Community Public Relations Program - Essay Example

?Ideal School/Community Public Relations Program School District The school district’s history goes back to 1949 when it was first formedby consolidating 11 schools. However, by the 1960s with enrolment more than doubling the school district opened 12 additional elementary schools, two more high schools and two more middle schools. Today the school district is now comprised of 109 schools. The school district opens between three and five new schools each year. The school district serves a region where new homes are constantly being constructed and is therefore constantly attracting highly qualified professionals and new students. Attendance is described as good as the school district has partnered with a truancy solution company and as such has launched a campaign to encourage students to attend school regularly. As a result, school attendance has improved by 10%. The latest report reflects that daily attendance is at just over 94%. District Setting Administration For administrative purposes the school district is divided into four categories: elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and special schools. There are 68 elementary schools, 18 middle schools, 15 high schools and 8 special schools. Each school is run by a principal who reports to the Superintendent for the district. The superintendent is assisted by a deputy superintendent for administration, a deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction and a deputy superintendent for business and financial services. The superintendent and the various deputy superintendents coordinate all aspects of the administration of the school with the principals. Student Data Enrolment for the 2010-2011 academic year is 94, 702. The district accepts students from the age of 4 for pre-kindergarten. Once students are registered at an elementary school, registration is no longer necessary. Students come from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds. However, 67% of the student body is Hispanic. District Mission The school district’s mission is to provide an exemplary education with above average educators and an intensive extracurricular program. In addition the school district’s mission is to foster an environment that is family oriented. In other words, the school district encourages close community between the staff, teachers, administrators, the study body and the families. The school district readily admits that its wants to be the best place in the state for families. Thus its mission is to foster a connection between the schools and parents, business and members of the community generally. This is because the school district takes the position that while the child’s education is significant for society’s future, the family provides the key to learning. As such, parents are not only obligated to be actively involved in the education of the child, but also have an inalienable right to be involved. The school district prides itself on its advanced technology, innovative facilities and highly qualified staff. These factors have made the school district appealing to both staff and families in terms of recruiting students and educators. The school district has a strategic plan which targets the enhancement of its students’ academic and social achievement. It also endeavors to provide a climate for learning that is safe. This is accomplished by emphasizing the recruitment and retention of exemplary staff, keeping up with modern technology and fostering communications with the external public and fortifying partnerships with the business community. Mission/Philosophy Public Relations The school district’s school/community relations mission is guided by the philosophy that the community is a stakeholder in its schools. As such, two-way lines of communication must be open so that the school district operates transparently and the community is therefore fully informed of all issues impacting the operation and success of the school. An informed community is in a more effective position to participate in the school district’s operations by providing informed feedback to the school district, notifying the district of any concerns and making suggestions for dealing with issues of concern. The school district is always positioned to take proactive measures to resolve perceived and anticipated issues. Essentially the school district’s mission is to foster a feeling of community involvement in the schools’ successful operation. The philosophy is therefore one in which the school and the community share the burden of running the school as well as the benefit of its success. This philosophy is guided by Bagin and Galleger’s (2005) contention that the school as a public organ is owned by the community (P. 10). Addressees In order to facilitate the mission and philosophy attending school community relations, the school district will: Encourage student involvement in extracurricular activities so as to make our students visible in the community. Constantly encourage and monitor student academic achievement. Ensure that the community is well informed of the school’s progress and effectiveness. In order words cultivate a transparent administration system. Rigorously pursue partnerships with the community. Ensure that key school administrators are available to listen to and address concerns of community members. Alignment with the School District’s Mission This mission and philosophy is consistent with the school district’s mission to ensure that schools serve the community by providing quality education to all eligible students. Community participation will therefore help the school district to achieve this goal by ensuring that the community as stakeholders are connected to the schools as a means of helping the school district to identify and resolve issues that not only improve the quality of education but ensure that obstacles to a quality education are removed. Public Relations Staff for the Program Staff Identification and the Chain of Command Since the board of education is elected by the community, it is the board’s responsibility to ensure that the community is fully informed of the school district’s effectiveness in providing a quality education (Bagin and Galleger 2005, p. 54). Since the board of education is perceived by the community as the school district’s “governing body” it is up to the board to establish an effective public relations’ system to connect the community to the school (Bagin and Galleger 2005, p. 54). To start with, the school district’s superintendent should assume responsibility for organizing an administrative team for mediating between members of the community and the school’s board of education (Bagin and Galleger 2005, ch. 5). The idea is to channel information and concerns between the community and the school’s board of education. The first task is therefore to appoint a director of school/community relations. The director of school/community relations will report directly to the school district’s superintendent, who in turn reports to the board of education with suggestions or concerns relative to policies and strategies impacting the