Public Engagement

714 Words2 Pages

The central idea behind engagement of the community and business partners is not public relations but rather getting the public to own its own schools. As educational leaders, it is tempting to think of the schools as our own. In reality, they belong to the public. If our local community does not feel ownership, we cannot county on their support when we need it. Therefore, it is important to get our community engaged, connected, and deeply committed to its schools.
Public engagement is a shift in paradigm from authoritarian directives to greater self-governance. It requires a shift from seeing the children solely in schools to seeing them as part of a caring community committed to the proposition that educating the young is important. …show more content…

Not just from the superintendent, but throughout the school system. This is the critical principle and if this one is not quickly obvious the rest will not matter. With these principles we can move forward towards being a transparent system.
Stakeholders must be identified. We must identify those who win when we win and who will fail when we fail. We must also identify stakeholders who are the movers and shakers in our community. It is critical for a new superintendent to personally reach out to these people. During the period of identification, we must also examine their interest, talents, and abilities. We must incorporate these attributes when establishing roles and …show more content…

A collaborative effort can work only when all parties involved know what they need to be successful and when they understand and respect what their collaborators need to be successful. As project pressures rise, it’s easy to forget that all stakeholders share a common goal. We must also be mindful that when parents visit our schools, they are stakeholders. When I was in Pelham, it quickly became apparent that parents did not come to parent/teacher meeting and discipline was a problem. After talking to several parents the answer was obvious. Parents felt as if they were not being respected. Conferences with principals and teachers were viewed as a waste of time because parent meetings were seen as a chance for the school to “trash” their child. I met with the principals and teachers and told them one important point: Our parents are sending us the best they have. When you are constantly degrading their child, you are degrading them. If we want their help, they need to see us as a friend. We restructured parent meetings. All meetings had to start on a positive note and had to finish on a positive note. The parent had to be treated with respect. Quickly parents began to participate and dripline issues decreased and test scores increased.
Stakeholders must also have responsibilities and information must be available to all stakeholders. Stakeholders need to participate as a partner on the

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