Monday, April 27, 2009
Social Networking & TTXW Grow! eCourse - Benefit Neighborhood Schools
If you step back and view your local school district or local school as a business which faces many of the same challenges as a business, then you can
Here is one area the tools discussed in Grow! - The eCourse can help. In the previous post, I noted how tax dollars were capped and test scores drove ratings. So, if your revenue is capped, you want to improve your music program, but your math scores aren't where you want them - do you spend more money on improving math scores or invest in fine arts?
First, the district needs to communicate there is a question to answer - in this example: math vs. fine arts. A blog by a district authorized person, is a great forum for this. The blog's existence would of course be communicated to the parents and tax base. At least then the constituents will know about the topic. It would be highly beneficial if such a blog where regularly updated with all manner of topics as part of a holistic communications plan.
Second, what might be a creative way to offset the need for tax dollars to fully fund two things when there are only tax dollars for partial or base level funding? Thinking like a business still, this where a school / district can do a little creative marketing. A booster club run by volunteers (parents usually, students sometimes) AND endorsed / relied on by the administration can create a more enriching experience for the students without a budget increase.
Typically, a booster club will help with fund raising and organizing the boosters. Less often do you find a) alignment with the school on a messaging program about the organization being boosted b) coordinated communication of that message and c) use of modern tools to do the communication or other booster activities. If a booster club operated more as an adjunct of the school, in terms of alignment and direction and communicated to their audience in several ways, their opportunity to grow the organization and increase the value of that activity in the eyes of the community would rise substantially.
So, let's take a school marching band as an example. Let's assume the band director and the administration are aligned on the value of band as an important program. If not, that may be first task. It works best as part of a broader plan started at the top. The administration should occasionally blog about the band. The band director (or designee) should regularly be blogging about the activities and goings on with the band: contests, awards, concerts, new half time shows, scholarships, etc. These posts should be connected to outbound RSS feeds, sent as email broadcasts, twitter feeds and so on. All parents, local tax base, school boards, students, teachers and admin should be made aware of the multiple ways to connect and receive these updates.
Now layer on the boosters. To whom the school refers in their communications.
Twitter accounts for the band could be set up. By band director and boosters. Real time updates from contests, football games, reminders of concerts, and so on could be made to constituents unable to attend. A facebook "page" could be owned by the band or band boosters, even the student members (officers or those who understand the marketing purpose) who can and will agree to make periodic updates, post photos (don't forget waivers may be needed) as well as links to the blog feeds mentioned above.
With the increased visibility and transparency at the school level, the job of the boosters adding to the overall marketing of the band becomes easier. They can feed off the support from the school itself and work on further share of mind and participation within the community. Fund raising becomes less an uphill battle as the benefits and value are communicated consistently. More non-tax funds lead to more enriching experiences. Tax dollars go further.
If the administration takes such an example to heart and applies it broadly in a suggested holistic communications plan, well, an old saying applies, "a rising tide lifts all boats."
To Growth!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9b02bc70-24c6-4afa-b99e-c762e751c126)
Image via Wikipedia
Here is one area the tools discussed in Grow! - The eCourse can help. In the previous post, I noted how tax dollars were capped and test scores drove ratings. So, if your revenue is capped, you want to improve your music program, but your math scores aren't where you want them - do you spend more money on improving math scores or invest in fine arts?
First, the district needs to communicate there is a question to answer - in this example: math vs. fine arts. A blog by a district authorized person, is a great forum for this. The blog's existence would of course be communicated to the parents and tax base. At least then the constituents will know about the topic. It would be highly beneficial if such a blog where regularly updated with all manner of topics as part of a holistic communications plan.
Second, what might be a creative way to offset the need for tax dollars to fully fund two things when there are only tax dollars for partial or base level funding? Thinking like a business still, this where a school / district can do a little creative marketing. A booster club run by volunteers (parents usually, students sometimes) AND endorsed / relied on by the administration can create a more enriching experience for the students without a budget increase.
Typically, a booster club will help with fund raising and organizing the boosters. Less often do you find a) alignment with the school on a messaging program about the organization being boosted b) coordinated communication of that message and c) use of modern tools to do the communication or other booster activities. If a booster club operated more as an adjunct of the school, in terms of alignment and direction and communicated to their audience in several ways, their opportunity to grow the organization and increase the value of that activity in the eyes of the community would rise substantially.
So, let's take a school marching band as an example. Let's assume the band director and the administration are aligned on the value of band as an important program. If not, that may be first task. It works best as part of a broader plan started at the top. The administration should occasionally blog about the band. The band director (or designee) should regularly be blogging about the activities and goings on with the band: contests, awards, concerts, new half time shows, scholarships, etc. These posts should be connected to outbound RSS feeds, sent as email broadcasts, twitter feeds and so on. All parents, local tax base, school boards, students, teachers and admin should be made aware of the multiple ways to connect and receive these updates.
Now layer on the boosters. To whom the school refers in their communications.
Twitter accounts for the band could be set up. By band director and boosters. Real time updates from contests, football games, reminders of concerts, and so on could be made to constituents unable to attend. A facebook "page" could be owned by the band or band boosters, even the student members (officers or those who understand the marketing purpose) who can and will agree to make periodic updates, post photos (don't forget waivers may be needed) as well as links to the blog feeds mentioned above.
With the increased visibility and transparency at the school level, the job of the boosters adding to the overall marketing of the band becomes easier. They can feed off the support from the school itself and work on further share of mind and participation within the community. Fund raising becomes less an uphill battle as the benefits and value are communicated consistently. More non-tax funds lead to more enriching experiences. Tax dollars go further.
If the administration takes such an example to heart and applies it broadly in a suggested holistic communications plan, well, an old saying applies, "a rising tide lifts all boats."
To Growth!