PARIS — With a new superintendent at the helm, Oxford Hills School District is expanding its social media presence.
Dr. Monica Henson’s first day on the job was July 1. The next day, a Friday, she announced on SAD 17’s Facebook page that she was launching a weekly live-stream called “Friday Facts,” where every Friday afternoon at 3:30 she would go live and answer any questions that families and the public care to ask.
By July 4 Henson announced that SAD 17 had started accounts on both Instagram: (instagram.com/oxfordhillsschooldistrict) and Twitter (twitter.com/SchoolHills).
As there were no questions queued up for Henson’s inaugural session Facebook live-stream on July 2, she dedicated the time to personally introducing herself to the community. The July 2 presentation can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=339593147736571&ref=watch_permalink.
“Communication is a big deal to me,” Henson explained in her live-stream. “And what that looks like in a school system is that we acknowledge we have received a communication we get people responses as quickly as possible. One of the promises that I will make to everyone is, if you reach out to your principal, superintendent, your child’s teacher…you will be acknowledged before the end of the next business day.”
Henson also announced that every Tuesday she will work from a mobile office, traveling to each school in a weekly rotation.
In the July 9 Friday Facts live-stream Henson fielded a number of questions about topics like special education, gifted and talented, school meals and social distancing plans for the next school year. In answer to a question about forming relationships with staff and students, Henson announced that SAD 17 will form a student cabinet with kids from different grade levels and she will meet with the cabinet on a monthly basis, the same as she does with the executive team and school principals.
“It will give students a chance to tell me how they think things are going,” Henson said. “They will have input into our district plan and they may be tasked with leading some of the initiatives that come out of district surveys…I believe they need to have a seat at the table…”
Video of the July 9 live-stream can be viewed here: www.facebook.com/355448554642211/videos/230646125550339
Henson will be traveling during part of July, meaning that she will not host any Q&A sessions on July 16 or 23, but would resume Friday Facts on July 30.
Supporting Sponsor for the Advertiser Democrat
Keeping communities informed by supporting local news. norwaysavings.bank
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less