The spread of false information is a problem that’s perhaps easier to diagnose than to treat. Although most school communicators already have full plates, ignoring rumors altogether is not the answer. “You have to take it on a case-by-case basis. If it's something that is gaining traction—if it harms students and staff, influences important decisions, or could have legal implications—you absolutely need to respond to that,” says Hunter. Here are some of the tactics she and Spence recommend for debunking false information. 

Make a plan.

“Because this is so prevalent and it's such a problem, we urge school communicators and superintendents to develop a crisis communications plan for responding to false information," says Hunter. “How the district should address it depends on the rumor, the impact and who's talking about it.” Because there are so many variables, Hunter recommends running drills for each scenario. “Then you have to evaluate how well that worked,” she says. 

For LCPS, the crisis response includes looking six months ahead and working backwards. “In school divisions, stuff happens. And the reality is, you're going to get through it—it's just how you get through it that matters,” says Spence. “So when I get stuck in a challenging moment, I ask myself: Six months from now, what's the story about this going to be? How do we map backwards from that?" 

One such challenging moment occurred when LCPS was wrongly accused of covering up drug overdoses among students. What was already a heartbreaking issue for the community then became a political talking point in the next gubernatorial race. Spence and his team decided the story in six months’ time should be that the district was leading efforts to help area students struggling with addiction. “There were no treatment facilities for kids with substance abuse issues in northern Virginia. So we needed to advocate for a recovery school, where kids could continue to pursue their academic goals while in full recovery from substance use disorders,” explains Spence. 

But then LCPS took it one step further, moving from advocating for a recovery center to providing one. “We worked with our General Assembly to fund a recovery school, and today, that school is serving students in LCPS,” says Spence. By thinking six months ahead, he and his team changed the narrative—and some of their students’ lives.

Use your own channels to become a trusted source.

According to NSPRA’s survey, Facebook is the channel most often used to spread false information—and social media platforms can be difficult places to set the record straight. The flood of content can quickly distract users from your message, and even if they are paying attention, your message may be competing with negativity in the comments section. Even worse, users on these platforms can fabricate accounts that look like yours and deliver false information as if it’s coming directly from you. 

That’s why it’s so important to establish yourself as a trusted source of information through the channels you control, such as your website, app and newsletters. “Find as many ways for folks to hear directly from you as you can,” says Spence. That means providing accurate information that is frequently updated and easily accessible to anyone who goes looking on your website or app. You should also make sure to link back to information on your website when you respond to rumors via other channels.

In order to establish its website as a trusted source of information, LCPS posts "Just the Facts" sheets on their site. These one-pagers focus on issues that are frequently the topics of rumors, such as collective bargaining, bathroom policies and cellphone use. They also post corrections and supporting documents. For instance, although it’s atypical to fight back like this, LCPS actually filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against a local news station that had repeatedly distorted facts to serve a particular narrative. Then they posted the entire 35-page document detailing the mistruths on their website, so the community could see why the complaint was necessary. 

It should go without saying that in order for your community to trust you, you have to be transparent and admit fault when it’s warranted. “You need to make sure your trust bank is full with your community because occasionally you have to make a withdrawal,” says Hunter. “School districts can make mistakes—they're made of humans, and humans make errors every once in a while.” But the biggest error is hiding the truth from your constituents. 

Cultivate community ambassadors. 

Your message is strongest when you let others do the talking—so recruit folks that other folks will listen to. For instance, parents trust other parents. Congregants trust church leaders. “If you want to get a budget passed, you can't be the person out there talking about your budget. Instead, you need to go to finance people and get them to talk about it,” says Spence.

The first step to fostering ambassadors is to arm them with information. Spence did that by launching a series of “Student Success Talks”: parent forums hosted at middle schools across the community. He brought “almost the whole central office” with him to talk about their areas of expertise and even to address rumors like litter boxes in bathrooms. Then they invited parents to ask Spence and his team any and every question they might have about LCPS. Now those parents have the information they need—and they can share it with other families. 

Similarly, to win over the local business community, LCPS invited over 300 business leaders to a Workforce Summit at the district. There they discussed the community’s workforce needs and how to build pathways for students to fill those gaps. Spence then challenged these leaders to go out into the community and advocate for his schools, sharing the positive work and steering the narrative away from contentious issues.

Speaking of contentious issues, sometimes cultivating ambassadors requires confronting staunch critics in your community. So Spence sat down face-to-face with the district’s local chapter of Moms for Liberty (MFL). The group, who had frequently disrupted school board meetings to criticize LCPS, wanted to talk about banning books. 

In their conversation, Spence found common ground. As a parent, he too believes he should have a say in what his children read—just not necessarily what other children should read. He went on to explain that while the district did care what they thought, board meetings weren’t the best forum for MFL to actually make a change. There was already a system in place for them to challenge books in LCPS libraries. While those group members probably can’t be described as ambassadors for LCPS now, they could be described as ambassadors for the process. 

Check in with your stakeholders.

It definitely does pay to cultivate positive relationships with members of your wider community. However, at the end of the day, the opinions of your internal stakeholders matter more than any outsider’s. 

When Spence first joined LCPS, he was disheartened to hear how the spread of false information had affected his staff. “‘People say such horrible things about us. I don't even tell people I work here anymore,’” he recalls teachers saying. “I mean, imagine hearing that from somebody who's given their career to the system. That is tragic.” But hearing comments like that eventually led the district to establish “One LCPS Celebration Day.” The event, designed to lighten the mood and boost internal morale, included districtwide photo and social media competitions, as well as a flood of positive news stories celebrating staff. 

On the other hand, if you ask your constituents how they feel, you might be pleasantly surprised by their answers. In a yearly community survey, LCPS has found that the state and even national negative rhetoric about their schools just isn’t shared by their school community. According to Spence, their surveys show that families “are aware of the amazing things kids are doing” and “the incredible talent” of their teachers and other personnel. “You have such a disconnect between how much the community loves their school division and the national and state narratives about that school division,” he says. If you receive positive feedback, you can use it to buoy teachers and staff who feel under fire. 

In a similar vein, your district may have vocal critics—but that doesn’t mean your community trusts those dissenting voices. When Hunter still worked at a district, a particularly critical blog was causing her board a lot of emotional distress. “I decided that we needed to do a trust and confidence survey of our parents and non-parent taxpayers to figure out, ‘What are the trusted sources of information about Fairfax County Public Schools?’ Honestly, it was the most revealing piece of data that I've ever read,” she says. Her district listed all possible sources of information—including that blog. And it turned out that while people did read it, it was last on the list of trusted sources. “That gave our board members some real relief and calm,” she says.

At the end of the day, school districts are there for students. “But if these rumors are eroding trust, that's a real problem,” concludes Hunter. “It damages relationships between parents and the school systems, which ultimately hurts students. It increases workloads, which takes time away from mission-focused activities that are all about student achievement.” 

“That's the most disheartening part of all of this misinformation. It distracts us from doing what we all know to be best for our kids,” says Spence. “It’s used to keep us divided rather than united on the things that we care about: creating great instructional experiences for kids, preparing them for life after they leave us, ensuring they have the skills to thrive in the workplace, and giving them a sense of safety and belonging at school. Despite all the nonsense, we're not going to be pushed away from our priorities. We're going to stay focused on doing what's right for our kids.”