About this page

This web page is a toolkit of resources—video, documents, and links to other sites—for principals who want to use social media to connect with their school communities. At some CPS schools, staff members and parents are working together with their principal on using social media; these resources are for you, too! As part of this toolkit, we've highlighted creative and effective social media use by CPS schools in a "Social Media Trailblazer" video series. We hope these will inspire you and give you ideas for your own school. For questions or to share your ideas, contact the Office of Communications at 3-1620.

Note to CPS staff: To watch these videos from a CPS Network computer, please make sure your login credentials have been entered. If needed, visit www.youtube.com and enter your username/password when prompted by the filtering system.

How to Send Mass Text Messages (via Twitter)

Resource from Twitter: "How to Get Updates on Your Phone Without a Twitter Account (Fast Follow)

Teaching Social Media Etiquette

Managing a School Twitter Page

Guidance on School Social Media

1	A school's principal is the only person with the authority to authorize an official school social media presence.
2	Principals who authorize a school presence on social media are ultimately responsible for its content and maintenance.
3	Principals who delegate all or part of maintaining their school's social media presence should think through their decisions carefully utilizing the resources in this toolkit, including the thought exercises below.

Thought exercises for Principals

8 questions to ask from chipubschools

Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media is an endorsed provider of digital citizenship curriculum and training for Chicago Public Schools—an excellent resource for students, parents, and staff alike to learn about social and digital media issues. You may find these Common Sense Media resources particularly useful:

For questions about this curriculum or to schedule professional development around these topics at your school, please reach out to Sue Thotz at Common Sense Media sthotz@commonsense.org.