!

Proven PR Tools to Build School District Reputation—And Support

Student Success!

You’ve Got the Power!

Brian Woodland, APRDirector of Communications and Strategic

PartnershipsPeel District School Board

Mississauga, Ontario(905) 890-1010, ext 2812

Brian.Woodland@peelsb.comSee more on LinkedIn

What’s Changed?

•Information explosion/constant radical change

•Skills revolution

•Sophisticated/discerning public “Where is June Cleaver?”

•Societal issues - violence, funding, demographics

•Personal experience/reality GAP

The translation?

“The entire future of the civilized world rests on how well we do in public schools today”

Survey says

Health care and education are the top two issues of public

concern

The Brian Woodland rule:

Everything really wonderful that happens in a community, and everything really terrible that

happens in a community, connects back to a school

What’s Changed?

•Information explosion/constant radical change

•Skills revolution

•Sophisticated/discerning public “Where is June Cleaver?”

•Societal issues - violence, funding, demographics

•Personal experience/reality GAP

What’s Changed?

•Information explosion/constant radical change

•Skills revolution

•Sophisticated/discerning public “Where is June Cleaver?”

•Societal issues - violence, funding, demographics

•Personal experience/reality GAP

So what is the bottom line?

•The emergence of

Superparents

•also known as hyperparents

or high maintenance parents

My child

Half of preschooler parents believe their kids are above average. The number jumps to a dazzling 72% for parents of teens.

Source: Macleans

“Why should I have my kid come to your

school?”Learning About Schools: What Parents Need to Know and

How They Can Find Out, Prof. P. Coleman

Why should my child come to your school?

• high educational standards

• high graduate rate

• we help students make a difference

• full range of extra curricular activities

• warm supportive and challenging

• vibrant, caring community of learners

• exceptional staff

• great technology focus

• nurturing and respectful

• diverse community

The source?

• Private SchoolsA special interest supplement The Globe and Mail,Monday, October 18, 2004.

The best source?

• YOU!What are your top 5?

What’s Changed?

•Information explosion/constant radical change

•Skills revolution

•Sophisticated/discerning public “Where is June Cleaver?”

•Societal issues - violence, funding, demographics

•Personal experience/reality GAP

When the oasis dries up the animals look at each other

differently

What’s Changed?

•Information explosion/constant radical change

•Skills revolution

•Sophisticated/discerning public “Where is June Cleaver?”

•Societal issues - violence, funding, demographics

•Personal experience/reality GAP

Do you practice quality response?

What is quality response?

•When things go wrong—what do we do at school and education centre?

•If not our fault we are still judged

•It is at the core of reputation management

•Not just the “big bad” but also the “little bad”

•Judged on process and product – watch...

The Capri Hotel…-room not clean -power blackout

Survey says …How many of you have a district

PR person?

Not this…

• Question: What is the role and value of your school district PR person?

https://mail.peelschools.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-01-10/

There is a key difference between a communications plan and this...

Only one of them is actually magic!

 

On ounce of prevention… 

Unless communications is:

•A voice at the table•Focussed on learning•Part of the learning team•Integrated into the organization•Seen as more than a frill or budget cut fodder•Then they cannot manage hot issues

• The communication department’s work is focused on service to schools and their staff

Janet McDougald

Chair of the Board

Peel District School Board

Where does your communicator belong:

Business? Education?

Late breaking news…I do not have a strategic communications plan!

Phi Delta Kappa says schools with high confidence ratings:

•have clear goals, and they communicate these goals clearly within the school and to the community

•have high quality curriculum and extracurricular programs - they are seen to have “extras” over and above what the “average” school offers

•are safe and orderly

•have significant parent and community involvement

•exhibit openness, warmth and caring

•systematically do “need sensing” to find out what parents and others in the community want from schools

•work hard at building and retaining public confidence

Hierarchy of Effective Communications1. One-to-one, face-to-face

2. Small group discussion/meeting

3. Speaking before a large group

4. Phone conversation

5. Handwritten, personal note

6. Typewritten, personal letter not generated by computer

7. Computer generated or word-processing-generated “personal letter”

8. Mass-produced, non-personal letter

9. Brochure or pamphlet sent out as a “direct mail” piece

10. Article in organizational newsletter, magazine, tabloid

11. News carried in popular press

12. Advertising in newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, posters

13. Other less effective forms of communication (billboards, skywriters, etc.)

•That means … director and PR person have less power over public image than does the average school secretary or custodian

Your frontline people have enormous power…

Do they use it for good, or for evil?

What is the voice in your schools and

offices?

Are there people in your schools or offices who slam

the door on others?

Sign of the times

Catering for elegant social events

Sign of the times

Our specialty—do-it-yourself roast a whole pig parties!!

There is no inside/outside voice

“everything is great!”

and

“everything is a disaster”

cannot co-exist !

The voice checklist

• Do you speak with one clear voice?

• Do you have the information you need to tell the story?

• Is the one clear voice cranky? Negative? Hostile?

• What could help?

Do you have a psychic vampire…

Think about your school district

• Do you have a “fall in the salad” person?

Leaders?

• Do you as leaders understand your personal power over reputation?

Gremmar? Grammer? Gremmer?

What is the voice of your school board?

Pick the right PR tool for the right job

The 5 Power Tools

1

Do a good job

The BIG picture

What public relations can’t do--NSPRA

The 90-7-3 rule

•90% of reputation is based on quality service•7% on listening•3% on telling

The BIG picture

It’s a simple rule to get good PR--

Always do a good job!

2

Connect PR to learning

Within 10 percentage points, what per cent of

recent research studies indicate that parents

DO have an important impact on children’s

school achievement? What percentage DO

NOT?

DO 100% DO NOT 0%

A Michigan study of student test scores

found one factor that stood out as “The

most frequently recurring theme of high-

scoring districts.” What was it?

Intensive involvement of parents in their children’s schooling.

Research is clear that the vast majority of

parents want to help their child be

successful in school. What are the three key

reasons they say they do not?

1. No time

2. Don’t know what to do

3. Language

Who we are

Peel District School Board

• 1 in 2 new students new to Canada

• over past three years, registered 10,000

students new to Canada in past three years

• 90% of newcomer families don’t speak or

read English

• 47% of student population speaks language

other than English at home

Survey says-When it is left for parents to initiate contacts with the school, those contacts are likely to be antagonistic or unpleasant

-A common problem or crisis can cause parents to organize for action

-when parents get together for one purpose they continue to stay together and find other issues

Report on parent involvement, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education (1991)

Quick Tip:

Make sure the bad news comes from you

…quickly!

3

WOW service

Moving to WOW

Give a corporate example for:

Pathetic

Adequate

WOW!

Moving to WOW

Give a personal example for:

Pathetic

Adequate

WOW!

4

Power of three

Would your dictionary definition of you include words like “positive”, “kind”, “nice", or are you…

Let your smile be your….

Your task

To be a district Power of Three leader

5

Trumpet good news