Achieving Community Awareness and Commitment - Case Study Example

Assignment 8 Activity 8: Signature Assignment - Achieving Community Awareness and Commitment Assignment 8 Activity 8: Signature Assignment - Achieving Community Awareness and Commitment Pulaski County Special School District Introduction Pulaski County Special Schools is one of the most established school districts in Alaska. It is headed by Dr. Guess Jerry as the District Superintendent of Schools. Since its inception, the district has tremendously grown. Currently, it has a total of seven elementary, middle and high schools. These include Murrell Taylor Elementary; Pine Wood Elementary; Cato Elementary; Maumelle Middle School; Northwood Middle School; Learning Academy High School; and North Pulaski High School. Each of these schools is committed to offering high quality service to the learners. This is made possible by the presence of highly trained and motivated staff that works hand in hand with the school management. At the same time, there is a close collaboration between the schools and the community members. Since these schools draw their learners from the society, it s essential to establish a good rapport between the teachers, school administrators and the parents, guardians and the general public. These are all stakeholders who have a lot of contributions to make towards the prosperity of these institutions. All these are made possible by the effective communication between them. As a highly progressive district, the management of Pulaski County Special School District is committed to embracing modern technology in facilitating effective communication amongst all the stakeholders. Whenever there is any message to deliver, the district uses all the available media to access the target audience. These include, but not limited to telephone, email, fax, broadcast and online media (Goldin, C. & Katz, L.F., 2008). Thus, it becomes easier to bring the school community closer so as to provide their support whenever a need arises. Pulaski County Special School District Report Card As a well organized school district in Alaska State, Pulaski County Special School District has demonstrated a sterling performance for a very long time now. This has been demonstrated by the report card data released for the state. As a result of the good management of the district by Dr. Jerry, it has managed to have a good reputation amongst other school district in the larger Alaska state. The motivation of the teachers by each school administrators has enabled them to deliver their best services to the learners. Thus, they have been holistically prepared to be all round learners both in academic and extra-curricular activities. However, according to the latest, report, the school district’s sterling performance was diluted by a few schools. According to the latest records posted at the School Report Card Archive (https://applications.education.ky.gov/schoolreportcardarchive/default.aspx ), Pulaski County School District never produced impressive results. This is because of the following reasons: i. High school department requires to have a community member speech team coach ii. There were low scores in Mathematics in the middle schools in the district. In fact, lower than the anticipated grades iii. Two of the elementary schools scored a ‘C’ grade during safety inspection. Areas Questioned in the Report Card Obviously, many people are concerned about the educational development I the country. When schools register high scores during such rankings, it demonstrates that they are properly managed. However, any dismal performance can demoralize the community and make them lose confidence in their management. Since most people focus on academics, the schools should have promising academic results when compared to others in the state or throughout the country. If they adequately prepare their learners, they will undoubtedly produce excellent results. In case this happens, they will be in a position of competing with others. At the same time, they will win the confidence of the local community which will support it through whichever means. The other question that many [people can ask about the school district is its performance in terms of security. With the increased cases of insecurity, many parents are concerned about the safety of their children. They only want to take their children to safer institutions in which their lives might not be jeopardized by exposure to terrorists, homicides, kidnappings and accidents. When pupils feel secure, they will not be troubled in any way. Instead, they will get time to concentrate on their studies throughout their time in school. Hence, it is upon the school administrators to take deliberate measures to ensure that their learners are safer while both within and out of the schools. Lastly, many people are concerned about the relationship between the school and the community. Given that schools are situated in the community, they have to take children from there and prepare them for life there. Meaning, they serve a very important role in making learners be able to be better community members. While doing this, it is essential for these schools to closely liaise with the community members (Schramm, W., 2002). If the schools cooperate with the local population, it will be good for them. In most cases, the community members are always ready to support the schools whenever they feel that there is any issue to be addressed. In the long run, these schools end up benefiting from their relationships. Personal Reactions to the Report Card Indeed, the national and state boards of education are justified to closely monitor the performance of schools within the country. A part from promoting competition amongst these learning institutions, it helps in assessing performance and providing a framework for improvements. Based on the recent report card, I would like to commend the management of Pulaski Special School District for producing good results. Actually, it proves that the teachers, principals and the District Superintendent of Schools are performers. The generation of high grades in most of the subject areas clearly indicates that the district prioritizes academic work. This explains why nearly all schools registered a good improvement. The performance of most of the subjects was quite appealing. Thus, the district was ranked amongst the best district schools in Alaska. However, I would like to stress that the identified areas that need improvements should be immediately addressed. The District Superintendent of Schools should collaborate with respective school principals and concerned teachers to identify the challenges and make the necessary changes in mathematics (Winters, M., 2004). This will help in improving the performance of this subject. I would also like to point out that there exists a cordial relationship between the schools and the community. As already highlighted, Pulaski Special School District is aware of the important contributions of the community members to the local schools. Thus, the management has been taking the initiative to closely work with them and incorporate them in major school activities. Whenever there is any decision to be made, they have to be involved. However, as noted, the communication system has not been properly developed. Instead of relying on letters, phone calls and print media, each and every school should have their own web site where they publish their information and up date it throughout the year. Here, they can post their news, circulars and newsletters. Online media has become very popular amongst the community members. It should be used because it has a potential of reaching a wide audience. The Forthcoming Competition On 15th/01/2014, Pulaski Special School District Superintendent, Dr. Guess received a high priority email from Alaska State Board of Education about the forthcoming all round schools competition in the state. According to the mail, a total of 25 elementary, 25 middle and 25 high schools from each of the 50 states in the country would be and evaluated and judged as the best all round schools in the state. In this competition, the State Board of Education will collaborate with the