One of the fun parts of my job is to interact with our alumni via a Facebook page and last night, I saw the power of social media. One of our former students is now a landlord and his tenant left in the middle of the night with two month’s rent owing. After repeated attempts to contact the tenant, the alumnus simply posted the situation (with names) as his Facebook status and within 10 minutes he had the tenant phoning him asking him to meet. It seems that the tenant’s NEW landlord saw the post and told the tenant he had 24 hours to rectify the previous accommodations (and to deposit 2 months rent on the new place)!

The school’s Facebook page might not be this powerful but over the summer, Mr. Petrosian did a great job of keeping something “new” there each week. I encourage you to go there and “like” it so you can get some expanded school news (more than can appear here in the update).

We do not consider ourselves a school that is dependent on technology but we do think that there is a place in education for it. This is why Mentor and TEAM teachers use Edline as a means of communication and why we purchased another set of classroom iPads for the coming school year. We still maintain our “traditional” touches like a personal phone call every month and the fact that when you call the school, you don’t get voicemail…you get a real person who can take the message for you! We think that this blend of new and old technology works and hopefully you do, too!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School