7
We
offer
a
community-wide
meeting on an annual
basis. We have titled
that meeting, “State of
the Schools.” We use
this meeting to share
the performance of
our past year as well
as forecast the years
ahead. We send
strategic community
members a personal
invitation to the event
and then offer an
invitation
to
all
community members
though our website
and local press. The
event features a
wonderful meal and
very specific break
out sessions. These
sessions focus on our
future initiatives.
This
is
our
opportunity to create
a
compelling
argument for our
desired state (you can
find a more detailed
description of this
to be a full year ahead
of
implementation.
So, what is presented
in the spring of 2014
will not be fully
implemented until the
2015-16 school year;
to do it faster than that would diminish the intent of
the process. If you truly desire “buy-in,” the time from
information to implementation has to be reasonable.
Continue to report:
Provide ongoing information
about those things in which you have invested
through this process.
An analogy we use a lot is “You can always lead
a horse to water, but they will not always drink… so
salt the food.” We see purposeful and strategic
community engagement as “salting the food.” We
have added to the analogy recently: If you just give
them water, they may continue to drink, but only until
their thirst is satisfied. However, if the drink you
provide does more than just satisfy their thirst, they
will continue to drink, not because they are thirsty,
but because the drink is desirable.
(Continued from page 6)
Outreach
