By Del Stover
04/05/05 -- When the Raymond, N. H., school board took political flak last year for attending NSBA’s annual conference in Orlando, Fla., board members eventually managed to win over skeptics.
They did so by attending the conference despite criticism about the trip’s $3,080 price tag -- and then conducting a two-hour PowerPoint presentation upon their return. In that public session, broadcast over local cable, they detailed their training experiences and how the lessons they learned could benefit the school system.
“I think the fact [the conference] was in Florida had people thinking, ‘Gee, those people are just going for a vacation,’” says board Chair Stephen Sloan. “I think once we reported on the amount of activity that we did, and the fact that our bathing suits never got wet, it kind of reduced some of the concerns.”
For the most part, the public and media recognize the value of school board training and professional development. But, on occasion, a school board can find itself questioned or even criticized about the need to travel halfway across the country to attend an NSBA conference.
That’s why school board experts suggest taking the initiative now. Rather than wait for questions -- or the ill-informed criticism that the board is off on a “junket” -- school boards should plan on making the NSBA conference as much a learning experience for the public and media as it will be for attendees.
The public and media’s education should begin before any school board member packs a suitcase, says NSBA Communications Director Barbara Hunter.
“Board members need to be absolutely open about their attendance at NSBA’s conference,” she says. “That means making a public announcement before the conference, being available to answer any media inquiries, and explaining how the conference is a critical training opportunity that will benefit the school system.”
Any discussion about the conference should focus on the training, not the travel, says Becky Albright, a member of the Orleans/Niagara BOCES in New York and a strong advocate on the importance of board professional development. Board members work at a conference, she stresses.
“You’ve got to get across the idea that you’re going away to school. We know high-performing districts spend more on training,” Albright says. “If you can show that kids are doing better because the board is doing better, you’ll get less heat.”
In most communities, such a message is well received, says Scott Ebright, deputy director of communications for the Ohio School Boards Association. “A school board member doing his job and becoming a better board member is not news.”
Upon their return home, conference-goers can strengthen their position by reporting back to the board in a public meeting -- and sharing any material they’ve collected, Hunter says.
“Some board members prepare a news release to distribute,” she says. “In many communities, that works well. We’ll be having a sample news release available at the conference, along with a sample op-ed column that board members can submit to their newspaper detailing what they learned.”
In sharing information, board members always should take the opportunity to link the conference experience to the issues and challenges facing the local school system, board members say. When the Medina, N.Y., school board made that effort, even some critics acknowledged to the media that the trip could end up saving the district money.
“We got a lot of good feedback about it,” Sloan says.
School boards should take advantage of any opportunity to highlight the value of the conference.
Last October, the Bristol, Va., school board made news when it revised its standards for evaluating the superintendent. As the local newspaper noted, the changes “came about after two board members attended a National School Boards Association conference with sessions devoted to the topic.”
Questions about conference attendance are more likely in smaller communities where, “any group of folks going to San Francisco is going to be news one way or the other,” says Brad Hughes, director of member support services for the Kentucky School Boards Association.
But, for the most part, strong criticism about conference attendance usually pops up only when something else is amiss. “I’ve never seen that going to our conference or NSBA’s has been in and of itself a media story,” Hughes says. It’s usually a bullet in board coverage . . . . Usually the trips only draw coverage if the board or district already has some controversy.”
Fiscal problems, for example, can quickly fuel debate. And questions over recent problems with credit card use or unauthorized spending -- or any controversy that’s stirred up the public -- also have the potential to raise concerns about conference attendance.
Such issues eventually are resolved and forgotten, and a school board can again make a good case for board training. But there’s one very positive strategy to make sure the public and media understand the educational value of the NSBA conference: Follow the example of the Madison (Ala.) City Schools, which earned some well-deserved publicity when it announced district leaders will be leading a seminar in San Diego this month.
FOLLOW THESE STRATEGIES
Here are a few strategies to help the public and news media understand why attending the NSBA Annual Conference is important -- and why attendance is a sound investment for your school system:
Before the conference
• Make a public announcement at a board meeting that representatives from your district will attend. Indicate who will attend, the purpose and value of their participation, and the approximate cost. Prepare a press release to coincide with this public announcement.
• Answer any inquiries about the upcoming conference. All inquiries should be channeled for response to one official spokesperson -- usually the board president or superintendent.
• Review the meeting program and determine which sessions, discussions, and activities will directly benefit your school district. Prepare to explain your choices.
• Designate an attending representative to prepare a written or verbal summary report to the entire board following the conference.
After the conference
• Prepare a news release for distribution as soon as possible after your return. It should include an overview of the conference, its overall value to the school district and local community, local school district representatives who attended, and the education topics discussed. Include quotes by your attendees on how the meeting related to your school board’s programs and goals.
• At a board meeting, orally share the highlights of the report and your own observations and impressions. If you discovered that your district is more successful than others in a given area of activity, point this out and compliment the staff and board.
• Be available to respond to media inquiries, interview requests, and other matters relating to the conference. Be prepared, informed, and direct in your response.
• Explain the benefits and return on investment for conference participation. School governance is a huge and complex responsibility. Training school board members to be effective leaders and decision makers is an educational investment that benefits the entire community.
• Be positive and well-informed about the conference programming and its importance to the local school district. One message to share is that school board members must have access to the best and most current information if they are to serve the students and community effectively.