Bleak Economy Calls for More Communication and Engagement, Not Less

Most of us agree that the fiscal picture for all of us as leaders of school systems is more
bleak and uncertain now than it has been in recent history. Major revenue sources are
shrinking while our needs and demands are growing.

Savvy superintendents and board members understand that now is the time for strong
leaders to increase their communication and engagement efforts to build further support
and understanding for their schools. If you make major cuts in communication now,
you’re shooting yourself in the foot because you need communication to connect with all
segments of your community.

If you stop communicating with your publics, the void will be quickly filled by your
critics or special interest groups, spewing their damaging messages to your community at
will. If you think you are headed into a financial hole now, just wait and see how deep it
can get without rallying support from your staff and community around your kids and
programs. We see making major cuts in communication as an indication that you’re
“giving up,” and not fighting for what is best for all our students, our communities, and
even our economy.

Consider the following counsel and steps to help you gain or maintain support:

 Now is the time to be a proactive and positive leader.

You must assure staff and community members that their school district is doing all it
can to deal with new financial realities. Visible leaders can make a difference by
communicating confidence that we are “all in this together” and our real bottom line
is the continued commitment to the education of our students. Now is not the time to
be negative or to hide behind some “bad numbers.” Once you have your messages in
place, think about ways of delivering them in face-to-face settings within the school
and community as best you can. It is often easier to build support when economic
hard times hit just about everyone, as long as a credible and confident leader is at the
helm.

 We need to make the connection between education and a better economy.

Does the public really think that making drastic cuts in school budgets will make our
economy and America stronger? No matter how you slice it, education—pre-K, K-12,
and community and 4-year colleges—comprises the heartbeat of our labor and leader
work force in America. In the public sector, although we all jockey for our slice of the
same pie, education is the pipeline to our economic future. Cutbacks will come, but
I’ve never heard of a community that “saved its way to prosperity.”
  Ask yourself: What do you know that your community needs to know when
it comes to funding issues?

In other words, we often say something like, “If they only knew this, it would make
all the difference in the world, and they will finally get it.” Well, what is it that you
want them to know? How can you “wordsmith” it and deliver it so that they
comprehend?

We take too much for granted. Residents do not understand state funding or even the
impact of being shortchanged by 25% in state funding, as just occurred this week in
one mid-west state. We need to quickly show what these funding problems mean in
concrete terms. We must put ourselves in the roles of parents and taxpayers and
explain the impact that cuts will have (see service cuts recommendation in a related
article). We often assume too much and don’t clearly communicate key points about
the business of our schools.

 Begin and continue an engagement process with the influentials in your

community.

Gather the leaders in your community from all sectors. Engage them to look, in a
transparent way, at the economic future that your district may be facing. Seek their
input, answer their questions, and ask some of them to form a blue-ribbon task force
to work together in providing the next steps for your school community.
Communicate their work periodically so that the general public knows the future is in
the capable hands of their education and community leaders.

 Develop a strategic, two-way communication action plan on the issue of

funding your schools in this period of a weak economy.

In the next two years or so, the economy will be the major factor driving decisions in
your school district. Such a force needs a communication action plan to make sure
that you have identified key messages, audiences, tactics, research, and
responsibilities as you proceed to deal with difficult situations. An action plan will
help keep your effort on track and let your community know that you’re making
progress. It will also reduce “wild rumors” about cuts in your system.

 Create a campaign or special tactic approach to keep the need for support
visible with all key constituencies.

Consider a “triggering event” such as an energy-saving campaign or a website feature

for staff on ways to save or raise funds, with special awards given to the most
outstanding practices in your district. One New England area school district recently
won an award for saving more than a million dollars in energy costs and the
superintendent noted that it allowed his district to maintain staffing at current levels.
When you communicate those types of efforts, you demonstrate accountability and
leadership in your schools.

Rich Bagin, APR

NSPRA Executive Director
rbagin@nspra.org
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Copyright 2008, by Communication Matters for Leading Superintendents, published by the
National School Public Relations Association.

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