School and Community Relations

Allison C. Dunlap

EDU 506 Synthesis Project

School-Community relations rely on a planned two-way process that involves internal and external publics. The goal of the communication is to understand the organization, its rules, procedures, and needs. A two-way communication process involves giving information to the community, as well as receiving it. The Assistant Superintendent assumes the role of the Public Relations director in Abbeville County. Her role is to make sure the right person communicates information during specific times and events. The information has to be relayed accurately to the public. Her responsibilities include: communicating with television, radio, and news media at various times throughout the year to keep them informed of school and district information. Although our district is experiencing harsh budget cuts, Mrs. Hall enjoys sharing district’s website for the community to enjoy. With every job, there come challenges. She discussed the difficulty in sharing news that is not so good. She recently had to visit several schools to inform employees that they would not be receiving a contract next year due to budget cuts. Communication with the public is extremely important in regards to happenings in the school and district. Parents and community members are directly connected to the well-being and success of students. Awareness is important in building positive relationships with the community. I have seen no formal communication plan in writing. I do think improvements could be made in regards to hearing more of the community’s voice. School Board Meetings are typically open to the public; however knowledge of these meetings may not be made readily available to the community. More community members may become involved if information was easily obtained.

When developing a communication policy is essential to outline the goals. The reason for adopting the policy, the action of the plan, methods used to implement the action, and who will be responsible for putting the plan into place should all be thought of before putting the plan into action.

There is no communications policy listed on Abbeville County’s School District. My developed policy statement would read as follows: Wright Middle School, in conjunction with Abbeville County School District strives to create a positive, two-way communications process. Our school board, parents, community, and educators all play an active role in the success of every student. It is our goal to keep the community informed of school procedures, policies, and activities through multiple sources. Information will be readily available through our district’s webpage, as well as our school webpage. Hardcopies of information will be posted throughout the community, and informative emails will be sent to all interested parties. Public concerns will be addressed and are always welcomed. Working together and communicating on a regular basis will help ensure the needs of our students come first.

The mission statement is something that a school or district lives by every day in order to accomplish a goal. The vision is what we would consider perfection. I believe the mission may change over time, but a vision statement usually stays in place. I think we are in trouble if we ever believe we are perfect and don’t need to embrace change. In my opinion having the word “community” stated in the policy is beneficial to all. If there is no vision, there is no specific “vehicle” to reach a goal. Each policy should have a specific purpose, in which all involved parties should relate to and understand. Success is built from goal setting. In order to measure the communications policy my objective would include to have at least fifty to sixty percent of parents attend an informational meeting at the beginning of the year to communicate goals. By the end of the school year, having an additional ten percent of involvement would be ideal. As the policy’s success is practiced and the community feels comfortable in relaying feedback, the amount of support can only increase. The main objective is to make sure that parents and community are aware of the partnership that the school district is striving for. Goals for the plan would include reaching for as many media outlets as possible, updating information as soon as becomes available, and receiving adequate feedback from the community, both positive and negative. To reach these goals it is essential to have the right individuals assigned to these specific responsibilities. Appointing someone who is comfortable handling public relations would be ideal. This person may be the principal, assistant principal, curriculum coordinator, or even a veteran teacher. Media is especially important in the plan, because it determines if the message will be received and how it will be received. Beginning with television, radio, and newspapers would jump start the communications process when trying to build support. After implementing the various media sources, friends, neighbors, parents, and community members will begin to hear messages through word of mouth. Interest will keep the word traveling. After initially introducing an idea is when interest builds and the community evaluates the effectiveness mentally. After the evaluation process the “trial” begins. Community members and parents may begin to become involved and offer feedback. After positive personal experiences occur, it is safe to say that the policy has officially been adopted by the community. The school will ultimately experience success when this occurs. Updating information for the community is pertinent because it gives them a sense of importance. They may become detached if they do not feel like they are important enough to receive the information in a timely manner. The main problem when updating information, in my opinion, is laziness. If there is a specific person responsible for updating websites, talking to the media, sending out emails, hardcopies, etc. there should be no issue with keeping the information fresh. I think the idea of compiling a mass email list of parents and community members would be beneficial. When there are updates from the school board that the teachers may receive, the email could also be sent to interested individuals on the list. They community is more likely to support the school system when information is made easily accessible to them. When measuring media involvement, I would strive to reach eighty to ninety percent of the community. Abbeville is a small town and district. Some citizens are not equipped with technology tools that would allow them to communicate through email, or to study the school’s and district’s webpages. By using all of the media outlets mentioned before it would be most likely that the majority of the community would be informed. Information that can be made available to the public should be updated one-hundred percent of the time, within a twenty-four hour period.

Strengths of the plan include regular meetings with an advisory council, school improvement team, and the PTO officers and members. The advisory council improvement team would consist of representatives from each department, as well as stakeholders, including parents. Involvement will always be encouraged and welcomed. Building these relationships is essential to guarantee student success. A plethora of communication methods will allow the majority of the community to become involved. After establishing a strong team of individuals committed to the excellence of the education of all students’ progress will be inevitable.

Evaluating any type of communications plan will require extensive research. Results will be analyzed over a period of time, not immediately. Formal research on the plan may include a public survey that questions the community through a random sample. Data would then be gathered and studied.

When compiling informal data, methods may be more open-minded. Holding a question and answer time with the community may be beneficial. Instead of always holding meetings on school or district grounds, the school should go to the community. Possibly attending community meetings such as: alumni groups, religious organizations, clubs, etc. would reach more of the community when trying to receive feedback. The source of the research is also important to analyze. Research methods may include: mail, email, or telephone surveys, focus groups that consist of stakeholders, advisory panels, or online polls.

The method of evaluation depends on the time and money you are willing to spend to complete the research. It is my opinion if you strive for effective results, that sufficient research is done. Research could even begin during the original planning portion of the communications policy. Putting together focus groups early to access public opinion will help before a finalized decision is reached. Although all communities are different, most tend to accept or reject information in the same way.

References:

Bagin, D., Gallagher, D., & Moore, E. (2005). The school and community relations. Boston, MA: Pearson.