How to Develop a

Communications/School-
Community Relations Plan
 Communication is all about building
relationships with internal and external key
stakeholders.
Strong school communication helps
students and schools achieve and
succeed.
Good human relationships engender
respect, cooperation, and collaboration…
but good human relationships do not
happen in and of themselves, they must
be planned and implemented with careful
deliberation.
Communication is the lifeblood of a
school organization.
“Whether a school system is excellent or
mediocre depends on how these people
work together, how they communicate,
how they relate, are involved, participate
and share. A public/community relations
program is aimed at focusing on the
relationships of all these people, with an
overall goal of improving student
achievement.” - Albert E. Holliday
 The essential element in
communication and school-
community relations is relationship.
• The educational leader must establish a
positive relationship among all key
stakeholders.
• These key stakeholders consist of
parents, students, teachers/staff, and
community/business people.
A good public/community relations
program will not exist without a plan.

• A communication plan must be developed

or little will happen.
• “Good communication does not happen by
accident…However, principals with a
specific communication plan are able to
provide needed support that leads to
effective relationship building” - Harris
 Rationale:
• Develop a rationale for the
communications plan.
• The rationale should include the basic
premise for developing the
communications plan, guiding principles
and philosophy of communication
improvement.
• A communications plan that is developed
collaboratively by school and community
people will serve to foster student
achievement (through the establishment of
a positive school climate and parent and
citizen involvement) and build citizen
knowledge and understanding leading to
financial support (Gallagher, Bagin, &
Moore, 2005).
 Essential Components of the
Communications/School-
Community Relations Plan
• The communications plan is developed to
bring about change in the communication
area identified.
• The plan should be flexible and usable.
• The planning process should be ongoing.
 The four-step public relations
process
• Research - up front analysis on where the
district stands in regard to all publics it
wishes to reach
• Action plan - developing public relations
goals, objectives and strategies that go ha
nd-in-hand with the district's overall missio
n and goals
• Communicate/Implement - carrying out
the tactics necessary to meet the objective
s and goals
• Evaluate - looking back at actions taken
to determine their effectiveness and what
changes are needed in the future
 Vision Statement
• Develop a vision statement for the
communications plan.
• The vision statement should be aligned to
the district policy and vision statement and
depict the future state of the district related
to school-community relation.
 Mission Statement
• Develop a mission statement for the
communications plan.
• The mission statement should be aligned
to the district policy and mission
statement, and should include the
purpose, direction, and outcomes of the
communications plan.
 Contextual Design
• Include a description of the contextual
setting for the district and campuses.
– city information and description
– school demographics and description
– school academic performance
– funding allocations
 Needs Assessment
• Include the needs assessments
administered, a description of the
assessments, and the results of the
assessment.
• A needs assessment allows districts to
evaluate their current communications
strategies and activities.
• What is the communications problem to be
studied?
• What method is best to obtain the desired
information?
• How much money is required to conduct the
opinion questionnaire?
• How much time is needed to complete the
questionnaire?
• Who should conduct the questionnaire?
• How should the findings be used?
 Goals and Objectives of the
Communications/School-
Community Plan
• Goals are the desired outcome of the plan of
action in response to the needs assessment.
– Goals are broadly stated purposes toward which ends
are directed.
– Goals are issues oriented.
– Goals are specifically related to issues uncovered in
the needs assessment.
– Goals focus actions toward clearly defined purposes.
– Goals should be aligned with your vision, mission,
and rationale.
– Goals should reflect your strategic issues and
priorities.
– Goals should focus on a single issue.
– Goals should provide a clear direction for action.
– Goals should be long-range or restricted by time.
– The number of goals should be kept to a minimum.
 Objectives
• Objectives are specific, measurable
subdivisions of a goal.
• They are benchmarks that measures
progress toward a goal.
• Objectives must be attained collectively for
a goal to be reached.
 Activities/Strategies
• After the goals and objectives have been
defined and accepted, activities/strategies
should be developed for achieving the
goals and objectives.
• The strategies and activities available are
influenced by the nature of the audience,
the availability of funds and facilities, and
the competence of personal.
• Activities/strategies should include;
(1) the process involving the accomplishment of an
event usually over a period of time, and stages, or
with possibility of repletion,
(2) include the actual work associated with the
objective, and
(3) involve the who, where, what, when, how many,
how much, and how often until the objective is
completed.
• Timelines - The timeline tells the time
frame to implement the strategy.
• Person Responsible - Identify the person
responsible to implement the
activity/strategy.
• Resources - The resources may include
physical and financial. Determine the
funding amount and funding source.
 Identify the Appropriate Audience
for the Plan
• Define the audiences
• List all of the audiences that your
SCHOOL might contact, attempt to
influence, or serve.
 Included in your list may be:
• Members,
• Non-members
• Consumers
• Related organizations such as PTAs or PTOs.
• Adversarial groups
• Educators
• Media
• Business and Industries
• Community
 Evaluate the Result
• Build into your plan a method for measuring
results.
• Your evaluation might take the form of the
following measures:
– A monthly report on work in progress,
– Formalized department reports for presentation at
staff meetings,
– Periodic briefings of the superintendent and the
department heads, and
– A year-end summary for the annual report.
• Include a timeline for conducting the
evaluation and the person(s) responsible
for this.
• The type of evaluation should be decided
when the action steps are developed.
• When you specify an action step think
“How will we know if this action is giving
us the desired effect?”
The purposes of evaluation are :
(1) to improve, add, or drop existing public
relations activities;
(2) to determine if the public relations plan
is achieving its extended results;
(3) to determine if the results are worth the
time and money spent; and
(4) to bring greater visibility to the
accomplishments of the plan.
 In general, a strategic PR plan
includes 10 components:
• Overall goals for PR
• Target audiences or publics
• Objectives for each audience
• Strategies
• Tactics
• Activities
• Evaluation
• Materials
• Budget Items
• Timetable and Task List
“Even at a time when educators are
expected to do more with less, a public
relations strategy will be invaluable to a
school district. It is not a matter of
whether or not one is needed, but rather a
matter of getting started. Moving forward
in explaining to the constituents,
employees, and clients where the system
is, where it wants to go, and how it
expects to get there. A positive image
takes time, resources, and effort to
establish, but the dividends are endless.”
- Robert Beach and James Trent
 Good Resources for developing
community relations plans
• Butler, L.M., & R.D. Howell. 1980. Community
needs assessment techniques. Corvallis, OR:
Western Rural Development Center.
• Drucker, P. (1954). The practice of
management. New York: Harper Collins
Publishers.
• Gallagher, D. R., Bagin, D., & Moore, E. H.
(2005). The school and community relations.
Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon.
• Holliday, A. E. (1988). “In search of an answer:
What is school public relations?” Journal of
Educational Public Relations. 11 (2), 12.
• Johnson, D.E., et al, (1987). Needs assessment
theory and methods. Ames, IA: Iowa State
University Press.
• Lane, R. J., Bishop, H. L., & Wilson-Jones, L.
(2006). “Creating an effective strategic plan for the
school district”. Journal of Instructional
Psychology, 32(3).
• Harris, S. (Ed.) (2004). Bravo principal: Building
relationships with actions that value others.
Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education.