National Association of Realtors which will rely on impressive reports from the respective local realtors. At the end of the judgment, the best schools will, in August, be rewarded with $500,000 grant. This is very huge money that no one would like to miss. Therefore, the K-12 teachers, school administrators, business community and all the other school stakeholders have expressed their interests in clinching this money. For this reason, all the seven schools in the district will have to be nominated to participate. However, in order to win this grant, it is necessary for the school district to have a good reputation. This should be reflected in the previous report card. The performance in the report card shows that the school district is in the right path. If properly coordinated, Pulaski County Special School would be the district to watch in the country. In this regard, it only needs to be supported by all the stakeholders including the business community as much as possible. This is the only way through which it will favorably compete during the fight for the awaiting grant to be grabbed. Academic work has been taken seriously (Winters, M., 2004). The same has been extended to the co-curricular activities which have seen several schools shine in a lot of athletics, football, basketball and other games. Suggestions As a matter of fact, Pulaski Special School District is a potential candidate for this competition. Its track records are exemplary and are, in no way, comparable to any other school district within Alaska. However, although it never shone during the previous assessments, it can still emerge the winner in this competition. Hence, in my capacity as an educationist in this district, I would like to give the following recommendations: i. Improved Communication between the Schools and Community members Communication is a very powerful tool in the education sector. A part from connecting all the concerned stakeholders, it can be used as an important marketing tool for the schools in the district. Therefore, based on the coming judgment, I would like to emphasize that this district still stands as a potential winner for this grant (Berlo, D. K., 2007). Although it has demonstrated a through use of communication in passing messages to the school stakeholders, it is my considered opinion that a lot still have to be done. First, I would like to recommend that the administrators should consider flexibility as an important factor in communication process. The interpersonal communication is a valuable resource in education sector because it determines the effectiveness of the relationship between the stakeholders. The more effective it, the healthier the interpersonal relationship will become. Hence, it is upon the district administrators to improve the flexibility in their communication. Meaning, they should shift from the traditional phone calls to more dynamic media. This will broaden their audience base and make it easier for them to reach everyone (Schramm, W., 2002). Besides, I would like to recommend that the management of the school district should consider adopting the use of modern technology. When making any communication, the school administrators should ensure that they are up to date. Meaning, they should only use high technologies such as online media including social sites like Facebook, Tweeter, Gmail and Yahoo. At the same time, each school should open its own website instead of relying on the one developed and maintained by the school district. If this is done, it will be possible for each and every school to reach all the audiences. In this case, whenever there is any urgent communication to be made, the site administrators can easily post the information and up date them whenever necessary. This will help to ensure that all the announcements, circulars and newsletters are published at the right time without any delays. Indeed, the use of online platform can be of great benefit to these schools. A part from helping to market the institution, it can be relied upon as a research tool. As a social media, these sites always provide opportunity for the source and recipients of the published information to engage in interactive discussions about the issue of concern. Since there is room for immediate feedback, the site administrators and school heads can collect the responses and use them to interpret the responses of their audience. Once such information is received, I can be acted upon to make the necessary improvements in order to ensure that the stakeholders are contented with the quality of their services. While considering online media as one of the most suitable media to use in the school district, it is worth to note that the composition and design of the message is integral. Regardless of the media, the message should be presented in an appropriate manner. This can make the message persuasive and appealing to the audience. Flexibility means that the information can be tailored to suit a diverse class of audience who can be reached through different modes. Therefore, I strongly argue for dynamism in communicating important messages to the school community. The medium of communication adopted should not only help in delivering the message, but coaxing the local community members to come up and support various school programs. This will help in improving the bond between the schools and the community members. Communication is a very powerful tool which has a potential of influencing the community members. This explains why it can even be used in marketing the school policies, programs and performances. This implies that communication should not be taken for granted whatsoever. It has a lot of contributions to make towards the development of the schools. Finally, as the school district has proved, Pulaski County Special School District stands a better chance of winning this coveted award. Despite a few challenges, communication has been effectively used over the past years. Had it not been for such initiatives, the district would not have gone this far. Therefore, it is up to the parents, guardians, businessmen and the community members to support the school and ensure that this goal is achieved (Lohr, S., 2009). $500,000 is a huge sum of money which should not be lost. It should come to our school district because it can help in facilitating the major improvements in the curricular, co-curricular and communication. This will help in promoting education both in Pulaski, Alaska and USA at large. Outline of Remarks Remarks during a Taskforce Meeting 1. Greetings District Superintendent of Schools, Pulaski, Principals, Teachers, ladies and gentlemen 2. Introduction In January, Dr. Guess got an email from the Alaska State School Board about the judgment Judgment is scheduled for May, 2014 A total of 75 schools will be declared winners Winner to bag $500,000 grant K-12 teachers, school administrators and the local business community are interested in this money Pulaski Special School District is ready to win the award 3. Appeal For us to win it, we need to take the necessary steps All our seven schools to participate Identify areas of weakness and make adjustments Work in liaison with the local and National Association of American Realtors Discuss and deliberate over the previous December report card Prioritize school-community relations Promote communication 4. Conclusion Joint effort necessary Everyone to participate Make Pulaski be the school district to reckon with in the USA. 5. THE END THANK YOU ALL. References Berlo, D. K. (2007). The process of communication. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. Goldin, C. & Katz, L.F. (2008) The Race between Education and Technology. Lohr, S. (19 August 2009). "Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom — NYTimes.com". New York: The New York Times. Retrieved From: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/ On 01/3/2014. Schramm, W. (2002). ‘How communication works. In W. Schramm’ (Ed.), The process and effects of communication (pp. 3–26). Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Winters, M. (2004) Teachers Matter: Rethinking How Public Schools Identify, Reward, and Retain Great Educators. Rowman & Littlefield. Read More