operation and success of the schools. The director of school/community relations will be a full time job and will essentially cover six duties: research, planning, coordination, communication, advertising and evaluating (Bagin and Galleger 2005, p. 60). The director of school/community relations will ensure that the board of education’s policies and programs are effectively communicated to the community. The director will also ensure that the school district’s newsletter is edited and received in a comprehensive manner by the community. The director will also prepare and organize publications for internal as well as external distribution. Likewise, the director will assist the superintendent with respect to his media responsibilities. Other responsibilities will include assisting other staff members with any programs that involve community participation; keep abreast of the community’s perceptions and attitudes and ensure that the relevant staff members are kept up to date; ensure that members of the community are fully informed of issues impacting the school; provide consultation services for staff members in the distribution of informative items and work in close community with the board of education (Bagin and Galleger 2005, p. 61). In order to perform each of these tasks effectively, the director will require at least one assistant. In order to ensure that someone is always available to take communications from the community at large, at least two assistants for a school district as large as the one for this program is necessary. The assistants will be there for the director to delegate duties. For instance, one assistant could be responsible for editing staff releases and handling media communications. A second assistant could be responsible for working with and assisting personnel with organizing events that involve members of the community. The director will assume all other duties and the assistant directors will report directly to the director. Comprehensive Programs Comprehensive programs will be adopted to facilitate effective communications between the office of the director of public relations and the community. The idea is to ensure that the school district effectively communicates with its “external publics” in a manner that is organized and cohesive (Bagin and Galleger 2005, p. 119). This part of the comprehensive program is specifically geared toward communicating with the public or keeping the members of the community fully informed of the school district’s operations and effectiveness. As an external publics’ program, this part of the program will not only include the use of the media, it will also facilitate personal contact in circumstances where concerned members of the community are given an audience with the director of public relations or one of his assistance or any member of the staff. Ultimately the content of all face to face meetings will be relayed to the director’s office and passed along to the superintendent who will, if relevant inform the board of education. In other words, external public communications will eventually take the form of internal public communications. Other features of the comprehensive public externals programs will be organized around scheduled programs such as school plays, assemblies, athletic events, awards’ programs and the like (Bagin and Galleger 2005, Ch. 8). At these functions, the director, the superintendent and the directors assistant will not only be visible but ensure that they are approachable. The idea is to make certain that the public relations personnel are available for external publics and in turn ensures that information obtained from external publics are shared with the internal publics. Likewise, all information amassed from internal publics are distributed amongst the external publics. Goals for the Program and District Short Term Goals The short term goals of the program and the district is put in place a comprehensive program, staffed with qualified personnel for facilitating school/community relations. The short term goals are therefore to recruit suitably qualified personnel and to introduce them to the superintendent and the board of education. Long Term Goals The long term goals are to form a sustainable connection between the community and the school and to ensure that this connection facilitates the school district’s mission to provide a quality education for the school, build a family oriented school environment. This means creating and sustaining a public relations program that involves students, teachers, administrators and the community at large (Bagin and Galleger 2005, Ch. 8). Alignment with Mission and Comprehensive Programs The comprehensive programs which are designed to make students visible in the community and to foster community interest and involvement aligns with the school district’s mission. This is so because it encourages and motivates students to endeavour to achieve optimum results and teaches them to be contributors and competitors as productive members of the community. This is the underlying mission of the school district. The comprehensive programs also indorses the school’s philosophy that everyone shares responsibility for the education of the child. Our comprehensive programs therefore aid the school district in turning this philosophy into a viable mission. Operating Budget for the Public Relations Program Budgeting for the school district’s school/community public relations program will not be a problem. The school district maintains a Grants and Recognition Department that funds the school district in the location and funding of programs that advance the objectives and missions of the district. Particular emphasis is placed on projects and programs for building and sustaining partnerships and fall within the school districts strategic plan and its school improvement plans for the years 2008-2013. Moreover, the school districts’ enrolment continues to rise, indicating that funding will always become available for the recruitment of new staff members. The school budget for the academic year 2010-2011 is US1, 234, 358, 749 with US$232, 995,000 set aside for projects. Expenditures for the year 2010-2011 are calculated to be US$ 726, 526, 291. This leaves a surplus of US$507, 828, 458 to fund the public relations program. The projected cost of the program is: Public Relations Staff: Public Relations Director: Annual Salary – US$75,000 Public Relations Deputy Directors Annual Salary –US$ 64,000 x 2 = US$128,000 Administrative Assistants – US$20,000 x 3 = US$60,000 Special Activities: Training for Public Relations Staff: One Time Cost – US$4,000 Meetings and Conferences: Included as a part of the annual salary. Incidental Expenses (gas, lunch during meetings with campaigns for community and business partnerships): Annual allowance – US$ 10,000. Supplies and Equipment: Print material – US$ 10,000 Computer and other communication technology – US$15,000 Equipment maintenance – US$50,000. Marketing: US$ 100,000. Legal fees: US$100,000. Total: US$542,000 Bibliography Bagin, Don and Gallager, Donald, R. (2005). The School and Community Relations. (9th Ed.) MA: Allyn & Bacon. Read More