By Angelina Vollucci
Assistant Business manager
Mira Costa students and staff face a crisis of communication. Students aren’t informed on campus events. A new, yet ineffective method of teacher-read bulletins has replaced the traditional intercom ones.
During an Education Council in October of 2010, an agreement was reached that second period teachers would read the daily bulletin in lieu of intercom announcements. This practice was implemented by the end of the school year and currently continues, resulting in ineffective communication and disorganization.
With the new communication system, teachers or their teacher assistants must retrieve one of the 25 copies of the daily bulletin printed from the main office, or print their own copy from the school website.
Not all teachers abide by this rule, and some teachers feel that it interrupts their curriculum schedules, while others simply forget. This lack of a consistent system results in students being uninformed on campus events, missing application deadlines and losing the chance to join new clubs, all drawbacks that could be easily remedied.
California Scholarship Federation advisor Karen Cunningham reported a decline in the number of applications to CSF at the end of the 2010-11 school year. She says many students approached her, claiming that they did not hear the related announcements and, thus, missed the deadline.
Club Day and Club Council suffer from the same effects as other Costa programs. Fluctuations in attendance are extreme, according to Activities Director Lisa Claypoole.
Students, however, have access to announcements posted on Mira Costa’s website and Facebook and Twitter accounts. Such an approach is theoretically beneficial because it allows for students to check the bulletin, but it has not been effectively implemented.
A solution should use the consistency of the former intercom and the convenience of modern technology. A system similar to the College and Career Center’s “eblast” would give students the opportunity to see the announcements.
To ensure that school information is disseminated consistently, the student body should be provided with the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds for topics that pertain to them (i.e. clubs and sports), which could then be sent to the student’s e-mail or phone via text message. The text system implemented last year has potential but has not been fully utilized.
If students stated specifically what information they wished to receive, they would be more apt to read announcements and benefit from their content.
The intercom was used because it was effective. Combining proven practices with new technology would create an effective communication policy and an informed student body.
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