Developing and Promoting Positive School Narratives

In today’s world of social media, websites and mobile apps, school narratives are being developed and refined daily. School leaders then face a choice – take part in the development of that narrative or allow others to control it. With that in mind, many athletic administrators need to find ways to ensure that proper narratives are in the community.

Left to develop without guidance, a school’s narrative can go in any number of directions; and if the athletic administrator is not involved in this process, it is likely that the actual culture around an athletic department will not be properly or accurately represented. That is why it is so important, on both a daily and weekly basis, to share programmatic stories so everyone can understand vision and plan of athletic departments.

Student Involvement and Ownership
One of the best ways for schools to develop a long-running culture and narrative of positivity and inclusiveness is to create student accountability through student leadership groups. While schools likely have an Associated Student Body, developing one that specifically targets athletic events and strives to highlight teams in all sports can go a long way toward alleviating the all-too-common narrative that only a few select teams get attention from the school.

Athletic administrators can brand marketing for these groups by associating them with their school colors, mascot or slogans. While this makes it catchy and fun, and lends itself to spirit items such as shirts, gameday towels and other branded items, it is the intentional actions of involving students which creates lasting ownership and magnifies benefits for both students in the group and the athletes and programs being highlighted.

When working with student groups, it is important to guide the process by creating a calendar which targets important dates across the athletic department and makes all teams feel valued as part of this process. Choosing specific calendar dates to promote student spirit, such as senior recognition days or rivalry games, is a good way to start this process. This can also lead to student leadership groups creating and managing a promotions calendar.

School leaders can then designate students to create and design social media campaigns with multiple posts, leverage local businesses for possible giveaways to entice support and additional student participation, and even expand journalistic content to build excitement such as selecting athletes to be part of video interviews on the highlighted teams. When school leaders leverage these opportunities for all sports, athletes that are on teams that traditionally get little support from other students feel more included in the school program.

Visible Support from the Top
While getting student leadership teams involved in the process is one of the biggest steps to creating this narrative, it is important to remember that the athletic administrator and the principal are typically the most visible leaders in the school community. Whenever possible, school leaders who are a visible presence do not go unnoticed by athletes, coaches and parents. Being at events creates opportunities for interaction with various school partners and demonstrates care for everyone involved.

Visibility can also be paired with targeted communication to enhance community and is crucial to successful school narratives. It requires both a short-term approach and a lengthier targeted calendar. Newsletters that go to all school partners are an example of utilizing long-term strategy, with monthly or seasonal targets often being realistic and something that people can expect to receive with consistency.

Finding personal interest stories on campus to highlight the unique and positive stories in departments is a great way to spread positive information about athletes and teams, and showcasing team and individual academic success reinforces the focus on scholar-athletes and how interscholastic athletics are different from non-school, club sports.

The method of delivery for these larger narratives is just as important. An athletic administrator cannot rely on one method of delivery but must deliver across a wide breadth of options. Using social media channels, email, messaging apps, text messages and school-specific communication methods, such as Parent Square or Five Star, can help increase exposure and communication. In addition, weekly schedules can be promoted in these formats and are just as important as regular scheduling of social media posts to keep the community informed on a day-to-day basis.

Although sometimes overlooked, development of a strong website for athletics with a partnered mobile app is a great way to frontload all of the information that needs to be available to communities to better understand the finer details of any program. Websites are great stable resources when accurate information is posted and is accessible at any time for any school partner. Having items such as up-to-date schedules, rosters and contact information for staff can be a great relief for families looking for information and lets them know that details are important to any school, department or program.

Stay Consistent
Whatever narrative is created, consistent messaging and articulation is key to success. School leaders should create and share branding guidelines for both the department and for coaches and teams to follow. Specific logos, colors and even type fonts can be adopted to create a brand that is easily recognized. In addition, particular attention should be given to sharing a tone of inclusion to create spirit but also stay within messaging parameters that the school sees as supportive.

Creating such guidelines gives direction to student spirit groups as they can create positive narratives that display fun, welcoming atmospheres for all, while the department leaders might choose to remain more professional in their approach. When school leaders and students work together to create consistent themes that focus on positivity regarding events, students and schools, they create a positive narrative for the community.

Nate Smith is in his eighth year as the athletic director at Heritage High School in Brentwood, California, after serving in various coaching and leadership capacities during his 25 years in interscholastic athletics. He is also currently the president- elect for the North Coast Section Athletic Directors Association.