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Genetically, neuroscientists would advocate that the brain, by
design, is geared and wired for oral communication. When
working to make meaning in the world, the brain gravitates to
the spoken word, intonation and familiar vocabulary. When
presented with an unfamiliar topic, the brain actually inserts
understood concepts in an attempt to make meaning of
foreign concepts.
This explains miscommunication, misunderstandings and
even fabricated versions of the truth.
Given this organic gravitation to oral communication, it is
easy to see how school culture is filled with oral history. It
often tends to out-travel and outweigh written history.
The daily operations of a school can be complex in nature.
School budgeting, school code, tax levies and other
legislative parameters create a linguistic system unique to
educators. In this case, the brain of a non-educator might
default to oral history to make sense of school decisions.
For example, most educators have heard people state, “The
only reason they want my kid in school is to generate money.”
This rationale is the oral history version.
In reality, educators seldom think about general state aid
when it comes to attendance and are truly focused on the
impact attendance has on learning.
This complexity impacts the relationships between schools
and their communities.
So what is a school district to do when oral history
overpowers on a single issue or multiple topics? What if the
oral history is serving as a barrier hindering strategic planning
to support capacity and growth?
For the West Prairie School District, this meant embracing
the oral history and moving to a place of vulnerability—a
place where vulnerability represents a place of courage over
a place to be feared or to be exposed. This courageous
vulnerability involved going to a place of transparency to
determine how the oral history would accept new details
and facts. Transparency needed to determine if the voice of
the story aligned with the vision and mission of the board of
education.
Everyone in the educational arena understands the power
of the critic. Given changing demographics, shifting financial
resources and aging facilities, the West Prairie School Board
understood the need to step into the public arena and create
a storyline in a new and meaningful way. This step into the
spotlight involved providing strategically prepared doses of
current information for the community regarding the district’s
current state of affairs. Along with this information, the West
By Carol Kilver, Superintendent, West Prairie CUSD #103
Through Community Engagement
continued...
Building
Confidence