Communications Committee
The committee uses post-it notes to brainstorm possible communications tactics.
One of the critical measures of organizational effectiveness is how well the organization conveys and receives information among all internal and external stakeholders. For a public school district, the stakeholders involve a wide range of people and organizations, including parents, staff, students, and taxpayers as well as community leaders, neighborhood organizations, business development groups, and other civic organizations. The goal of the New Albany-Plain Local School District Communications Committee is to provide recommendations to the Superintendent, and by logical extension to the Board of Education, regarding communications. These recommendations must conform to three required parameters. They must support the NAPLS mission, they should enhance what is already working well in the district, and they should stimulate rapid, demonstrable change in real and perceived district communications.
The Communications Committee was formed in December 2007 by the Superintendent. Dr. Castle announced the formation of a new committee to study and make recommendations to enhance communications saying, “We are launching this committee at a grass roots level to help us identify opportunities to reach out to the community and build upon the excellence of this school district. We want to continue to get better and this is a great way to involve our community in that process.”
After an extensive selection process, the Communications Committee was formed with fifteen members, including community applicants, two Board of Education members, two NAPLS district teachers, three district staff members, and a NAHS student. Those community members chosen to serve on the committee all have strong backgrounds in communications and/or marketing fields. Committee members are a diverse group representing the many diverse elements of the broader community: geographically, years of residency in the district, and grade levels of children in school.
In June of 2008 the Communications Committee presented their first phase final report to Dr. Castle. The report contains twelve recommendations that build on activities already working well in the district and will stimulate rapid, demonstrable change in the district’s ability to communicate with its internal and external stakeholders. The committee has determined that each of these recommendations can be easily implemented, and only one involves incremental cost above personnel time and materials. The committee strongly endorses these recommendations, although recognizing that they will take some thought and time to implement – some quickly and some may require more time than others – if done well.