WCSD Communications Committee: Recommendations and Proposed Budget

Introduction

The Wappingers Central School District (WCSD) seeks to provide its students with a high quality education within a reasonably cost effective budget. There have long been disagreements among stakeholders (parents, students, teachers, administrators, taxpayers, senior citizens, businesses, and others) in the district about what constitutes "reasonable cost effectiveness" and "high quality education". Recently, however, even those who generally favor greater cost effectiveness and less educational bells and whistles have expressed the belief that the quality of education in the district is not what it should be. This can be regarded as a call to action in two regards. First, it suggests that we need to find new cost effective ways to improve education in the district. Second, and just as important, it suggests that many people don't understand how good a WCSD education can be.

 Lack of information about what was really happening in the Wappingers Central School District was one of the key problems identified at a Spring, 1996 Poughkeepsie Journal sponsored discussion of district problems. Two specific variants of the problem were identified during the discussion:

  1. First, many were concerned that it is much too difficult for them to obtain what they regard as fundamental information: how big classes are in the various WCSD schools, how money is being spent in central administration, how many students graduate with what kinds of diplomas, how many students drop out, how our students are doing by standardized measures, how many students are being helped by district social workers and in what ways, and many other issues. For some the concern is that such information is hard to obtain. For others the concern is that district administrators don't seem to know the answers to important questions. In either case, people felt that important information isn't readily available to people who feel they need it.
  2. Second, there was considerable concern that the "bad news" orientation of conventional news media (newspapers, radio, television) makes WCSD voters far more aware of occasional and exceptional bad news events that attract newspaper headlines than they are of the many positive activities and accomplishments of WCSD students. As a result, many people are unaware of just how good a WCSD education can be and most often is. The consensus, among participants in these discussions, was that action should be taken to improve communication with the voters of the district about WCSD activities and accomplishments.
The core of the current communications committee organized itself at that Poughkeepsie Journal discussion, and started meeting in late June, before the school board elections. While there was a clear hope and desire that the WCSD school board would agree with and aid these goals, committee members agreed that we would attempt to accomplish the goal of improving district communication with or without the cooperation of the school board and district. This report summarizes the plans and recommendations of this committee.

Goals of the Communications Committee

The goal of the communication committee is to improve, by any reasonable and cost effective means, awareness of the activities and accomplishments of the Wappingers Central School District and, in particular, its students. To do this, we need to do two things:
  1. Connect existing information about district activities and accomplishments with cost effective means of distributing that information to the voters of WCSD. In some cases, we need only distribute and/or repackage existing information to existing news and information distribution outlets, including newspapers, the local cable television public interest bulletin board, local radio stations, and gathering places like the local public libraries and senior centers. In other cases, we need to create information distribution outlets, including the recently introduced district yearly calendar, a reinitiated "Board Briefs" abstract of board meetings, a school district newsletter distributed to the voters of WCSD, and a district electronic bulletin board information distribution site and/or Web site. All of these options are being actively explored and will be discussed in greater detail below. In still other cases we may want to enable additional conduits for interaction between the residents of Wappingers Falls and the school board and district administration. These new conduits could include both electronic interaction venues (electronic mail, computer conferences) and more conventional local radio and/or community access cable phone-in show that is scheduled in conjunction with the rebroadcast of board meetings. These interactive venues will be the focus of future discussion and may be the subject of future communication committee recommendations.
  2. Find ways to make key district information more accessible to district stakeholders. Here, it is felt that much of the information that currently requires freedom of information requests can be made publicly available, at relatively low cost, using electronic venues like a district electronic bulletin board or web site. Most district information is already prepared in electronic form. Hence it should be possible to modify the existing district work flow that makes all district information that does not need to remain confidential for legal or ethical reasons available via a district electronic bulletin board or web site. This would make it relatively easy for district residents to get much of the information that they would like to have concerning the performance and activities of the district. The committee has not, as yet, explored this goal in great detail, but expects to do so in the future.
Regardless of the nature of information, source of information, or means of distribution, the focus of the committee will be on providing factual information about the activities and accomplishments of the WCSD and its students. In no case do we propose to embellish this information with opinion on any side of the many issues on which WCSD stakeholders disagree. There is no foreseeable possibility of providing an education to the students of WCSD that doesn't entail costs and taxation. What is possible is for the voters of Wappingers to see what their taxes are paying for and accomplishing. This may not change the fundamentals of Wappingers perennial debates over the costs of education, but it will bring facts that many WCSD voters have generally been unaware of to any discussion of the quality of education in this district.

