Community Relations / Communications
Communication Tools
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South Kitsap School District uses ParentSquare for school communication, primarily with email, text and app notifications. ParentSquare automatically generates an account for each parent, using their preferred email address and phone number. We encourage parents to access their accounts so they can download the mobile app and update their preferences on when and how they are notified.
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The official SKSD website is maintained through the Community Relations Department. The SKSD district website is full of valuable information featuring websites for all schools and departments. Parents, students, community members, and staff can search information about the newest graduation requirements, print out a form for renting a school district facility, find out what's on the lunch menu for next week, or look for staff development opportunities.
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South Kitsap School District uses social media to share event reminders, links to news stories in the local newspapers and links to news releases on our website.
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South Kitsap School District school administrators use ParentSquare to communicate with families. The District will also send out messages related to safety alerts, inclement weather, school closures and special events. In order to stay connected, it is important that families keep their contact information up-to-date in Skyward Family Access.
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Community Mailers
To ensure all community members are aware of district initiatives, programs, and news, we are producing a four-page mailer that is sent to every household in South Kitsap School District boundaries. The mailers are published three-four times each year.Student Calendar and Parent Guide
A resource of information on South Kitsap School District, the student calendar and parent guide is published annually and distributed at the beginning of the school year.
District Publications
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Please contact the Communications Department for printed versions of the publications linked below.
Flyer Distribution
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Peachjar for Digital Flyer Distribution
We are excited to share information about our partnership with Peachjar to help us unite schools, parents, and communities in our collective mission to elevate student outcomes! Peachjar’s platform streamlines school-to-home communication by distributing valuable school and community resources directly to families as digital flyers. By enabling our district to go paperless, Peachjar helps us save thousands of trees each year.Peachjar for Families
Peachjar organizes all important school and community information in one place! In addition to receiving emails from your school, look for the ‘Peachjar’ button or icon on your school website to view all active flyers.Peachjar for Community Organizations
Our district wants families to know about district-approved community programs and resources offered by organizations like yours! Peachjar charges a fee for this service, which is typically much less than the cost to copy and deliver paper flyers. There are many additional benefits to using Peachjar—clickable buttons that take parents directly to your website, flyer performance reports, and not to mention the time saved driving school to school! -
In accordance with the ADA requirements for digital content, all flyers must now be accessible to those with disabilities. This means that both emails sent to parents through Peachjar, and each school's Peachjar flyer page, must be compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies.
- Your flyer must be in a PDF format, 1-4 pages in length and under 6 MB in size.
- For ADA purposes, your flyer's text will be copied into a description box. Do Not Use scanned flyers or fonts that are 12pt or smaller. The software may not detected/translate the text correctly, which would require you to manually add the text to the description box.
- For best results, create your flyer on an 8.5" x 11" document in portrait orientation.
- Embedded links within a flyer are not supported.
- The red arrow in the photo below is pointing to a new "description box" that will pop up once you have uploaded your PDF flyer.
- You must carefully read the text to make sure it reflects the wording in your flyer. Any incorrect words will need to be corrected.
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To submit your flyer for district approval, review our Flyer Approval Guidelines, mentioned above, and follow the steps below. Paper flyers from outside organizations will no longer be distributed.
- Register your account as a Community Organization on Peachjar.
- Review Peachjar’s Guide for Community Organizations for information about discount pricing, flyer creation tips, and more
- Go to ‘Post & Notify’ in your account to submit a flyer
After you hit submit, your flyer will be automatically submitted to the district for approval. Once approved, your flyer will be emailed to parents and posted on each school’s web flyerboard for your selected duration of time. For more information on the process or pricing, please email support@peachjar.com or call 858-997-2117.
Behind the Scenes
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Emergency Situations and Communication
During emergency situations, we work to gather factual information as quickly as possible to send messages out to our families and staff. On occasion, the first information posted on non-district social media is from a non-official source. For example, a student texts a parent about an emergency and then the parent posts the text on Facebook, and the post is then shared by other parents, etc. This can be a problem and lead to worry among families. So why does it take longer for the school district to send out an official message?
- Gathering facts: When an emergency happens, the school(s) and the district strive to communicate factual information to the public as quickly as possible. But, as no two situations are alike, oftentimes there are details we need to verify. This can involve talking to multiple parties (such as the police or fire department, or families directly involved with the emergency) and this information-gathering phase takes time.
- Limited on what we can share: Depending on the situation, there are times we are limited on the details we can share. This could be due to privacy laws or due to an active law enforcement investigation. It is not our intention to seem vague when we say “We are unable to share specifics regarding XYZ.”
- Getting the message out: Once we have the message ready to send, we activate various communication channels.
What should you do during an emergency situation?
- Follow the instructions given in our message. This might include an alternate pick-up location for your student, or a change to the schools’ dismissal times.
- Help keep the schools’ phone lines open by not calling in and asking for additional information. We will send updates through the above channels.
- To help cut down on misinformation in the community, share the district’s message with local friends and neighbors.
Lastly, please make sure your contact information is always up to date in Skyward/Family Access. Your email address and phone number listed in Skyward/Family Access are the ones we use when sending out our message.
We value your partnership as we work to keep you informed. Thank you!