Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
Ihave become reliant on my phone and laptop for day-to day information. I forget that due dates, appointment dates, contact information, and other such information was provided only once or twice and the recipient of the information was expected to keep it. And refer to it. And act on it.
While looking through old copies of the Hartselle Enquirer, I came across a full-page ad from Hartselle City Schools posted in the August 12, 1982 issue. What caught my eye right away was the Clip and Save for Future Reference prompt at the bottom of the page. Those who clipped and saved had all the information they needed for the school year. The others? I’m not sure what they did! Today, all of the information found in that ad is readily available to our community at any time of the year.
Included in the ad was: The school calendar Report card dates School bell schedules School bus routes A reminder about the importance of attendance Fee amounts for certain classes School immunization requirements HHS graduation requirements Scheduled school board meetings School lunch prices A special education notice of nondiscrimination A Title IX notice of nondiscrimination Contact information for school and district administrators Again, any of that information can now be found on the school’s website or the district website. Or on Facebook pages or X/ Twitter accounts or other social media pages and sites and threads and apps and emails infinity.
In 1982, school districts were encouraged to be transparent with their communities and to share information that parents would need in order to ensure their children’s success. And so the district bought a full page ad in the newspaper.
Over the years, that turned into a “better to tell them too many times than not often enough” way of thinking. That morphed into a “if you’re not posting it, it’s like you’re not even doing it” philosophy.
Long rant shortened to be transparent, Hartselle’s schools and district have, at times, been guilty of inundating families with so much information that those families have struggled to determine what was actionable. And so, while the social media-hungry love this amount of information the social media-numbed ignore more than they should.
And when those media-numbed families really need something, they are sometimes hesitant to reach out because they feel certain they have been notified and have simply failed to pay attention. Hey, it happens.
Need information? Call. Don’t hesitate to call. It does not matter if the information was sent three times and is available five ways, if you need it and don’t recall getting it and don’t have the minutes to search for it, call. If something in the educational life of your child hinges on a piece of information, call.
The point? Any information shared by the school or district whether it was shared in 1982 or 2024, is information that is shared to partner with parents in growing and educating their children. And so, it does not serve the child or the parent or the school for a parent to lack information or to go unheard. Great schools need engaged parents and committed communities. Great communities need committed parents and engaged schools. Even after 50 years, some things never change.