Sources of Information

The Communications committee has identified a large number of sources of information about district activities and accomplishments. These include:
  1. Student Accomplishments and Awards, as compiled by school principals and guidance departments.
  2. District Faculty and Staff Accomplishments and Awards.
  3. District Schedules and Calendars, including:
  4. School newspapers, newsletters, and publications, including:
  5. The School District Report Card (Carr Report) and Highlights Report of same
  6. School Board Information, including:
  7. PTA and SLT meeting minutes, reports, and plans
  8. The WCSD Organizational Chart
  9. The List of Public Documents available from the district
  10. Recordings of Concerts and Plays. In the former case, such recordings are often made by parents. In the latter case, official recordings are often made already.
Note that none of these things are the kinds of information that normally make it into standard news outlets like local newspapers, radio, and television. Even when this kind of information does make it into these outlets, it is generally buried in the small print of the back pages where many people don't see it or shown at times when most people aren't watching. These are exactly the kinds of information that WCSD stakeholders need, however, if they are to make reasonable assessments of the quality of education in our district.

Information Outlets

We have identified a number of information outlets through which information concerning WCSD activities and accomplishments can be communicated to WCSD voters. Specifically:
  1. Local newspapers, which have expressed a willingness to accept a periodic column containing information about WCSD activities and accomplishments.
  2. Local cable, which is willing to post information about district events on its local event scroll (shown several times a day on channel 6). They have also supplied us with information about what we would need to do to supply televised content under their "community access" offering.
  3. Local radio stations, which are also willing to broadcast information about district events.
  4. The local public libraries and senior centers, from which information, including many of the kinds of information outlined below, can be made publicly available to district residents.
  5. Local supermarkets, which generally provide facilities for posting and distributing community information.
  6. The recently introduced WCSD yearly calendar, which has been broadly distributed to the students, parents, and staff of WCSD, but has seen only limited distribution among other district stakeholders.
  7. A reinitiated "Board Briefs" abstract of board meetings, which might be supplemented with a selection of coming events from the district weekly planner and made available at schools, libraries, and senior centers.
  8. A school district newsletter, distributed to the voters of WCSD perhaps three times a year. This newsletter would contain accomplishment information provided by the schools, student writing and art drawn from student publications, activities information drawn from the district yearly calendar and the district arts calendar, timely information about key board, committee, PTA, and SLT activities and decisions drawn from board minutes, committee reports, and other relevant sources, and other information that highlights the activities and accomplishments of WCSD and its students. Distribution of these newsletters can happen in either of two ways. General mailings to all WCSD residents would ensure the broadest availability of information, but entails substantial mailing costs. Distribution via supermarkets, libraries, and senior citizens allows general, but incomplete, coverage. A mailing is the right way to do this, but may not be cost effective within the current district budget.
  9. A district electronic bulletin board information distribution site and/or district Web site. This final venue can contain all of the kinds of information that we have discussed above, including the latest updates of the district yearly calendar and weekly planner, copies of the board briefs and district newsletter, material that is in preparation for inclusion in a district newsletter, and more. Indeed, large quantities of district information might be readily be made available though an electronic bulletin board or web site. Opening up this kind of electronic venue is a first step toward making a great deal of information that is currently only available through the district freedom of information process more readily available to district residents. Experimenting with these venues may require little or no investment on the part of the district. The Mid-Hudson Computer Society is willing to host district information on its Bulletin Board. The Poughkeepsie Journal has expressed willingness to host district information on its Bulletin Board and Web Site. Ideally, however, the district should undertake to own and maintain its own Bulletin Board and Web Site as a part of its overall technology plan.
  10. Video and Audio tape distribution of recordings of district plays and concerts to local libraries and senior centers. Recordings of plays would be distributed as video tapes. Recordings of concerts would be distributed as audio tapes. This would require:

