Public Relations Plan - Essay Example

What the public thinks of one school carries a weight that could make or break it. To cope with the demand for information, public relations has become an indispensible tool for schools and organizations all over. With this, schools can maintain an aura of trust, credibility, and cooperation with the general public as well as the people inside the school. This is important in many ways because who you know and who knows you really count in any business. A single remark from a parent could ruin a school, not enough exposure to the public could limit the number of students coming to the school, and a bad image could discourage potential students from even considering enrolling to that school.

It goes on and on. With proper public relations, all those can be avoided. Communicating with the Community It is imperative that the school maintains contact with the people inside and around it. That means talking and listening to everyone from the staff, the faculty, the administration, the students and their families, and the community in general. The school must strive to empower everyone with information about itself, its current status, and the status of its students. It must also increase the amount of interaction between the school and community, in effect increasing the involvement and support of the community in the school’s affairs.

This can be achieved by holding meetings and events that could serve as forums where people can discuss about the important things relevant to the school. For the teachers and staff, Faculty and staff meetings could be held monthly or as needed to keep everyone updated and to provide an outlet for discussion; for parents, Parent-Teacher conferences can be done regularly to bring them up to speed with their children’s performance, any events in school to look out for, and to discuss better ways to help the children have the best education; Giving recognition to the achievers is also a form of feedback.

It gives a sense of pride and lets parents know that their child is doing well, while the student gets motivated to study harder; the students should also have a say through student forums and other such activities; to keep the school in the eyes of the community in general, some of the most concrete ways are distributing school publications or newsletters, student ambassador programs, and participating or hosting community events; other ways that are important would be cleaning up the school’s image through an awareness campaign or community outreach program, instructing the teachers to be more open to students’ and parents’ concerns by offering a listening ear to them, or putting up a ‘Questions, comments or suggestion box’ (or any equivalent) wherein anyone can voice a concern at any time.

All the while, the school itself provides the information in an open manner with enthusiasm and a visible concern for the proper education of the students. Crisis Management The best way to handle a crisis is preventing it, or failing that, preparing for it. Crisis aversion is the primary focus for crisis management. The school needs to look for possible crises that may occur and take the necessary steps to prepare for it. For incidents beyond the control of the school, steps can also be taken to mitigate the damage that can be caused.

First, prevention is the key. Check the safety of