School boards find community engagement can be rewarding

By Joetta Sack-Min

School officials started by presenting community members and stakeholders with the pros and cons for each solution, but they soon realized that approach was dividing the community.

“So we decided to change the way we were approaching things,” said Charlie Irish, who was superintendent at the time. “We decided to go out and have a lot of conversations -- different kinds of conversations -- and talk about things they really cared about.”

Those meetings led to a consensus on the community’s values, and school officials realized many people wanted students to have the benefits of a small school but worried about costs and the community’s unity.

Through the community engagement process, new partnerships were born, bringing additional resources and amenities. The end product was an innovative school-within-a-school structure that organizes students into four pods.

The facility also houses a community recreation center, theater, two pools, and numerous other features that likely would not have been included had community members not had their say.

There’s no doubt that engaging the community is a critical part of a school board member’s job. Research shows that broadening the community’s involvement in decision-making strengthens school districts and public education as a whole.

NSBA has long advocated the need for board members and administrators to engage their constituencies in important decisions and strategic planning.

It takes a large amount of time, effort, and planning to do well, experts say, but the end product can have a much stronger base of support, given that it was created through a collaborative process.

“The reason community engagement is hot right now is that the challenges are so complex, and demands from communities are so high that the old ways don’t work any more,” said Barbara Hunter, the assistant superintendent for communications for the Fairfax County, Va., district. “Parents and community members demand to have input.”

Hunter stresses that community engagement is not communicating what’s going to happen or soliciting input on a decision that has already been made. Rather, the process involves giving a voice to individual community members, listening closely to their ideas, and using that information to develop policies or programs or make informed decisions.

David Moore, the vice president of Collaborative Communications, a consulting group in Washington, D.C., said boards need to reach beyond the activists and bring in those who are disengaged or might not have had a strong voice.

One strategy he has found particularly effective involves organizing groups of 12 to 15 people to discuss an issue, then meshing those groups into larger meetings. Nearly always, the participants find they have much more in common than they expected.

“People from all walks of life, and different neighborhoods come together, and they realize they are saying the same thing,” he said. “The process itself creates energy.”

To draw in the most people, and the most diverse groups, school officials often need to forge partnerships with outside community groups and activists who have deep contacts and have gained the trust of the community.

Moore points to a partnership the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, school district formed with the Heights Community Congress, a group that had worked with low-income residents on housing and social issues. When the district was considering a plan to reorganize the local high school, that group encouraged participation from parents and other residents of housing projects who did not trust government agencies or understand how the school system affected their lives.

State school boards associations often play a big role in helping districts with community engagement, and several have developed training around specific strategies.

The Arkansas School Boards Association, for example, uses a well-known process called “study circles.” Small groups of about eight to 12 people are organized to discuss a particular topic. One person is trained to act as an impartial facilitator and keep the conversation focused while another takes notes, which are later analyzed.

ASBA Executive Director Dan Farley says Arkansas school districts have used study circles over the years to discuss such topics as student achievement, funding, and early childhood education.

Districts often partner with other government agencies, nonprofit groups, or advocates to host a study circles event, Farley said. ASBA, for instance, co-sponsored an event with the state’s Chamber of Commerce to discuss property tax formulas, and most recently, a district partnered with a local children’s hospital to discuss how schools can to help curb childhood obesity.

“It’s a civil way of having conversations,” said Farley. “It’s a very non-threatening environment, and what happens is that people realize very early that they have more things in common.”

Once a school district successfully reaches out to the community, it’s important to sustain those relationships and show that progress is being made. One of the caveats of community engagement is a sense by participants that their opinions count, so school officials must find ways to keep them involved.

New technologies can be helpful in drawing in community members and keeping in touch after the initial meetings. Many districts have subscribed to services that send phone, e-mail, or text messages to parents. And some districts have experimented with online or telephone polling, held public meetings with handheld devices to record votes, or used blogs, podcasts, and even posted videos on You Tube.

Moore says that most importantly, the process must be tied into strategic planning or other actions within the school system. While community meetings can be a very energizing event, one weakness he sees frequently is that the issues and topics discussed are not directly related to programs, strategies, or other actions that will take place within the school system.

Irish also notes that, because community engagement is such an individualized process, it’s impossible to take short cuts. “You have to trust your community to frame the issues for you, rather than you telling them what to be thinking,” he said.

Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2008, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.