Customer service yields major rewards for Kentucky district

School officials facing declining enrollment due to school choice need to employ the best customer services practices to ensure families choose the public schools in their community rather than private schools, charter schools, home schools, or public schools in other districts.

At two separate conference sessions Saturday, representatives from the Mason County, Ky., school district described how they adopted ideas from companies like Disney and Southwest Airlines to make customer service a top priority.

Presenters were Associate Superintendent Kelly E. Middleton and Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Petitt, the authors of Who Cares? Improving Public Schools Through Relationships and Customer Service, as well as Superintendent Tim G. Moore and board Chair Anne Porter.

In Mason County, every child in grades K-12 receives a home visit from a teacher before school begins, Middleton says. During the last week of school, students also can spend some time with next year’s teacher.

When a rumor needs to be silenced, the district puts out one clear message—by voice mail and e-mail—to everyone in the community. And the district displays a billboard proudly declaring that public schools offer a “free” education.

Middleton offered the following customer service tips to the session’s attendees:

• Train every employee in customer service and hold them accountable.
• Board members need to understand the need to avoid conflicts in public.
• Only trained personnel should be allowed to answer phones; automated phone answering should only be allowed after hours, even during the summer and breaks.
• Teach every employee about the competition and what the district should be doing about it.
• Use a “mystery guest” to obtain reliable information about your school climate—just like stores use “mystery shoppers” to gather information about how employees treat customers.
• Learn to recover quickly and respond well when mistakes are made.

After making customer service a top priority, the Mason County school district experienced a 75 percent decline in disciplinary actions, improved student achievement, and increases in enrollment, attendance, and volunteer hours.