SOLUTIONS TO THE BIG CITY COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEM: Last week we asked people to submit good suggestions for how New York City -- and others -- can get the word out to parents that there are "supplemental" or tutoring services available for children in schools that are failing. The number and quality of the responses were overwhelming. These are not only ways to inform parents and the community about tutoring, but also about their choices, period. The moral to this story is that there is no end to the good people can do when they put their minds together:

· I read in your newswire some of the difficulties facing districts regarding getting information out to parents. Recently my district purchased a unique program called Active Classroom. Basically it allows teachers to put their lesson plans online and align them with curriculum standards (all the standards are loaded in the program). More importantly, the program includes a comprehensive link between school and home. Active Classroom builds web pages, called Class Agendas, for teachers as they input their lessons. Teachers can also post quizzes, web resources, upcoming field trips, school functions, etc. Students and parents can access these pages via the internet without Id's and passwords. The program is extremely user friendly, and the initial feedback from parents has been wonderfully positive. I've been in charge of the implementation in our district and the program has been well received by teachers, who are always cautious about new programs. Although some parents are handicapped by lack of internet access, many are not, and we always strive to reach as many as possible.

· Let private tutoring companies apply to become eligible service providers. Those companies can then directly apply for federal dollars on behalf of students that they tutor. Certainly, no successful private enterprise will fail to act fast enough to get in line for its share of federal funding.

· A majority of parents today now have email. When kids sign up for school - email address should be requested on emergency contact information. Important messages (or weekly newsletters, even) should be sent directly to parents email.

A choice of : send home note with child email (saves paper, too.) postal mail (include charge for a year of postage - hey it's an option) phone call should be chosen by each parent for how they choose to be contacted by the school. They are then responsible to look for their correspondence where appropriate.

· In regards to how to get information out, I don't think relying on "one" system is good enough. You are correct so many students will not actually get the letter home and even if they do chances are that after working all day long parents don't want to read it.

So, if these school systems care about their students, the Communications Department needs to come up with a skeleton roll-out plan that can be adjusted depending on the urgency level. I would suggest doing

• Some sort of recorded call to parents, PSA announcements,
• Get the word out, have the parent groups or whomever volunteer and go to grocery stores, health clinics, food banks and set up a table in which they can enroll on the spot,
• Hit the religious outlets of the communities, again have them not only talk about it at the services but have volunteers there that can enroll,
• Make sure the City is involved, team up with City Hall!

Most people will help out in these situations. It makes them feel like they are bettering their community, and they are.

This is just off the top of my head, early in the morning. I used to work for a school board...

· I live in a rural undereducated area and communication is very difficult. However, word-of-mouth is very effective, resulting in many election surprises. Contact ALL the local organizations that adults and students are part of, explaining the program and asking everyone to pass the word on. Also, Pennsylvania advertises its health insurance options on TV during prime time and everyone seems to know.

· I get at least three unwanted pre-recorded phone solicitations a day. Surely the same technology could be used to call parents and give them important news.

Or...

Identify central locations in neighborhoods where people tend not to have their own phones. Look for grocery stores or restaurants or laundromats or beauty shops where people would be willing to hang a district-supplied bulletin board. Mail notices for people to hang as needed. At the end of each year, recognize the people who help get information out to parents.

· The schools need to know how to do this for just about everything, including lobbying to pass referenda: Find parents through civic leaders, spiritual leaders, and employers/social services. Find these leaders, find out what they need to reach their constituents/congregations/employees/dependents. Organize them by category of which issues affect them and how best to reach their constituency. When new big messages come up, schedule methods for them to provide feedback (town meeting to survey to a few well-placed phone calls.) Getting the message out may include anything from pieces of paper, to telephone hotlines, to a dog-and-pony type show or group meeting.

If you must join the noise for anything that is as broad based as tutoring children, try some place where everyone must go: the market. With some cooperation, area supermarkets and corner stores may be willing to post information about free tutoring at the checkout or in some other highly visible location. (To get around possibility of people potentially being embarrassed to take information about "free for those who are eligible" type services, it could be an announcement that something is coming home with the kids - or just a "contact your local school" type of close.) The real problem with this is illiteracy of the parents; for that reason you would also absolutely need public service announcements on radio and television.

