Reaching out to students, parents and taxpayers through social media is a priority for administrators gearing up for the school year in the School District of La Crosse.

The goal: to celebrate student success and share the district’s story — 140 characters at a time through the microblogging site, Twitter.

Social media gives school officials the chance to “change the culture of your school 1 min @ a time” — that is how Southern Bluffs Elementary School Principal Lisa Schreiner tweeted out the wisdom she picked up from Joe Sanfelippo, superintendent of the Fall Creek (Wis.) school district.

Sanfelippo joined La Crosse district and building leaders for a session Aug. 13 to talk about his district’s social media strategy — and why it is important to reach students and the public where they live.

La Crosse Superintendent of Schools Randy Nelson is leading the social media effort with his staff. He tweeted this insight from Sanfelippo’s talk:

“We have the ability to brag about our kids all the time, and it’s in our pockets.” @Joesanfelippofc “It’s the new ‘fridge’.”

For more tweets from Sanfelippo’s talk, or other tweets from a two-day leadership team retreat, search on Twitter for the hashtag — #sdlaxdlt14

Follow the School District of La Crosse — @Lacrosseschools

Follow the La Crosse Public Education Foundation — @LaCrosseEdFdn

Follow David Stoeffler, executive director of the La Crosse Public Education Foundation — @Dstoeffler