Public communication is important to ensure ongoing engagement with our community in furtherance of the essential partnership we have with our community and the parents of the children we serve. School Board Policy 4000 states:
"The superintendent will establish and maintain a communication process within the school system and between it and the community. Such a public information program will provide for a district annual report, news releases at appropriate times, news media coverage of district programs and events, and regular direct communication between individual schools and the community members they serve. The public information program will also assist staff in improving their skill and understanding in communicating with the public."
Superintendent Green and communications consultant Eric Jacobson will present:
1) The annual communications report card that reviews the strategic communications from the 2018-2019 school year.
2) A skeleton framework of the public communications plan for the 2019-2020 school year.
The board is asked to provide input on the framework and articulate your interests in how you would like us to engage the community through our communications efforts.
One element of the communications plan that we have failed to effectively focus on in recent years is an Annual Report (Last section of Policy 4000). We would like particular input on what you would like to see in this document so we are able to develop a draft that meets the interests of the board.
Annual Report to the Community
State Law and the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) require that the district publish an annual report each year. The superintendent will present for board approval a draft of the annual report at the September work session on September 9th. Some of the data may not be available by September 9th, but the template will be presented.
In order to guide the development of the annual report the board will discuss what they would like to report to the community, if anything, beyond the requirements of State Law and ESSA.
Below are some examples of 2017-2018 reports from five other Washington school districts.