Bethel superintendent adds blog to communication tools.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

Bethel Superintendent Colt Gill may be one of the first Oregon school chiefs to dip his toe in the blogosphere, but he reckons that many more will follow.

Convinced that a blog would provide an easy way for employees, parents, students and community members to keep up on Bethel news, gain insight on his personal perspectives and weigh in with comments and questions, Gill posted his first entry July 3, his third day on the job.

"I do think it's one of the communication resources that's used a lot in the world right now," said Gill, 40, who led technology efforts in his previous job as assistant superintendent in the South Lane School District. `When you look at Fortune 500 companies, like the Sun Microsystems president, he wrote in an article in the Harvard Business Review, `To lead, you must blog.' We all espouse that we're `open-door,' but a CEO of that scale, and even me with 500-plus employees, how open-door can we be? This is a way to at least share your information with everyone.'

As Gill explained in that first entry, a blog is an online diary - a personal, chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page. Most blogs also provide an easy way for readers to post their own comments, and often they become platforms for intense back-and-forth debate.

Gill's blog hasn't evolved to that point yet. He's seeking feedback through e-mail for now, but hopes to eventually make the blog more interactive.

He posts under four main headings:

Bethel Happenings: His take on news, events and anything else that might affect the district.

Bethel Facts: Short tidbits about district statistics, programs, history, etc.

101 Best Things About Bethel: Descriptions of great things about the schools and the community

Q & A: He asks readers to send in questions via e-mail that he can answer on the blog, for all to see.

Gill especially wants feedback for the latter two sections.

Topics thus far have included the possibility of installing artificial turf at Willamette High School's football field, summer school in Bethel, the school district's upcoming local option levy and its efforts to improve math achievement.

"Mostly folks have said they appreciate another source of information," Gill said. "I've heard from quite a few staff members and a few other educators around that just really appreciate being open and sharing what's going on in the district."

He tries to post entries about twice a week, and so far, he said, he hasn't struggled to find the time.

"That's another nice thing about a blog, is it's on my time, so anytime I have a few extra minutes, whether it's 9 at night or 6:30 in the morning, I can do it. It's not something I'm tied to."

He does most of his postings between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., a rare "meeting-free" time, he said.

Gill said he has heard of only one other school superintendent in Oregon who blogs, but guessed that there may be more.

A quick check on local school district and government sites found minimal blog activity, other than a travel blog from Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken, posted while he was on a trade mission to Japan and Korea in June.

Craig Hawkins, communications director for the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, said blogs are an ideal venue for school administrators who want to be accessible and transparent with their employees, parents and students, and he's guessing the numbers will grow quickly.

"It's sort of becoming universal," said Hawkins, whose organization's own Web site recently converted to an interactive, blog-heavy format. "Think about the potential for a principal to be able to have a blog and have parents give feedback, and be able to answer a question for one parent and answer it for everyone else at the same time."

COLT GILL'S BLOG Click on www.bethel.k12.or.us and you'll find the Bethel blog under the What's New section on the home page. The direct link to the blog is bethelblog .teacherhosting.com.