Never Say No Shared Nspra

Why we do what we do

Never Say No to a Principal Proven, Powerful Tools to Directly Support

Schools—and Boost Student Success

NSPRA Pre-Seminar

June 28, 2009

Brian Woodland, APR Director, Communications and Strategic Partnerships

Support ServicesPeel District School Board

5650 Hurontario St.Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

L5R 1C6

[email protected]

905-890-1099905-890-1112 (fax)

Visit www.peelschools.org

From the top…

• Principals in Peel are unanimous in their praise of the strong support and timely advice they receive from the Communications department.

Jim Grieve

Director of Education

Peel District School Board

• The communication department’s work is focused on service to schools and their staff

Janet McDougald

Chair of the Board


Class, this is your assignment…

• Write down your “ah has”

• Record the “to dos”

• Actually DO the “to dos”!

• Do a think/pair/share with your best ideas and turn it into an interpretive dance for the whole group to see

Talk to the person next to you:

• share role and district• how long in the role?•What does it really mean to directly serve schools?

About “Grounding”:

• an inclusion activity• sets norms for humour, participation• brings people into the present• demonstrates value for others• gets brains in the room—focuses mental energy

P ee l To ro n to

Peel District School Board is one of the largest school boards in Canada

P ee lBrampton

Mississauga

Caledon

Who we are

Peel Region

• community of 1.2 million people

• three municipalities--Brampton, Caledon,

Mississauga

• urban and rural

• immediately west of Toronto

Who we are


• second largest school district in Canada

• 232 schools

• 153,000 students

• 20,000 permanent and casual staff

Who we are


• one of only a few school districts in Ontario

that are growing

• 3,000 - 5,000 new students each year

• build an average of four to six new schools

each year

Who we are


• 1 in 2 new students new to Canada

• over past three years, registered 10,000

students new to Canada in past three years

• 90% of newcomer families don’t speak or

read English

• 47% of student population speaks language

other than English at home

Who we are

Communications and Strategic

Partnerships Support Services

• director —assistant superintendent level

• senior manager

• two communications officers

• school communications specialist

•graphic designer

•three secretaries

•one community liaison coordinator

•three board reporters

What we do..



• all the stuff you do!

• major special events

• publications

• proactive and reactive media relations

•communications planning

•crisis and issues management

•web

•But all focussed on the work of schools

Who we are



• cross-functional

• no one in special events ghetto

• all do all

• meet each week

•focus on schools an expectation

•key “look for” in interview

•principal on interview team

•will work with a “team” of one—really!

Where we start as a team...



• A clear, simple, well-defined, well-known

mission on which we deliver each day—and

check our performance against each week. A

team mission, an individual team member

question...

But enough about me..

Now it is your

turn to never

say no to a

principal!

Do you feel busy even when

you are supposed to be

relaxing?

How not to respond to the idea of never saying no…

It is also about a role for you that is rewarding and fulfilling, not…

Your role is not this…

I want you to think beyond the usual roles…

Three questions we will answer

•Why does direct school support matter?

•How can you possibly find time to “never say no”?

•What are everyday practices/structures/samples and strategies that help you to focus directly on the needs of schools?


•Why does it matter?

Why does it matter...

•Some people get along quite nicely it seems by barely acknowledging that schools exist

•Work on important stuff like “district image”

•Produce mucho paper

•Seem adored by superintendent and board

•Until...

When the oasis dries up the animals look at each other

differently

California schools gird for layoffsSchwarzenegger's budget calls for about $4.8 billion in education funding cuts. Educators say it's the worst financial crisis they can remember.By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

The Long Beach school board voted to close an elementary school this week. The Rialto Unified School District, in what is believed to be the first such action in the state this year, sent notices to 305 employees including teachers -- informing them that they may not have a job next fall. The San Francisco school district may take city "rainy day" money to help balance its budget.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.latimes.com%2F2008%2Ffeb%2F21%2Flocal%2Fme-schools21&title=California+schools+gird+for+layoffs

Why does it matter

•Some people get along quite nicely it seems by barely acknowledging that schools exist •Work on important stuff like “district image”•Produce mucho paper

•Seem adored by superintendent and board

•Until they are cut from the budget along with professional development when the going gets tough...

