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Effective school boards know and understand the importance
of keeping the public in public schools by engaging in
two-way conversations with the community. As elected
trustees of the community, boards should establish systems
of two-way conversations to ensure local community
representation in school governance. These systems enable
the board to actively engage stakeholders in dialogue and
other discourses about the district’s mission and other
common interests regarding the schools in order to improve
overall district performance and school climate and, more
importantly, to advance student achievement.
Periodically exchanging information and ideas between
various stakeholders and the school board is a primary
work of school boards and is often referred to as community
engagement and/or public or civic engagement. Community
engagement is a step beyond public relations, in which the
focus is establishing or maintaining a favorable public image.
Boards with the best of intentions confuse public relations
with that of community engagement (CE). As a result,
HowSuperintendentsandSchool BoardsCanTransform
School CulturebyConnectingwith theCommunity
districts communicate with community stakeholders in a
one-way fashion which primarily entails sharing positive
district news. Public relations efforts are important and
should be a part of a community engagement plan,
but systems must be in place to allow for two-way
communication exchanges. Without these exchanges,
stakeholders will be limited in their contributions and feel
as though they have no real ownership in the direction of
their schools.
Boards should be strategic and thoughtful in developing
a community engagement plan. Attempting to engage
the public in a haphazard or ad hoc manner will be
unsuccessful. The plan should begin with framing the
question or having a clear understanding as to why the
board is engaging the community. And, how will this
process inform and/or support district ends (mission,
vision, goals)? In other words, how does the board intend
to use the results of the CE process to inform their work?
Dr. Patrick Rice
Director of Field Services
Illinois Association of School Boards
Dr. David Bartz
Professor Emeritus
Department of Educational Leadership
Eastern Illinois University
Boards with the best of intentions confuse public relations with that of
community engagement (CE).
As a result, districts communicate
with community stakeholders in a one-way fashion...
inform
consult
involve