Riverwood Communication Model

Riverwood Elementary does a good job of communicating with all stakeholders. Below are some of the ways
the school communicates both internally and externally.

INTERNALLY: Admin->Teachers->Students->Teachers->Admin
Internally, information is shared via email and as needed. The emails are thorough and provide what the
teachers need to take action or communicate. The teachers are not inundated with emails, because they are not
expected to handle emails during their school day while with children. However, the staff is very responsive to
those emails and they seem to like that form of communication. If something is timely, then Admin also uses
the Remind App to send reminders to staff. Teachers often check their mailboxes throughout the day for any
information they need for students or from the office. Teachers will send notes from parents about any changes
in dismissal to the office in their attendance folder. Teachers can also use their school phones to reach the office
and have been trained to text an administrator for immediate concern or help. Non-teaching school staff is
usually armed with walkie talkies that they use to communicate needs and immediate information. Finally, the
school provides morning and afternoon announcements to keep the students aware of celebrations, upcoming
events, and dismissal announcements/changes.

EXTERNALLY: School->Parents, School->Community,

RES uses a number of formats to communicate externally. The communication methods are mostly one-way,
school to external. Twitter is used for celebrations, daily Kudos. These are awards given to students who show
exceptional acts of RAM pride. A picture is taken each day of the students and adults identified and posted.
Parents enjoy seeing their child promoted in a positive way and have grown to expect the posts daily. The
school also has a facebook page that parents and the community can “like”. Posts are inconsistent and mostly
positive about what is happening around school. This week’s posts were a reminder about the excitement of
school beginning, a pictorial collage of sidewalk chart art from the PTA, an announcement about bus
information distributed to students and a school supply project completed by one of the students. Teachers use
Class Dojo (especially in the younger grades) to communicate with parents how their child is performing that
day. If the school needs to communicate immediately with parents, a phone call is usually used to complete the
task. The school website is updated with information that helps the public navigate information about the
school. It includes individual teacher websites and information, forms, apps for students to work outside of
school, news about the school, lunch and bus forms and information. This is a resource that parents can visit
first to answer any questions they may have. Another valuable way the school communicates externally to
parents and the community is via newsletters. The administration team creates a newsletter about school
information, the PTA creates another newsletter about events and ways to contribute, and teachers create
newsletters focused on the students in their own classes.
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
Email Twitter

Remind App Facebook page

School Website Class Dojo

Mailboxes Phone Calls

Attendance folder School Website

Classroom Phone Newsletters: Admin, PTA, Teachers

Cell phone Remind App

Walkie Talkies Connect Ed (Recorded Message)

Morning and Afternoon Announcements