NSPRA's Communication Audit Report - Harford County Public ...

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Information timeliness ■ Depends on whether they need a response. ■ Public gets info before they do. They need to be informed and have talking points to be responsive. ■ “Don’t sweep things under the carpet.” ■ When something impacts schools county-wide, give them responses to use. ■ “If you can’t get something done, advise us as to why or when.” ■ They get calls when things are going on at other schools (i.e., MRSA). ■ Most central office personnel haven’t worked in a school so they don’t understand that there are lots of interruptions. Greatest challenges facing the district ■ Haven’t increased school district staff but haven’t decreased central office staff. GROUP: ELEMENTARY TEACHERS Strengths of the district ■ Teachers – strong and dedicated throughout the system. ■ District is willing to try different things; new strategies to stay on the cutting edge. ■ Support for new teachers; mentors. ■ Good clientele; even low kids are high. ■ Teachers are asked for feedback and administration listens. ■ Administration is a strength. ■ Information is shared and is research-based. ■ County builds capacity for administration internally. “Grow your own administrators.” Lots of teachers were also students here. ■ Outdoor education is a valuable tool. Improvements needed ■ Individual comments included: • Salaries. Going downhill, teachers can’t afford to send own kids to college. • Too many kids in some places, cap doesn’t catch up with where it should be. Some schools are under capacity. • Need to redistrict, but Board backs off when parents are vocal. • Disruptive behavior of special ed kids. • Not enough focus on gifted students. • Assistants are with kids all day but not with every teacher’s class. • Case load for special ed is overwhelming and they are held accountable. • Unbalanced way of introducing new curriculum. Get lots of training on some and not enough on others. • New programs get dumped on elementary rather than on middle and high school. • Some instructional facilitators aren’t in tune with what’s going on in classrooms. Teachers have concerns about evaluation process. NSPRA Communication Audit 77 Harford County Public Schools
Current image of the district ■ Families like it. ■ Concern seems to be with Route 40 corridor; that they are sending kids to schools with not enough supervision. ■ Individual comments included: • Negative opinion of issues with middle and high school; not consistent across the County. • When moved from out of state heard that The Aegis goes to great links to be negative about the district, yet don’t see Route 40 schools in paper, which is testimony to the quality of the education provided. Best source of news and information ■ Gossip; word of mouth. ■ E-mail. ■ Web site is getting better. ■ Individual comments included: • Had to find out from Lions Club about Bel Air High School plans. • Don’t know who decides what’s important for them to know. • Not consistent, depends on schools. Ways district communicates well ■ ALERTNOW. ■ Not every gossip mill is inaccurate. ■ E-mail. ■ Web site. ■ Administration office is helpful. Communication improvements needed ■ Accuracy. ■ ALERTNOW – issue with Spanish speakers. Some don’t have phones. ■ New teachers get latest info and the rest don’t; they have to go find it. ■ Principals need to show support for all they’re asking teachers to do. Information desired ■ Incidents at schools (bomb threat, robbery incident). They would rather know than be left in dark. Even if it’s trivial, at least district would be communicating. ■ Be careful of obituaries. Can impact veteran teachers who learn about deaths unexpectedly. Effectiveness of publications ■ Inside Track • They like it. • Use it for more current topics. ■ Harford Schools newspaper • They read it, kids love it. • Would like to see issues discussed (i.e., uniforms). NSPRA Communication Audit 78 Harford County Public Schools
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NSPRA’s Communication Audit Repor
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NSPRA Communication Audit 2 Harford
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is to determine whether it is helpi
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Educational public relations progra
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the communication loop, citing a br
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Recommendation 1: Develop a strateg
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However, with changing community ne
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streamline the efficiency of the of
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schools or departments where commun
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current technology has made it easy
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exception of sports. The Harford Sc
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greater community, such as BRAC and
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Recommendation 5: Improve communica
Page 27 and 28: distributed as well), so that every
Page 29 and 30: epresentatives (as end users) in de
Page 31 and 32: Stakeholders could sign-up on the d
Page 33 and 34: communicator network and to conside
Page 35 and 36: As HCPS’ flagship publication, th
Page 37 and 38: school motto and mascot, etc.). At
Page 39 and 40: “experienced” parents can serve
Page 41 and 42: • Encourage district leaders to b
Page 43 and 44: HCPS to have a clearly delineated p
Page 45 and 46: • Mandatory media training - We r
Page 47 and 48: The current HCPS public web site is
Page 49 and 50: • Provide additional support to s
Page 51 and 52: • Develop guidelines for marketin
Page 53 and 54: enhance the web site with streaming
Page 55 and 56: Conclusion HCPS is a quality school
Page 57 and 58: Logo ■ Needs updating. Best sourc
Page 59 and 60: Current image of the district ■ I
Page 61 and 62: • Curriculum evaluation committee
Page 63 and 64: • They want to help, yet run into
Page 65 and 66: • Have had three principals at th
Page 67 and 68: • “We need to bring our busines
Page 69 and 70: • Need to start over with high sc
Page 71 and 72: Greatest challenges facing the dist
Page 73 and 74: • The benefits sign-up process is
Page 75 and 76: Information timeliness ■ Good; ex
Page 77: Ways district communicates well ■
Page 81 and 82: GROUP: SECONDARY TEACHERS Strengths
Page 83 and 84: • To a large degree, district has
Page 85 and 86: • Principals keep getting more on
Page 87 and 88: Web site ■ In general, the web si
Page 89 and 90: Current image of the district ■ I
Page 91 and 92: ■ No “one clear voice” respon
Page 93 and 94: What people need to know ■ HCPS s
Page 95 and 96: • Construction should happen in t
Page 97 and 98: Greatest challenges facing the dist
Page 99 and 100: • Parents have their own interest
Page 101 and 102: NSPRA Communication Audit 100 Harfo
Page 103 and 104: 8. Do you feel the district does a
Page 105 and 106: Focus Group Questions for Student G
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