The BIG picture

What public relations can’t do--NSPRA

The 90-7-3 rule

•90 % of reputation is based on quality service•7 % on listening•3 % on telling

The BIG picture

It’s a simple rule to get good PR--

Always do a good job!

•Terrify yourself..

Combine your worst school-based issue with your scariest principal and then think of you could possibly solve the issue centrally!

The Crisis QuizWho/what causes a school crisis?

Based on analysis of over 50,000 crisis news stories by Institute for crisis management

Q: Which is more prevalent: - sudden crisis- created crisis

A: Created. 68% are smoldering. No action until it escalates out of control.

The Crisis QuizWho/what causes a school crisis?

Based on analysis of over 50,000 crisis news stories by Institute for crisis management

Q: Who causes a crisis? - teachers- parents- school leadership- students

A: 56% caused by management

Hierarchy of Effective Communications1. One-to-one, face-to-face

2. Small group discussion/meeting

3. Speaking before a large group

4. Phone conversation

5. Handwritten, personal note

6. Typewritten, personal letter not generated by computer

7. Computer generated or word-processing-generated “personal letter”

8. Mass-produced, non-personal letter

9. Brochure or pamphlet sent out as a “direct mail” piece

10. Article in organizational newsletter, magazine, tabloid

11. News carried in popular press

12. Advertising in newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, posters

13. Other less effective forms of communication (billboards, skywriters, etc.)

•That means … superintendent and PR person have less power over public image than does the average school secretary or custodian

But wait, there’s more...

Our most experienced school leaders...are on a beach somewhere

Survey says•75 % of school leaders new in last 5 years•level of experience has fallen to less than 5 years•many have never lived through a crisis

Our role...

To support school leaders who must do an already massive job with the added

difficulty of lack of experience—and the absence of communications training




So now what?Let’s start with where you are now as

a district

The BIG picture

•You have too much work to do to waste time on image

Don't build the house from the roof on down

What is the “foundation” of your “house”?

Only YOU can prevent career fires!

•Focussing on learning makes you part of the district’s inner circle and increases your effectiveness

Oh yes—and the big “image” plan won’t work. There is a key difference between your communications plan

and …

Only one of them is magic! Our image is great when schools do well.

What we do..

And now presenting...

• our promotional video Peel, there’s no place

like it to learn

• our board promotional brochure

• our fridge magnet

•our bumper sticker

•our lollipop

•Or not

Trust is like the air we breathe. Trust is like the air we breathe. When it's present, nobody really When it's present, nobody really

notices. But when it's absent, notices. But when it's absent, everybody noticeseverybody notices

Warren BuffetWarren BuffetChairman and CEOChairman and CEOBerkshire HathawayBerkshire Hathaway

Um, Brian, not to be pesky but this sounds like more work !

Reputation building:Do it now or pay later

--and keep paying!• It takes nearly 4 years for a company to

rebuild a blemished reputation

Burson-Marsteller Building CEO Capital Survey

Late breaking news…I do not have a strategic communications plan!

Only YOU can prevent crisis fires!

•It also happens to be rewarding and the right thing to do

Where do you belong:

Business? Education?

Experts agree…

29 studies over a 10-year period indicated that the academic achievement of students in 91 per cent of the groups where parents were involved in training programs was superior

to those of students in control groups (Graue, Weinstein and Walberg)

What Works in Schools, Robert J. Marzano

Planning the event

• Communications was involved in all aspects and took specific responsibility for the training of speakers, developing a promotional plan and securing sponsorship.

How else can you “find” time…

•The shocking truth

You will have to stop producing your newsletter!

