Beyond Image: Learning-Based Communications - school public relations

School Administrator, August, 2001 by Brian Woodland

School public relations should influence perceptions by explaining what schools are about

Does your school district's public relations program include the following image-building activities:

* glossy district newsletters with a prominently placed photo of the superintendent and filled with good old news about schools;

* a Web site with a giant image of the district office highlighted by a message from the superintendent;

* parent communications that mention little or nothing about student learning; and

* brochures telling your community how generally fabulous the district is and how fortunate the residents are to pay taxes?

If your public relations or community relations staff spends most of its time on these or similar activities, stop it now. It's a waste of time arid money.

The unfortunate reality is that school districts often devote their scarce resources to image-building. Recently, for example, I saw a job description for a lead PR person in a major school district that lacked a single mention of schools, students or learning. If that is what school public relations is about, cut it from your budget. Take the savings and give it to schools. Image does nothing to help achieve school or student success.

Open and Accountable

Instead, we need to spend more time explaining what schools are all about and less time trying to convince people that what we do is right. We need to be open and accountable with the information the community demands, such as relevant and meaningful test results. We need to delight our customers, to share with parents ways to help children succeed, to focus on our internal communication processes. These are not easy things, but they remain the core components of a successful PR program.

Good public relations is not about making everyone think you are wonderful--that's an election campaign goal. But your PR investment can result in real and tangible benefits. Unfortunately, the one overriding, paramount reason to do school PR is the one most overlooked. Simply put: To encourage parent involvement in the education process and support student achievement.

Research says that better communication, stronger involvement between home and school, is the most powerful way to improve student success. And that is our bottom line.

A Student Mission

My job overseeing communications for the third largest school system in Canada is not about making the district or schools look good. it is about supporting student achievement. Our department mission reflects this belief: What have you done for students today? This is the filter we use to decide what does--and what does not--get done. That is the simple reason that district PR needs to be about learning, not image.

The National School Public Relations Association points out that 90 percent of school image is based on quality service: in the association's words, "doing a good job." Seven percent is listening, actively seeking out input from your communities. Only three percent is about telling, and that doesn't mean telling people what you want them to hear. Rather, it means delivering essential messages to targeted audiences. In other words, it is telling people what they want to know or need to know.

If your schools are not successful, if kids aren't achieving, no amount of public relations will help. If you want a great image of the district, the trustees, the superintendent and the schools, develop successful students. And communicate the success and how you got there.

How do you direct scarce resources, whether or not you have PR staff, to focus on learning? Based on my experience, three key areas require attention: Start at the top, talk to your people and focus parent resources on learning.

Start High

Effective communications begins with the district or school leader. Do a self-check: Are you an advocate for openness and transparency? Are you the system champion for engagement and honest two-way communication? Is it something you model?

In my district, the superintendent or associate superintendent often will raise the issue at a meeting, saying, "How will we let people know about this?" They have included me on the cabinet, so I am involved in the decision-making process, not just communicating the final decision. I have an equal voice as a member of senior administration. And they appreciate and listen to that advice. In fact, sometimes my suggestions have been counter to what the superintendent and associate have believed and they still said, "We pay Brian for his insight; we need to listen."

This approach helps us get ahead of issues, to highlight processes that may not have enough consultation or where we have potential landmines. As an organization, we have learned that the short-term pain of being out there first with an unpopular issue is far better than the long-term pain of the issue seeping out without a discussion or plan. And every issue/crisis/problem makes itself public in a school system.

Recently, for example, we were considering a program reduction. The decision was to go out to the community and explain the proposal in community meetings. Some colleagues wanted to call them "consultation sessions." I asked if there was any chance we might actually do things differently through the consultation. The answer was no. So we honestly called them information evenings and said the decision was set. Sham consultation is worse than none at all.