Another topic I’m hearing a lot about is communication. While things have definitely gotten better, there are still opportunities to improve communication between the district and the community.
First of all, I believe the community is everyone in our community. The school board cannot just focus on the public school students & their families – the public schools have to exist within community means and desires. Of course, our community wants excellent schools. But we want them at a price we can afford, and we need to be sure the district is spending the tax dollars we provide responsibly.
I believe the main problem is in the attitude: that the board members are elected “for the kids” and not “for the community.” The job is both – and to balance both for the benefit of all.
So how do we solve the problem of getting information out to the community? And who’s responsibility is it – the district’s to promote the information, or the community’s to actively seek it?
The answer is “both,” but I believe the district, and especially the board, must make every effort to disseminate information in a variety of ways that are easy to access and digest. There are various “groups” in our district: public school families; private school families; those with grown children; those with no children; retirees; young people. Each will have a preferred way of receiving information. We need to figure out what these are and determine if we can accommodate them. Sure, we can mail information to people: but will it get read? We can post information on the website: but will people visit regularly, especially if they do not have children currently in the school?
I believe this is a huge challenge we need to focus on immediately.
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