Cherokee County Schools went viral over the weekend for its Twitter responses to students who were pleading for school to be canceled due to winter weather.
Communicating through the kids' lingo (even telling them they'd go to "CCSD Twitter jail" for cursing), the school district's Tweets humorously shut down any attempts to sway the county's decision.
@greenwaldjake Nice try, but the ice cubes photo is so 2015. 😴
— Cherokee Co. Schools (@CherokeeSchools) January 6, 2017
@Kasey_Cole14 Wow. I'm flattered, but not really looking for that kind of relationship right now.
— Cherokee Co. Schools (@CherokeeSchools) January 6, 2017
@connorj163 I can't lie to you. Sorry, brah.
— Cherokee Co. Schools (@CherokeeSchools) January 6, 2017
The methods were effective.
"We started the friendly banter with our high school student followers last winter to increase our engagement with them," Director of Public Information Barbara Jacoby said. "They'd been baiting us, and we decided to bite. It's all in good fun and shows them that we hear them and care about them."
It's true. Twitter "snark" has become pretty trendy. That's likely why @CherokeeSchools gained roughly 4,000 followers since Thursday's Tweets, according to Jacoby.
"We hope the kids who follow our Twitter laugh at the snark, and along with that, learn more about their school district," Jacoby said. "We know some parents may not understand the approach, but their kids are all about roasting; we keep our Facebook page salt-free because we know it's not the same audience."
Now that's good social media managing.
So who is the mastermind behind the account? Jacoby wouldn't reveal who it is, but told 11Alive that the "writer loves CCSD and its students, Jim Gaffigan, candy and short walks to the coffee pot. The writer does not like potty-mouths, whiners, bullies or warm weather."
Cherokee County did, in fact, stay open on Friday, but canceled afterschool and weekend activities. The county said it followed its normal process of evaluating forecasts and meeting with public safety officials. School Superintendent Dr. Brian V. Hightower made the decision to have school on Friday. The school district even laid out the process in a video and posted it to its Facebook page. (No salt in the post. Remember, this one is more for the parents).
“We can’t control the weather, so our best plan of action is gathering as much information as possible to make informed decisions based on our established process,” Hightower said. "We think we made the right call for Friday, as the inclement weather was predicted to occur later in the evening."
The school system's Twitter account doesn't plan to stop the snark anytime soon. It even posted a Tweet on Saturday calling out the parody accounts trying to steal its thunder.
Hello? Is it me you're looking for? Then remember: I've got the blue check of Twitter realness. The other guys? Pretty sus. #SafeCherokee
— Cherokee Co. Schools (@CherokeeSchools) January 7, 2017
