trying to keep parents in the loop, Dickerson said, citing the case of one parent volunteer group.

Meeting at night was too difficult, Dickerson said, so it meets directly after school, a more convenient time for participants.

Good communication means "being sensitive to what works for a given group of parents," Dickerson said. As a result of talking to parents district officials are considering making minor changes to parent-teacher conferences, he said.

In other business, the board approved a trip to the national DECA (a business education organization) conference for three Quincy High School students. The students qualified for national competition.