A recurring theme this school year has been lack of communication, specifically from administration to students, families and staff.
Parents have complained – mostly via Facebook – about many changes from last school year to this school year.
While parents complaining on social media is very annoying, some of the issues mentioned on Facebook are valid.
One of the biggest complaints from parents is the lack of calls from the administration on Sundays. In previous years, Principal Evans Branigan III would call every parent in the school on Sundays and inform them of anything noteworthy about the upcoming week.
Now, the only used method of communication from the administration to parents is through ParentSquare.
Besides parents’ complaints, there are many flaws in the communication from the administration to students.
First of all, we hardly ever see Principal Danny Mendez in the hallways.
While it is understandable that he is busy, and may not always be here, we used to commonly see Branigan in the hallway, and almost always saw interim Principal Eugene White.
It would be nice to see the new face of NC in the hallways.
Another issue is that while ParentSquare is used for communication, it’s PARENTSquare: the students don’t get those messages, and it shouldn’t be relied on that parents have to share those messages with their students. The administration should also be communicating with students.
One way to do that is over the loudspeaker. Last year, Branigan would often come on and discuss both school successes and issues. Now, the only loudspeaker announcements are about homeroom schedule and bus changes.
Major events have happened this year, and many students didn’t even know about them.
One example of this is the recent death of school nurse Sarah Davis. Most students didn’t even know she had passed away, but apparently a message had been sent out about it via ParentSquare. It seems like more recognition is necessary for the passing of a beloved staff member, not to mention she is also an NC alum.
Another major issue came at the beginning of the year, when traffic was terrible for student drivers. This resulted in a shockingly high amount of tardies.
One day, however, the issue was magically fixed. This is great as a driver, but as a student it would have been nice to know the issues were being fixed, and the administration was actually doing something.
As we get closer and closer to the end of the semester, it would be nice to see the administration changing their ways to better the communication between themselves and the rest of the NC community.
