Strategic Communications for School Leaders

Book Preface

The book you’re about to read is the result of more than a year of work but is also the product of years of labor in the vineyards of public education. During our time working together, we—a current school superintendent in her first top job, a former principal and superintendentturned-academic, and a former board president with years of experience as a reporter, editor, and consultant—began initiatives, conducted campaigns, managed small crises, and did the day-to-day work of running a school district.

All the while, we kept coming back to the notion that communication was a key component of whatever we tried to do. When we communicated well, we had succes —winning a property tax referendum, getting a needed addition built, and keeping our parents and other community residents informed about what their schools were doing and involved in their activities. When our communication was poorly thought out or not well executed, we didn’t have such positive outcomes and had to spend even more time clarifying, revising, and trying to inform and persuade.

Because the focus of our efforts came back so often to communication, it eventually dawned on us that we might have things to say that others in the field would find useful—particularly given our differing roles (veteran administrator, younger administrator, and board member). That led us to make presentations at national educational conferences about why and how school leaders should think strategically about communications. When Patti Belcher, acquisitions editor at Rowman & Littlefield, suggested we pursue our presentation topic further with a book, we agreed. So here we are.

As we looked deeper into literature and practice on effective school communications, we found much valuable work by others. Their work is referenced herein, and we hope you find those references useful.