Perkiomen Valley schools go on Twitter

No, Perkiomen Valley School District Superintendent Clifford Rogers won't be posting "tweets" telling residents what he ate for lunch today.

But the school district has started using Twitter.com, the social-networking service that asks "What are you doing?" on its home page. And the district indeed plans to let people know what it is doing - everything from school board meetings and school plays to evening community-education programs. Perkiomen Valley's Twitter site is www.twitter.com/PV_Schools.

The district already has an e-mail notification system for which parents can sign up. It wanted, however, to "target tech-savvy parents who are already twittering" - that is, using Twitter - by posting messages there as well, said Michelle Brown, the district's school and community-relations coordinator.

"This is a way for people to get behind the front page of our Web site to information they might not otherwise hear about," Brown said. "And with the links to cell phones, you don't have to be at a computer to access this."

The Jenkintown School District's guidance department started twittering about a month ago, said high school counselor Chrissy Kafkalas. The site is www.twitter.com/JtownGuidance.

Only a few students have signed up to receive automatic updates, Kafkalas said, and she says she plans to expand its use in the coming year.

"Sometimes, I get tired of the kids saying, 'I didn't know about that,' even after I've sent out notices," she said. "This is the digital age; now, I can reach them online. The messages are short and easy. I think they will pay attention."

The Tredyffrin/Easttown district is conducting a resident survey to see if using Twitter would be helpful, spokeswoman Chris Connolly Bakker said. The Haverford Township and Unionville-Chadds Ford districts also are looking into Twitter.

The Perkiomen and Jenkintown districts are catching a wave of popularity enjoyed by Twitter, a communications network that people can access on the Internet, by portable devices such as Internet-enabled cell phones, and via text messages. Messages are limited in length to 140 characters but can include Web links that contain more information.

Last month, Nielsen Online, which measures and analyzes online audiences, reported that Twitter had grown dramatically in membership, from 475,000 in February 2008 to 7.04 million in February 2009. It has become the second-biggest "member community," after Facebook, Nielsen said.

A large chunk of Twitter's membership - 41.7 percent - is adults ages 35 to 49, a prime demographic for school districts.

At Perkiomen Valley, Brown said, the district is publicizing its Twitter posts on its Web site. The district started using the service Wednesday. By yesterday afternoon, 27 people had signed up.

"Now, parents will know where to go to get the information they need," said one of the followers, Mary Ellen Polaski, mother of a 10th grader. "You don't have the time to go all over the [district] Web site, finding out what's going on. This is one-stop shopping."