Central Bucks Engage was created to help our schools. We have shared best practices in middle school and arts education with you here. We also wanted to take some time and share best practices in communication and engagement from neighboring districts and around the country. As you take a few minutes to review these programs, think about how such a process would have helped CB handle the budget crisis and the potential middle school schedule change.

Right next door in the North Penn School District, parents and community members were invited to one of several community forums about the budget:
Click here

If North Penn stakeholders were unable to attend any of the forums, one was shown live on the North Penn TV station and the district’s website, and viewers could call in with questions:
Click here

The links below are from school districts around the country that were recognized by the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) for outstanding communication.

Washoe County School District underwent a communication audit, using the results to make communications a strategic priority for the district. Now they say, “We are proactive, creating our own positive news and actively engaging the community in conversations about education. These efforts have led to national recognition.” Browse through the Power Point to see the transformation and how engagement impacts education.
Click here

The Elk Grove Unified School District has a blog written by administration to discuss the ongoing process of funding for staffing. You will note it is updated every two to three weeks as they make their way through the process, which ends in November 2012 with a referendum.  Click here

Rockwood School District has a budget task force which is making its way through their budget process. On this page they have posted summaries of statements by staff, notes from stakeholder meetings and telephone and online survey results. Click here

This document is a summary of Rockwood’s award-winning budget planning process:
Click here

Finally, read about how Fairfax schools managed a proposed change to their bell schedule that would have impacted tens of thousands of students: Click here


Interesting, isn’t it? If you are concerned about the expense of such efforts, you will be relieved to hear that communication and PR services generally amount to less than .05 percent of a school district’s budget. Communication departments are also taking on a new role as development directors, raising revenue through advertising and sponsorships, and in some cases completely funding their entire departments.