Sad—but true

Not a single person will ever be heard to say any of the following

“That newsletter changed my life.”

“Raise my taxes—I can’t survive without the community magazine.”

“Please, cut my salary—but not the newsletter!”

Not about adding more work --really!

-do your job differently-have a new focus

-alter definition of what’s important -be more rewarding, fulfilling

-build foundation for good times, bad times, and VERY bad times

-you do not get cut from the budget!

Take time to save time

•Help them do it right—and you do not have to clean up the mess

•Election guidelines stop problems before they happen

•Help with “minefield issues” like email, web sites

•Similar during labour negotiations, bus disruptions,

•How to find time…

Leverage—take the work you do for one school and leverage it out to a system-wide resource

Leveraging 101

•The budget speech becomes an article for school newsletters, gets posted to the web, is a column in the local paper

•The school letter on issue X (dangerous stranger, disease, asbestos) becomes another one of 200 template letters in a Word folder by subject

•Welcome poster becomes book cover, decal, and more

•Staff script/ Q and A is revised to be school council script, school newsletter article etc.




•What are everyday practices/structures/samples and strategies that help you to focus directly on the needs of schools?

How can we be school-centered leaders?

1. Be leaders

If you are not at the centre...

You can’t truly serve schools effectively

The unofficial org chart

“The Action”• Decisions, interplay,

discussions, arguments Your role—take it and

communicate it as directed. Period.

YOU

At the table in Peel

• On senior team

• on executive committee

• at in committee of board

• on contingency teams

• at director’s council

• part of the ‘learning side’ of the organization

NONOSay NO to NO!Say NO to NO!

Ways to get to the table

___ become the organizational expert on crisis and crisis planning__ when you attend, be prepared and insightful__ find reasons to come to meetings__ find a buddy__ leverage successes__ read and share__ become a good predictor/issue watcher__ always know the news__ don’t take no for an answer__ use other districts as rationale

Your ideas...

What is quality response?

•When things go wrong—what do we do at school and education centre?

•If not our fault we are still judged

•It is at the core of reputation management

•Not just the “big bad” but also the “little bad”

Your goal…

To be the quality response leader in your district for the small, medium, large and

overwhelmingly giant things that go wrong

Your hotel stay—what if…Your hotel stay—what if…

-room not clean-power outage

What are your examples of quality response?

The bad news…

The role of quality reponse leader is not always welcome!

The bad news…

Not everyone has a clear sense of our role…!

The good news…

It makes a difference

Look at this example—and find the strategic counsellor and quality

response/change leader

How often are you the one to lead people “around the leaf”?

Five greatest things “they” say to stop from going around the leaf

1. We tried that once and it didn’t work

2. We’ve never done that before

3. Let’s just wait and see what happens

4. You are not actually a teacher--are you?

5. Nobody will ever find out

Leadership rules

•Can’t become an ‘instant leader’ in a crisis (unless you play one on TV)

•Can’t just be you—team needs chances to lead (not you do strategy—they do newsletters)

•Need to lead in positive and negative environments (tsunami relief and crisis in same year)

•Leadership is not just defined by being on the leadership team—but it is a good start!

A case in point—labour negotiations

1. Communication plan approved by board—places communications in lead role

2. Internal audiences are key

3. Strategies for diverse audiences

4. Commitment to producing scripts and ready-made templates for ALL school/home communication

5. Only Communications decides what goes out


1. Be leaders

2. Focus on learning—therefore the operational

Do your own image audit—how many of your publications are actually about

learning?

That means:-no vanity messages

-no selling your district-no using taxpayer money to tell them how well you

spend their money-practical, plain language strategies to help improve

student success

Where's the smile within Peel?

•available on www.peelschool.org

•hanging on the walls of schools, community centres, faith centres

•in every office

I now deputize you as jargon police officers!

