Principal-to blog or not to blog

Principal-to blog or not to blog by Penelope Swenson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Why might a principal want to blog, or NOT? Blogging is not for everyone. As a professor, I can do an occasional blog, but as a principal, you would want something more consistent. Do any of your teachers have class or “teacher blogs” that are on your school/district servers or using other systems? Some superintendents blog. Does yours?
Plus side:
• Timely information
• Promote the school
• Inform parents, community, press of calendar, activities, initiatives, successes
• Inexpensive means of communicating
• Keep focus on mission, vision
• Provide connections to articles, videos, etc. regarding developments in education

Minus side:
• Must keep it up
• Can say too much
• Some parents do not have access
• Legal issues regarding posting student names, photos
• Could be seen as political

Should you do a blog as a principal?
• Are you a good writer?
• Who is/would be your audience?
• Do parents have access to the Web?
• Do you have important information to share?
• Can you keep the blog up with posts at least monthly?
• What is your district policy regarding blogging? Must publications be approved by the D.O.?
• Could you use blogspot.com or one of the other sites set up for blogging or is that “off limits” for your district?
• Do you have the time? Will the blog save you time or be time/cost effective?

There are benefits to getting on the Web with your message. There are pitfalls. Read some of the blogs below to get an idea of what other principals are doing.

A very traditional, informative, support the school blog is from an elementary principal in Massachusetts. You will find it at http://pineglenprincipal.blogspot.com/ .

From a South Carolina middle school, this blog is similar in content to the one above but with a Twitter feed and podcast. See it at http://sullivanms.edublogs.org/ .

Patrick Larkin, high school principal, has a blog at http://burlingtonhigh.blogspot.com/ and his own Principal’s Page at http://cms.schooleffects.com/contentm/easy_pages/easy_page_view.php?sid=28&page_id=5 . Both have timely and useful information and links.

Check out this wonderful wide ranging and informative blog http://weprincipal.blogspot.com/ by Melinda Miller, an elementary principal with many interests.