Principals arrive in Phoenix for NASSP, look to social media

More than 2,000 administrators arrived in Phoenix to attend the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Annual Convention, “Unleash the Extraordinary,” planned this year to focus on the importance of skilled leadership.

The challenge facing principals today, according to Steven Pophkal, NASSP president, require school leaders to “see each boy and girl as a unique individual, develop their respective strengths and to unleash the extraordinary in each child.”

In the first full day of the event, the convention offered a packed schedule of sessions to help attendees develop their leadership capacity. One in particular caught my eye: “A School Leader’s Introduction to Social Media.”

The session description talked about using Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to engage students by using the same means many use to talk with their peers.

This really hits close to home with us at Walsworth, because we are working hard with schools to help them harness this media to build awareness of the yearbook and in the process increase the number of students who buy them.

Ironically, the news media has been touting that Facebook will be the downfall of the yearbook. In reality, it very likely will play a role in the resurgence of this tradition.