NOTICE OF PESTICIDE USE

Between June 1 to October 31, 2003 the Peel District School Board will be conducting a larviciding program under the authority of the Local Medical Officer of Health to control larval mosquitoes in order to prevent their development into vectors of West Nile Virus. The pellet formulation of the larvicide methoprene, altosid pellets mosquito growth regulator (Pest Control Product Act No. 21809) will be placed into catch basins of storm drains at Peel District School Board school sites. All larvicide will be applied by Ministry of the Environment licensed applicators or trained technicians. For further details please call 905-890-1010 extension 2753. The Peel District School Board is conducting the larvicide program in accordance with the Region of Peel West Nile Virus Prevention & Control Plan 2003.

Making my way -good PR practice…based on research with

students, staff and parents-materials are learning-focussed

-major web presence—virtual guidance office www.makingmyway.ca

-package includes staff meeting scripts, FAQ,ready-made presentations, DVD -Communications drives process

Beyond events to understanding

At special events—keep the focus on learning


1. Be leaders


3. Demonstrate commitment to internal audiences

•Check to see if plans are done for major initiatives. Ensure that plans include Q and A documents and place an emphasis on internal audiences.

•Make sure all plans include specific strategy and scripts for frontline secretaries!

Scripts for secretaries a key priority

• Might be as simple as “Thank you for your call—our spokesperson is Brian Woodland, let me give you his number”

• Could also be a standard answer such as “We had a threatening prank call today and police were called. The investigation found that the call was a prank and the school is safe—a letter is coming home today.”

Yes—we still do the “good news” part of PR!

From the top…• The communications team in Peel is entirely focused

on promoting the hard work of students, teachers and administrators in its 242 schools. On any given week during the school year the communications team sends out an average of 5 or 6 news releases that detail the amazing initiatives throughout our system. Principals can count on this strong promotional support at all times

Jim Grieve



Culture is a predominant force; you cannot NOT be influenced by culture.

Source: Cultural Proficiency: a manual for school leaders

https://mail.peelschools.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-03-03/

Making diversity communications part of all planning

• encourage schools, staff to include diversity communications in their plans

• include a diversity component in all board communications plans

• get budget approval for upfront initiatives

DIVERSITY 17

• develop relationships with community agencies, ethnic media

• encourage schools, staff to tell you about their diversity initiatives

• provide advice to schools, staff on translation and diversity issues

DIVERSITY 17

Immunization reminder for parents of grade 1 students available in 25 languages

•how to update your child's record

•how to access free immunization clinics

More than 15 letters and tip sheets available in 25 languages:

•Help your child succeed

•How the Peel board teaches your child English

•Keeping students safe

•Understanding the education system in Ontario

•Closing schools due to bad weather

PunjabiUrduTamilHindiChinese (simplified)Chinese (traditional)ArabicVietnameseGujaratiSpanishKoreanPersian/FarsiBengali

BengaliTagalogSerbianRussianPolishPortugueseAlbanianCroatianMalayalamTeluguGreekSomalianSinghalese

Top 25 Peel board languages

Solution overview

peelschools.org/punjabi

From the top…• As a high growth board, we welcome thousands of

new Canadians from all over the world yearly. Brian and his staff continue to respond to our need to communicate with this diverse community and help schools engage with parents in their children’s education. Parental involvement is essential to achieving our system goal of student success."

Janet McDougald

Chair of the Board



1. Be leaders



4. Treat schools as key clients

My best tip of the day…

The guaranteed way to help principals with their work—make sure they have

less of it!

•Create and widely distribute email guidelines and service expectations

New e-mail guidelines for Peel staff and students

The Peel District School Board recognizes that e-mail is a valuable communication tool that is widelyused across our society. As a result, the board encourages staff and students to use e-mail to improve theefficiency and effectiveness of communication both within the organization and with the broadercommunity.

Staff using e-mail to correspond with parents and students must use only the board's e-mail system toreceive or send e-mail.