· Anything of such importance is sent via the regular mail, which can get expensive. Important news, such as a major capital improvement, comes to all community members via a newsletter in the mails. News like monies for tutoring should be publicized in big cities like NYC on the subway banners, as PSA's on TV and radio and other forms of media in many languages-isn't a certain amount of public service time required??? Technology oriented districts can try postings on the websites.

· Invest in technology and use an electronic dial up machine to contact Parents Work with parents to check on the school district's website on a specific time of the month (say, the 3rd-5th) to view the school announcements for the month. All should have a working website.

Work out a deal with the newspaper to place the announcement in the paper on Sunday or any other day. This would be in the form of a bright colored flyer.

Organize parents at each grade level to use a phone tree. Make sure that there is adequate backup to assure that phone calls and other contact with families are in fact made. Some parents will not have working telephones. For those parents, alternative, but reliable, contact will be made. Some examples might be to call a grandmother or other relative to leave the message; to knock on the door or slip the announcement under the door. Or even to beep the parent.

· Many schools have all students in the school use planners or agendas daily to record assignments and other commitments. Parents are often required to sign the agenda once a week or even daily. If a school is using this system, students can record information that is important to parents in the agenda. For reminders that need to go to all parents, the administrator can announce over the PA system for students to turn in their agenda to the appropriate date and record a specific bit of information. Or schools can make copies of the pertinent information on mailing labels using a computer and giving one label to every student to place on the appropriate date in the agenda. Some agendas include a pouch, and information can be placed in the pouch as well.

· There are a number of ways to do this. One of the most effective is to find out which radio stations are popular with the population served by the school and to develop a pr relationship with them. Another is through churches. At the school where I'm principal we find out how politicians work their get out the vote campaigns and mimic them. The absolute least effective way is sending something home with students.

· Our most creative entry outlined what districts should do runs the gamut (literally) from A - Z:

Announce the opportunity and have written information available at all school events throughout the year - open houses, parent conferences, etc.

Build a coalition with the business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce to get the word out into the community - they usually have staff with public relations experience.

Commence including information on the tutoring program in every edition of the district, school and classroom newsletter.

Develop an information brochure and distribute it as often as possible.

Embark on a monthly Tutorial Program Report at the district board meetings.

Facilitate discussions about the program at parent/teacher organization meetings. Give the superintendent a financial incentive to get the word out.

Have the Board President or Superintendent write an opinion piece for the local paper's editorial page.

Include promoting the tutoring program into the professional goals of the superintendent, the district's public relations director and each principal if possible.

Just do it!!

Keep searching for new promotional ideas; ask staff, parents and community groups for ideas.

Launch your promotional campaign to parents through doctors' offices, HMO's, hospitals, medical clinics and churches in addition to the district's immediate outlets (i.e. schools).

Make requests for donations of supplies (i.e. paper) and expertise to businesses and non-profits in your geographic location to off-set the cost of a promotional campaign.

Notify county and state officials of the program and seek to partner with social service agencies that serve your districts population.

Offer information to local nonprofits that serve your school district's population such as LaRaza, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, etc..

Post information on the school district's / schools' website, if one is available.

Quit thinking negatively about the tutoring program; attitude is everything when promoting.

Require each school's staff to call every student's family at least once a year to inform them of this opportunity.

Send out press releases from time to time to all media outlets - newspapers, television, and radio reporting on the tutoring program's progress.

Teach staff about the program and encourage them to promote it to the students and the students' families.

Undertake promoting the program through local daycare facilities.

View and promote the tutorial program as the positive lifesaver it can be for individual children.

Watch for ways to send home the information with documents that require a return signature (such as free and reduce lunch documents, report cards, etc.)

X-out all negativity and never forget the needs of the individual child are important.

Yak the program up on every school's morning announcements on a regular basis.

Zero in on every opportunity to implement as many of the above suggestions as often as possible. Many need to be executed on a regular basis.

· One other suggestion that we favored, "The real solution is not having a deadline!"

Return to CER Newswire November 26, 2002.