It can be difficult keeping parents fully informed about your school's transportation system, because they already have so much else on their plates. Between dealing with their children's regular classes and their own day-to-day lives, they often don't think much about school bus transportation as long as their child knows what bus to get on in the morning.
However, there are still plenty of reasons a parent needs to be kept informed about transportation matters. From safety initiatives, to route changes, to upcoming events, as many parents as possible need to be kept in the loop.
There are two big keys to accomplishing this: Utilizing plenty of different communication methods, and being careful not to over-burden parents with too many unnecessary communications. Keep those two factors in mind, and keeping them interested in your transportation communications becomes much easier.
Read on for more specific tips on keeping your parents engaged and interested in your school bus transportation information,
5 Great Tips for Informing and Engaging Parents on Transportation Issues
1. Have multiple forms of contact whenever possible.
Don't rely solely on telephone, physical mail, or email. It's almost impossible to know which communication method a parent prefers or checks most frequently. The more ways you have to communicate with parents, the more likely it is that at least one communication will get through.
Of course, should you ever get information suggesting a method of contact is no longer viable, act immediately to get up-to-date information.
2. Get them onto social media.
There's probably no better way of keeping parents engaged with school activities than getting them connected via social media. At the very least, a Facebook page which parents can follow is a must. Other popular social services, such as Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, offer good alternatives. Even if the service doesn't allow for long-form messages, like Twitter, you can still include links to key materials online.
Instant messaging platforms are another good option, particularly when you have news that only affects a small number of people.
3. Don't abuse words like "important" or "critical."
People in general tend to suffer from desensitization to words like "Important!" because they are overused so frequently in advertisements, news articles, memos, and more. Particularly cynical people may even start assuming that anything marked "Critical! Must read!" is probably anything but.
So don't use such words unless it is truly a matter of utmost importance, such as a school closure or bus route change. Make your headlines\subject lines informative and to-the-point without hyperbole.
4. Personalize messages whenever possible.
The more you can do to make a particular message as personally relevant to the recipient, the better.
Or, put another way, don't send widespread messages about a topic if it only affects a small group. If one bus route out of 15 is changing, there's usually no need to email people on the other 14 routes. Just send the emails to those who will be personally affected by the news.
This will cut down on parents who start assuming news isn't relevant to them, because they've received too many irrelevant messages.
5. Work with parent groups like the PTA.
The most involved parents are almost always those you can convince to show up to events in person. If you have particularly important transportation-related news, work with PTA or other parent groups to make the announcement in person. Often, the parents in those groups can get the news out to other parents who don't attend as well.
Likewise, "Parent Nights" at schools are another great opportunity to get information out there, talk to parents, and get them interested in school bus transportation issues.
BusBoss Can Help You Connect to School Parents
BusBoss transportation software isn't just a great route-planning and analysis tool, it also allows you to quickly look up students\parents based on their bus routes, and tie into their listings of contact information and other crucial data. This makes it easier than ever to get news out to the parents who need to know it, with a minimum of time spent.
Contact us today to learn more about BusBoss or request a free demonstration!
(484) 941-0820
