Published January 4, 2022

More text messaging and less social media are just a couple of the suggestions WCS received in its 2021 Communications Survey.

Approximately 3,600 parents, students, staff and community members participated in the survey, which will be used to help guide the district as it updates its Communications Plan. While some of the questions pertained to social media and the district website, others were aimed at finding ways to communicate more effectively with residents who do not currently have children in our schools.

“We sincerely want to thank everyone who took the time to participate in this year's survey," said WCS Executive Director of Communications Carol Birdsong. "Looking ahead, we will use this information to find out how we can best serve our school district community."

Responses for each question can be found below. Write-in answers about websites, communications outreach and general feedback are also available.

993 WCS employees responded. 1505 parents of elementary students responded. 2047 parents of secondary students responded. 133 WCS students responded. 143 community or business members responded.

82.7 percent of responders are subscribed to InFocus. 9.3 percent are not, and 8 percent did not know about the newsletter.

61.5 percent of responders do not use Facebook to receive WCS information, and 38.5 percent do.

80.1 percent of responders do not use Twitter to receive WCS information, and 19.9 percent do.

3551 people prefer to receive information via WCS phone, email and/or text message. 1380 people prefer to receive information through InFocus. 940 people prefer to receive information through WCS district and school websites. 711 people prefer to get information from Facebook, and 396 people prefer Twitter. 282 people prefer to receive district information through Instagram, and 84 people prefer the WCS YouTube channel. 601 people prefer getting information from the WCS mobile app.

1058 people get information directly from their child's school, and 213 get information from parent and/or booster clubs. 137 people get information from local print and/or broadcast media, and 266 people get district news from non-WCS social media channels. 156 people get their information from other sources, and 46 people are not interested in receiving district-related information.

47.8 percent of responders occasionally visit the district and/or school websites. 29.5 percent of responders rarely visit the sites, and 19.2 percent often visit the sites. 3.5 percent of responders never visit the district and/or school websites.

69.4 percent of responders find the district and/or school websites to be helpful, while 13.1 percent of responders do not. 17.5 percent of responders are not sure if they find the websites helpful.