Skip to main content
District
  1. Departments
  2. Communications
  3. Communications Home

Communications Home

COMMUNICATIONS

Public Affairs & Communications

The Moses Lake School District values proactive communication in building strong community relations with staff, parents and community members. We strive to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and maintain an environment of cooperation, collaboration, and community. The Communications Department will be the primary point of contact for media inquiries and for staff members seeking to inform the public about their programs. 

The Communication department utilizes a variety of services, tools, and strategies for communicating and partnering with the community. It is important for families to keep their contact information up-to-date in Skyward Family Access.

District staff should contact the Communications Department for assistance with any of the following:

  • Press release and media contact
  • Communications in emergencies or situations that may attract media and parent attention 
  • Incident letters
  • Additions or changes to the District website

 

Facebook and social media are never our first places to communicate important information or emergencies to parents.

Important and factual information is delivered directly to parents via phone, email, and text. 

 

Depending on the situation, the district will use one or more of the communication tools listed below to communicate information, weather-related events or closures, and emergency information:

Director of Public Relations
J. Ryan Shannon, CJE, APR
rshannon@mlsd161.org
509.793.7734

Share Your ABCs (Achieve, Believe, & Contribute)

Success stories happen every day in our schools, and we want to hear them from you! We invite our students, families, and community members to submit their stories for a chance to be featured on our communication and media platforms. Ideas include (but are not limited to):

  • Photos of 'learning in action'
  • Awards and Achievements
  • Unique projects and classwork
  • Educational opportunities, internships, volunteer work
  • Fun activities
  • Alumni or throwback photos
  • Upcoming events

Submit

  • Email rshannon@mlsd161.org
  • Please include a detailed description (who, what when, where, why etc) and any photos*, images, graphics, flyers, etc. that you would like to include.
  • Submissions including imagery will receive priority status, however we will do our best to honor requests for custom graphics or day-of event photography. 

Timeline

  • Stories, news, and events will be posted in a timely (but not immediate) manner, on a first-come-first-serve basis or as deemed chronologically appropriate.
  • Advanced notice of 10-12 business days is recommended for events to be featured and circulated successfully. 

*By submitting your photos; You grant MLSD permission to use and display your photo including on the MLSD website and social media. You and all persons featured grant permission and consent to use of photos on MLSD public websites and media. You retain ownership and copyright of your photo.


*If your concern impacts the safety of our students and staff, please call the building principal directly and/or the Moses Lake Police Department at (509) 764-3887.

  • Become a fan of Moses Lake Schools on Facebook and Instagram. Posts will include information on events in the district, highlights of student accomplishments, and more. **Facebook and social media are never our first places to communicate important information to parents.** We work to contact parents directly, via phone, email, and text first and we encourage parents and community members to do the same– administrators do not monitor social media accounts.

     

  • All schools, teachers, and district communication in 1 centralized place. ParentSquare will replace Remind and SchoolMessenger by the 2024-25 school year. Learn more about ParentSquare here.

     

  • An online resource that includes your child's attendance, lunch account, fees/ fines, and discipline information. Go to Skyward parent portal.

  • Newsletter (Smore) A monthly e-mail newsletter from the district office which includes news, school board information, and event/activity dates. *If you have a child enrolled in the Moses Lake School District, you will automatically receive newsletters.   View all current and past newsletters here. 

     

    Subscribe to our Monthly Smore Newsletter:

Social Media Accounts

 

 

One of the fastest means of getting information to our students, families and community is through our social media platforms. We share school schedule changes, closures, and emergency information (when appropriate) on the school district's Facebook. Please see our social media accounts listed above. 
 
Types of Information:
Emergency
School Closures
Schedule Changes
District and School Events
Celebrations & Highlights

 

Social Media Guidelines


The Moses Lake School District maintains social media accounts as an avenue to communicate important news and information to students, staff, and the public. The District respects the differing opinions of our community, however, this page is not intended to be an open public forum. The District encourages community members to comment on its posts to provide their opinions and feedback to the District, but all comments must be kept to the topic of the District’s original post. The District’s social media accounts are not intended to replace regular communication channels for sharing personal issues and concerns. Comments regarding a personal issue with the District, a school, or a staff member should be handled directly through email, phone, or in person.

Practice Civility and Respect. Our audience includes families and school-aged children, and users should keep that audience in mind when making comments. Moses Lake School District media platforms are intended to be a safe, positive environment to inform the community. They are not open forums to chat with MLSD administrators, staff members or Board of Directors. The District reserves the right to remove comments that it reasonably concludes:

Language that is harassing, discriminatory, profane, offensive, or threatening will not be tolerated. We will remove comments that do not demonstrate civility, respect, and reasoned dialog– including but not limited to:

Clearly deviate from the topic of the District’s post;
Contain profanities or lewd, obscene, or sexually explicit content;
Threaten or harass; Abusive and disrespectful personal attacks
Contain defamatory content; Hate speech, baiting or antagonizing
Violate the legal ownership interest or copyright of another party;
Invade the privacy of students or staff; Contain information about students that is protected from public release by state and federal law
Promote or advertise commercial services or products; Contain links to websites that are not owned or managed by MLSD
Incite illegal or unlawful activity;
Support or oppose political candidates or ballot propositions; or
Demean, disparage, or otherwise discriminate against a person or group in violation of District policy 5278, District procedure 5278, RCW 28A.642.010.

The District will not, however, remove comments based solely on viewpoint.

 

All content related to District business on this site is a public record, subject to retention and disclosure upon request. The District does not express approval or support for the views expressed by third parties.

 

Policy 2023 | Policy 5278