Collier County schools showcase classroom milestones via Twitter

Reporter: Nicole Papageorge
Published: Updated:
MGN Photo / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

NAPLES, Fla – The Collier County School District is one of the few across the country that has every school posting on Twitter, and the district’s push for better access is being noticed nationwide.

Inside Ms. Brady’s fourth Grade Class at Avalon Elementary School, the bright, young students are learning new skills every minute. Their parents can watch along at work or from home on their cellphone through the class’ Twitter page.

“When you’re able to go on Twitter, and see some video clips or some pictures of what’s happening, science experiments, field trips, special assemblies, it really brings the school to life and parents get a good idea of what’s going on in the day,” said Principal Jessica Campbell.

Avalon Elementary has the most Twitter followers in the district. But, all 50 schools in Collier County have Twitter pages to help make communication with parents easier. The school district has doubled its number of followers to 4,000 in just six months.

“I work from home, so I constantly keep up with the kids on their classroom page where the grades are and I can get an idea about what’s going on here during the day,” said parent, Lynn Gordon.

“It’s good for the families to know that their kids are safe and they’re getting a good education,” said parent, Leslie Everson.

If you think ‘tweeting’ is taking away from teaching time, think again. The teachers only tweet for about five minutes each day because it takes just seconds. It’s a critical tool if there’s ever a crisis situation.

“Now, that every school is on Twitter, I can take over any school at anytime in a crisis and tweet directly to them,” said Greg Turchetta, Exec. Director of Communications and Community Engagement for the district.

Other districts around the state and across the country are taking notice, following Collier County’s lead on Twitter to highlight their own students.

The district says students will only be appear on social media if their parents have signed release forms.

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