You know communication in education is important. But often the focus of that communication is on the day-to-day details like school menus or when conferences take place. After all, there is a lot happening while you educate hundreds of students every day! While this type of communication is certainly important, it’s not the only type of communication that matters.

More than ever before, parents and the community at large want to know what’s happening behind closed doors in schools. How is curriculum decided? Why were programs chosen? How are hiring decisions made? What’s being done to reinforce school security? And many more questions just like these that dive deeply into school district operations. At times these questions can seem unnecessary or overwhelming, but it’s crucial for school leaders to remember that these questions are important to the people asking them. Not only that, they are often asked from a place of concern, so you need to address any questions with compassion and transparency.

How do you that?

The first step is to remember that parents of today are used to ready, easy and instant access to information. They’ve lived with the power of the internet and immense knowledge at their fingertips for their entire lives. So when schools don’t make it easy to find the answers to their questions, the public may believe that the school is intentionally hiding it. It’s the perception that matters.

Then we encourage you to take a new look at what’s considered “need to know”. As you are create letters and website articles to inform the public about decisions or projects, consider adding additional background information. Help your community understand the need behind those decisions, explain ideas that were considered and ultimately ruled out, and address concerns your stakeholders have in initial communications. This more proactive approach can greatly improve support and buy-in for new initiatives or goals.

Lastly, provide a way for stakeholders to learn more. You don’t need to provide every detail on every decision. But by giving the public an easy way to access more information, it allows anyone who wants to learn more, the chance to do so. Now, they’ll see you as help and not hinderance. You’ll also want to include a point-of-contact so that anyone who’d like to ask questions can do so.

Taking these steps will help improve transparency and helps strengthen the trust between the community and the school district.

If you’d like strategies on how to implement the steps above or to incorporate effective communication in general, without contributing to parent overwhelm, please contact us at hello@fieldseducationalservices.com. We’d be happy to provide tailored guidance to help school leaders connect with their community.