Initial Conclusions and Recommendations

None of these solutions is either a perfect solution nor a magic bullet. The broadest array of information can be made available at the lowest cost via electronic venues like bulletin boards and Internet Web sites. But while a large and increasing number of people can access information from these venues, many WCSD residents cannot currently access such information without the help of others. A district newsletter is the easiest way to reach all the residents of Wappingers, but its printing and mailing costs also make it the most costly solution presented. Some will regard that cost a waste of WCSD resources. The committee feels, however, that both of these solutions are important to an overall district communication plan. Hence we specifically recommend that:
  1. The district undertake sending district activity information, in the form of the district weekly planner, to local newspaper, cable television, and radio outlets. This will make a larger number of district residents aware of district activities and perhaps increase attendance and community participation in these activities.
  2. The district authorize the communications committee to reimplement a "WCSD board briefs" that contains abstracted information concerning board discussions and decisions.
  3. The district authorize the communications committee to start a quarterly (three times a year) newsletter with issues slated for late November, late February, and late May that contains information about the activities and accomplishments of WCSD and its students.
  4. The district authorize the communications committee to start a monthly column in the Poughkeepsie Journal and Southern Dutchess News that highlights the activities and accomplishments of WCSD and its students.
  5. That the district authorize the communications committee to distribute information concerning the WCSD, including, but not restricted to, information about the activities and accomplishments of WCSD and its students. We specifically recommend that the district obtain a computer with appropriate network access that can be used to support an Internet web site (and perhaps a dial-in electronic bulletin. It would be expected that the committee would administer a portion of this site, but that the district and individual schools would also add information to this server. This web server should be the most versatile element of this strategy, and should make it much easier to freely distribute public information that might normally only be available via the freedom of information process.
  6. That the district authorize the communications committee to organize the recording or concerts and plays for distribution to local libraries and senior centers with the understanding that such recording and distribution will be only be done where royalty and other issues can be resolved at low or no cost to the district.
These recommendations are not an end. They are, in two important ways, only a beginning. First, the recommendations we make here will entail measurable volunteer effort by district residents, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, and other district stakeholders. With this in mind, the WCSD communications committee solicits new members interested in working with us to achieve the goal of improving, by any reasonable and cost effective means, awareness of the activities and accomplishments of the Wappingers Central School District and, in particular, its students. Second, the opening of new channels for getting information about district accomplishments and activities in the hands of WCSD stakeholders is just one of the ways in which information needs to become more accessible in the district. The committee plans, as it executes these recommendations, to explore ways of both increasing interaction between WCSD and its stakeholders, and of making district information that is currently only available via the freedom of information process more freely available.

1997-1998 School Year Recommendations and Associated Budget

The Communications Committee has already implemented a subset of the recommendations outlined above, and currently provides district activity information to local cable television outlets, where it appears in the channel 6 daily community activities scroll. Other committee recommendations require board actions that have not been easy to accomplish in this difficult budget year. To carry out additional committee recommendations, we propose the following budget for the 1997-1998 school year:
 
 
Activity Assumptions Cost
Board Briefs 30 Board Meetings. 100 Copies of 1 page brief per meeting distributed via libraries, senior centers, and schools $90.00
District Newsletter 20,000 copies distributed 4 times a year via schools, libraries, senior centers, stores, and other demand outlets $20,000.00
Internet Web Server 1 server accessible from Web using existing district Web Connections $2,370.00
Audio Tapes of School Concerts 10 copies each of approximately 30 district concerts per year distributed via libraries, senior centers, and the school the concert is performed at.
Video Tapes of Plays 7 copies each of approximately 10 district plays distributed via libraries, senior centers, and the school the play is performed at.
Total Excluding audio tapes, video tapes, and distribution of newsletter, if such was to be undertaken. $22,460.00

Among these alternatives, the committee strongly recommends that the district initiate the board briefs, internet web server, and audio tapes of school concerts. The Internet Web Server is a one time cost that will make a bra od range of district content highly available to district residents. The board briefs and concert tapes are, moreover, highly cost effective means of reaching out to district voters. The video tapes are a more expensive to make and distribute, and raise legal issues that still need to be resolved. The committee also recommends distributing a 4 times a year newsletter, but understands that the costs associated with the newsletter are large, especially if mail distribution is undertaken. An alternative may be to create such a newsletter, but to make it available primarily through the district web site, with a much more limited supply of printed copies made available through libraries, senior centers and on a demand basis through the district offices.

Davis Foulger for WCSD School Board