Announcement Guidelines

The distribution of District-wide announcements is administered by the Department of Marketing, Communications & Public Relations (MCPR). Please email your request for a district-wide announcement to announcement@peralta.edu.

Each college has college-wide email groups for the dissemination of announcements to their respective communities. To reach these, please email your request to the appropriate email address below:

• bcc-announcement@peralta.edu
• coa-announcement@peralta.edu
• laneypio@peralta.edu
• merritt-announcement@peralta.edu

District-wide Announcements sent through our internal email system must adhere to the policies and procedures as set forth by Board Policy 3720 Information Technology Use and Administrative Procedure 3720 Telephone, Computer, and Network Use. District Network resources should not be used for activities not related to appropriate District functions. Announcements are intended to convey official District messages regarding business, educational, or communal matters of the Peralta Community College District, or one of the four colleges.

• Messages should be respectful of the rights of others.
• Users may not request dissemination of defamatory, fraudulent, harassing, obscene, threatening, or other messages that violate federal, state, or other applicable law, or District policy, or which constitute the unauthorized release of confidential information.
• District information resources shall not be used for partisan political activities where prohibited by federal, state, or other applicable law.
• District electronic communication resources and facilities shall not be used to transmit commercial or personal advertisements, solicitations, or promotions.
• Using District Network resources to harass others is explicitly prohibited and can subject the sender to disciplinary and legal ramifications.

Messages must be checked for correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation before sending to Announcement@peralta.edu. Announcement requests containing errors will be returned to the requestor for editing and revision.

Please allow ample time for your announcement to be sent. Announcements are sent out several times throughout the business day, Monday through Friday. Announcements received after 3:00 pm will be disseminated the following business day.

The Brown Act requires 72-hours of notice before public meetings. Announcement requests for public meetings that take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, where the 72-hour prior notice would fall on Saturdays and Sundays, should be sent to Announcement@peralta.edu by 3 pm on the preceding Thursday to allow time for sending on Friday since Announcements are not sent on weekends.

Keep the message simple – if graphics and decorative fonts or typefaces are desired, create a separate PDF document and send it as an attachment. The attached files should be kept to a minimum. If multiple files are referenced in the message, it is recommended that the files are posted online via Microsoft SharePoint or OneDrive with links provided rather than attachments.

Email appropriate for District-wide announcements include, but are not limited to:

• District-sponsored events as determined by the Chancellor
• College-sponsored events as determined by the Chancellor and respective College President
• Peralta Colleges Foundation activities
• Activities that directly benefit the Associated Students at any of the four colleges;
• Retirement of an employee
• Death of an employee or former employee
• Announcements regarding newly hired staff.

Announcements that are messages for specific constituencies generally are not appropriate for District-wide distribution and those groups should utilize other available communication channels, e.g., group-specific email distribution lists, or the group may submit an article for inclusion in “Peralta Gems.” Please contact your collective bargaining unit leaders or your campus senate leadership to request the dissemination of messages to these specific cohorts. Additional communication tools such as Microsoft Teams and Yammer are available to employees via the Peralta Portal.

Each announcement will include the following statement: “For more information, please contact _______.” Always include your name and department, e-mail address
and telephone number in the announcement request so that recipients can reach the appropriate person for more information.

We welcome your feedback and suggestions about communication and collaboration. Please send your feedback or suggestions to Mark Johnson, Executive Director, Marketing, Communication & Public Relations at markjohnson@peralta.edu.