Everyone in the Loop: How Kealakehe High School Used Edlio’s Broadcast to Find Ways to Communicate with Parents and the Community
Attempting to inform the community about cultural events and school requirements, Kealakehe High School found it difficult to rely on state data when reaching out to families. By utilizing Edlio’s Broadcast feature, Kealakehe was able to simultaneously send information to all families, through both email and text, to keep the community connected.
Kealakehe High School
At-a-glance
Location: Kailua Kona, HI
School Type: Public
Population: 1,360 Students
Age Group: grades 9-12
Goals
Unify communication between school, home, & community
Use up-to-date data for communication systems
Reach community members via phone, email, and text
THE CHALLENGE
Outdated Data Made Connecting Difficult
James Young, the Student Activities Coordinator, knows the value and cultural importance the events at Kealakehe High School have in the community. When organizing the events, James found that it was difficult and exhausting to coordinate and verify emails that the state provided with the state-funded email sender.
"We have many cultural groups on our islands and they get together and perform. This and posting about our powder puff games, clubs are very important to us. We have our own school email sender but we find it increasingly difficult to target students and other members of the community because it is fully reliant on state data that could be outdated," James reveals.
THE SOLUTION
Consolidated Platforms
Being with Edlio since 2009, Kealakehe knew where to go to find out about Edlio’s new features, which proved beneficial because this is where they learned about Edlio’s Broadcast feature.
"We were using another mode to get information to all the students' families, but this was until I went to one of the Edlio webinars,” James expressed. “After the webinar, I approached my principal to ask why we were paying for two different information platforms, when Edlio has all that we need. Our website could provide the flexibility and we could hit one button to have everything sent to families."
RESULTS
Stronger Community Engagement
With Broadcast, Kealakehe High School is able to communicate their event information through multiple modes to provide superior community connectivity. They no longer have to rely on state data, but instead they are able to invite parents to opt in to receive information, streamlining the communication process and ensuring that families receive the information they need.
"Broadcast has made it easier for us to send texts and emails out to students because the parents opt into receiving the information and they can get it directly,” James commends. “That in conjunction with the forms package gives us more control than Google forms. It is great that families can subscribe to forms, texts, and emails so they can get them swiftly and directly."
Kealakehe witnesses Broadcast at work when the messages they send lead to further community engagement.
"I know that families definitely see the text messages,” James continues, “because every time that I text something out, I always have families showing up at the office because they know something is now available.”
Final Thoughts on Ways to Communicate with Parents
Edlio’s Broadcast isn't just used for school community events, but Kealakehe High uses it as a means to distribute district and state information as well.
"With everything that the Department of Education gives us, I had to upload a single document to 30 different sites or attach it to each email. With Edlio's Broadcast, I can send them to everyone at the same time whether it be through email or even text.”