The following are acceptable staff member to parent e-mail communications: General information about class activities – curriculum, homework, tests, special events Arrange for meeting/telephone call regarding a student issue including a general description of the

issue, e.g. "I would like to arrange a meeting to discuss your daughter's attendance." Follow-up on an issue that has previously been discussed.

E-mail should not be used by staff members to discuss: personal information about other students. specifics about a sensitive student issue which was not initiated by the parent or had not previously

been discussed with the parent. other staff. the staff member's performance. any sensitive student information that would normally be discussed face-to-face or by phone.

Please note that a staff member cannot make e-mail the only option for communicating with parents.Similarly, neither a student nor a parent can demand that a staff member correspond via e-mail.

A new set of student e-mail guidelines

The board is also introducing a new set of guidelines for students. Parental consent for student use ofe-mail must be provided in addition to consent for student use of the internet.

Your child's school's Code of Conduct will specify the expectations regarding the use of e-mail and theconsequences of abuse. Students are responsible for all e-mail sent from their account. The board has theright to access and disclose the contents of a student's e-mail messages.

•Take the lead to prevent email backlash

Responding to e-mail overload

Common Sense e-mail Guidelines—Effective November 19, 2002

• Documents of 5 paragraphs or less will be in the body of the e-mail, not as an attachment. If there is a need to attach an 'official' memo of less than 5 paragraphs, such as a memo from the Ministry, then the memo text would appear in the body of the e-mail and the line 'official version attached' would be included.


• The first paragraph of all e-mails will contain: - the topic- the expectation (action, info, etc.)- the recipients- the copied recipients- the timeline

• The text of e-mails should differ from the text of a full, written memo. It should be shorter, in bullet points with key information at the front.


• Longer attachments will be clearly labelled (not "memo" or "info" or "see attached") in body of e-mail. Instead, for example "Attached is a memo to all elementary principals about xxx with a response deadline of xxx.

• All e-mails will have a clear subject in the subject line (not "info" or "memo").

• E-mail subject should also include what is expected - Action, FYI, Reminder, Response required by…


• At the same time, multiple "Reminders" repeat messages, etc. should stop. The responsibility will be on the recipient to note the message the first time. If reminders are required—to deal with Ministry deadlines for example—then that will be made clear in the subject line.

• Superintendents/Controllers and Directors in departments and field offices will discuss with their staff the requests going to schools in the week/month to come and develop concrete ways to co-ordinate, simplify, and combine information to eliminate and reduce the volume.


• Departments will look at other sources for information flow including e-circular and Broadcast page.

• G.I.R. - Get It Right - the first time. Watch for "need for speed" errors in e-mails that require a re-send.

• Multiple attachments should be bundled together as a number of pages in a single attached document, rather than as multiple documents. All items in the bundle would be listed in the e-mail.


• E-mail replies should be to the sender of the original memo, or via hyperlink in the e-mail text.

• Mondays and Wednesdays will the days for an "E-Mail Pause" only essential mass/multiple recipient e-mails will be sent. This is a day for departments to reduce the number of requests to be sent in the week to come. This should not be a time to save e-mails that are then sent in a giant burst on Tuesday!

Other ways to reduce work…Do it for them!

-package centrally-write centrally and provide

-have them help with major templates







Major templates with writing teams…

-elementary staff handbook-secondary staff handbook

-elementary student agenda pages

WebCreate Objective• To create a new school web site template for schools which

will include technology that will reduce the effort to maintain these sites by:

– Pre-populating information from existing data sources

– Providing 'photo-ready' content that principals can choose to publish on their web sites

– Automating key messages

TECHNOLOGY

30

WebCreate school website


1. Be leaders



4. Treat schools as key clients

5. Listen and give them what they need

•Build an equivalent of a work team in your district

Start at the top

For many communities, actions speak—and nothing else does.

