Schools look to improve relations
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on January 13, 2017 9:57 AM
Improved communication techniques were a major topic of discussion at the Wayne County Board of Education meeting Thursday night, as the board viewed a presentation detailing plans for greater transparency and ease of access to information for parents and other Wayne County Public Schools "stakeholders."
The presentation was given by WCPS Communications Services Director Ken Derksen, and focused on three "transforming initiatives" the school system plans to undertake over a five-year period.
The first initiative, "Engagement and Awareness," is centered around increasing the number of WCPS stakeholders - a broad term which encompasses students, parents, and all other individuals or groups with some sort of stake in the school system - who feel welcome, involved and who actively participate in school system events.
It also focuses on helping those stakeholders get a better understanding of WCPS operations and decisions.
Derksen said that WCPS needs to do a better job at making communication with stakeholders a two-sided conversation.
"It's important when we're talking about communication that it's two-way communications," he said. "We do a good job at pushing out information, but we're not always that good at listening to our stakeholders, and we need to make sure we're listening to what they have to say."
Derksen said that the first initiative will have been a success if, in five years time, the school system has measurably increased student, parent and other volunteer participation in school events or programs.
Having intuitive informational resources is an important part of fostering that involvement, he said.
"We need to make sure that, if we're having district programs or activities, that we're clearly communicating that information."
The second initiative, "Trust, Transparency and Brand Identity," focuses on making sure WCPS "will present itself accurately to all stakeholders and audiences" to make sure that WCPS stakeholders learn to trust the school system. To that end, Derksen said the school system will begin distributing an online newsletter beginning in spring 2017, in an attempt to give parents another avenue to get information about school system activities.
Board member Rick Pridgen, District 6 representative, voiced concerns that getting information to and from the community will present challenges.
"That seems to have always been a big issue for us," he said. "Some parents, I just don't know how to get the message out to them. I've had parents at elementary schools say 'I never get anything.' Well, you know, did you look in your child's book bag? Because you talk to the principal, and they sent out a message with them."
Pridgen suggested that creating a forum for parents to give feedback to the school board would help alleviate that communication barrier.
The initiative includes a push by WCPS to improve public perception about the quality of Wayne County schools.
"We want to make sure that as we're helping people get reliable information, that they're making informed decisions, and not basing it on an experience or base it on second-hand or third-hand information somebody else is telling them," Derksen said. "It's not to make everyone agree with everything we're doing, but it's to make people better informed so that when they're making decisions about whether the agree or don't agree, they at least understand the reasoning behind the decisions that we as a district are making."
The third and final initiative, "Crisis Communication," deals with how WCPS keeps parents informed during incidents such as natural disasters, school bomb threats and other crises which parents will likely want up-to-date information.
"Many people trust us to educate their children. Many people trust us to care for their children while they're at work, or tending to their own families and younger children," Derksen said.
To that end, WCPS plans to establish district-level emergency communication procedures, as well as open up avenues for students and parents to contribute to school safety.
One of those avenues is through the implementation of an anonymous online bullying reporting tool, which is expected to go live in the next few months.
The tool would allow students, parents and other witnesses to discreetly inform school officials of instances of bullying without having to come forward in person.
In addition, Derksen said that WCPS will undergo a full communications audit at both the district and individual school levels, in order to better understand current capabilities and how to bring them up to standard.