“I know that Emily [the former BISD PR person that left earlier in the year] did a fantastic job, it is evident in ways that can’t be quantified, but when we start to think of the future all I am thinking about is cost,” said school board trustee Michael Cloy. [emphasis added]Another board member seemed to grasp the benefits of school public relations.
“I do believe that there is a residual that comes from this particular position that, though hard to quantify, I think it is easy to see by our attendance, by our enrollment, by the communications that our community gets to experience at a different level,” said school board trustee Eric Evans. [emphasis added]
Thanks to the Texas Legislature once again creating havoc with public education funding, costs and budgets receive the bulk of attention instead of the quality of instruction and student academic success.In my opinion, school districts that cut school PR programs and staff or those that continue to leave out funding to create a position dedicated to communications, lose a fundamental part of effective district operations.
School districts have staff for business, finance, facilities, curriculum, counseling, nutrition, transportation, etc. Each of the these people or teams bring an area of expertise that is hard to substitute or make up on the fly. But that is exactly what districts do when they disregard or cut communications. And yet, when surveys are done, superintendents are hired, and groups discuss the ways in which a school district can be better, typically, the number one response is, you guessed it, communication.
Communication is crucial to school district operations. The expertise that professional communicators bring is one that is hard to replicate with even the brightest of individuals. I'd bet that most district administrators believe that they are adequate to good communicators. What school PR people should be able to bring is the ability to see all of the moving parts within and outside the district and how decisions will be perceived. School communications pros must be able to have that situational awareness to grasp the challenges that are currently facing the district while navigating leadership through situations. Being able to simultaneously adapt to traps and ultimately reaching the district's patrons are what separates the school PR pros that are there to be strategic components versus those that are just press release writers.
I like that those BISD board members from the article seemed to inherently know that communications is beneficial. I just wish they knew why. Perhaps school PR people need to do a better job of explaining that.
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Photo credit: saxcubano via Flickr Creative Commons