DIVERSITY 17

• developed with faith groups

• system expectation that events will be planned based on the dates

• we have moved, cancelled events that conflicted with faith days

Camera-ready Article Package

•template articles sent to schools electronically each month•articles can be included in monthly school newsletters•cover major board issues, upcoming events, safety information and parent tips•written, designed and approved centrally•use it to proactively communicate items that could become issues (lockdown, healthy eating, etc)

Camera-ready Article Sample PackageSeptember 2004

2004-05 School CalendarSay 'thanks' to your bus driver on Oct. 20Schools use many strategies to keep children safePeel board improves safety in school playgroundsChildren and parents can find math help on the webE-mail guidelines improve communication between you and your child's teacherFire Prevention Week – Oct. 3 to 9 Peel board trustees accountable to the communityProtect your child from injury—select a suitable backpackStudents and staff celebrate Terry Fox's legacy on Sept. 24 Subscribe to receive parent-child activitiesInternational Walk to School Daywww.peelschools.org flyer

How to use your new power--

A case in point

Our friend Bill (212 that is!)

How does this work in practice?A case in point-Bill 212

•New legislation on safe schools•Very short timeline•Great worry in system•Policy needs to be written •What do you do?

Drowning in new legislation?

Start at the top

• be on the decision-making group

• help write the policy and procedure

SAFETY 16


determine what research you need to do

• create a winning team

• identify your target audiences

SAFETY 16


• customize similar documents for multiple audiences

• provide an administrator-friendly communications package

• use time-saving templates

SAFETY 16


• communicate face-to-face

• evaluate the program

SAFETY 16

Bill 212 Communication Materials

• comprehensive guideline remarks and visuals for staff meetings

•Remarks and visuals for parent council meetings

• detailed staff FAQ

SAFETY 16


• backgrounder

• parent's guide to the suspension and expulsion process

• Q&A – questions from parents and community members

SAFETY 16


• camera-ready article

• template Codes of Conduct

•K-5/K-6/K-8

•Middle school

•Secondary school

SAFETY 16

The result?-We won the NSPRA Gold

Medallion

-Implementation was calm and smooth

-It is a point of pride for our school leaders

•Communications can take the lead and use templates and processes already established to provide rapid, quality response in a crisis situation

Quick Tip:

Make sure the bad news comes from you

…quickly!

•Provide as much information as legally allowed--and give specific ways parents can help children

What does this mean?-We write all school incident letters

-We provide secretary scripts, student announcements and staff

meeting scripts

-We give parents ways to help

Quick tip: you WILL experience a

CRISIS!!!CRISIS!!!

Take away the media card

•In media relations--

understand that a threat is

only a threat if you are

afraid!

From the top… During times of crisis, the Communications team instantly

moves into action to provide direct support to the school staff and the system. While the Communications team ensures that the media have up to the minute information, they are also at the centre of every event, making sure that letters to parents and communication to students and staff are prepared. This invaluable service enables the principal and superintendent to remain focused on providing direct support to the students and staff of the school.

Jim Grieve



Fireproofing checklist •Take advice of experts

•Take the lead on internal communication•Take charge of rumour control•Treat internal audiences well•Prepare templates for schools• Make everything you can public and do it quickly•Keep in touch with local media•Go above and beyond with other departments• Provide scripts to key staff•Keep senior staff in the loop

In Peel, when it goes very badly…we are there. In person. On front of the

camera. Always.

A bit of bad news...

•You need to be the one to have to manage the crisis, take the lead, sort out spokespeople, negotiate with police and talk to media—on camera!

•To reinforce—running away is not an option

•If you are it—get media trained. If you are not the frontline spokesperson, make sure your people do not do this…

What kind of training?

•You’ve Got the Power!•Do you have them at hello?

•School Councils/Student Success•School PR Tools for 21st Century

•Working with SuperParents


And for our bonus round...

The very last to-do, to do...

Deliver. Impressively.

Repeat. Endlessly.

https://mail.peelschools.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-01-10/