School superintendent communication with board members and community

School Superintendent's Communication Within The District And Community

This is a guideline and template and is NOT to be used as a turn-in paper.

School Superintendent's Communication

With the School Board Members

According to studies done over the past two decades, over 60% of school superintendents spend about three to four hours a week, total, communicating with board members. And most of that is with the chairman which leaves very little time with other members of the board. The studies have also shown that those superintendents who are successful communicate at least twice that much (Glass, Bjork, & Brunner, 2000, p. 81).

Every study produced emphasizes communication as the critical component in a good relationship with the school board. It's always the board member's top level complaint about the superintendent. Either they feel that they don't know what's going on or they are informed too late on some issues to really study them because the superintendent didn't provide documents or verbal briefings soon enough.

The cure is to treat the board members as if they are important team members of your own staff. Share with them your thoughts about the future; let them know how you think about issues; request their thoughts on any major problems or issues. And make certain they get no surprises by seeing something on television that you should have told them about. Surprises, as all the literature will tell you, is a no-no (McAdams, 2009).

Christy G. Graham's study at the University of Missouri-Columbia (2007) defined communication attributes as: "...the superintendent's trustworthiness, expertness and social attractiveness." Graham's findings indicated the attributes of social influence and social style are perceived as "essential to a superintendent's ability to develop and maintain a cooperative working relationship with board members and the community" (Board perceptions, 2007, para.

2,3). The communication attributes of trustworthiness, social attractiveness, emotiveness and expertness were determined by the researcher to have more influence on board decision-making than the attribute of assertiveness (Board perceptions, 2007). In other words, communication, for a school superintendent to be effective with his school board (and re-hired), is essential in all things.

With Administrators, Staff and Teachers

School superintendents face a new level of issues when dealing with these three groups of employees, and it is very important how the man or woman in that position communicates layoffs, curriculum changes, school closures, firings, or an order to re-apply for their jobs, as has been done now in a significant number of districts around the country.

One of the superintendent's first priorities is to get out of the office and meet with his or her school principals on an individual basis based on a regular schedule of seeing them. Just like board members, he wants their support, and he needs to give them his. It is also the ideal way to know first-hand what is going on in his district and to keep a regular finger on the pulse of issues and problems. As well, he needs to keep them up to speed on current issues before they read it in the newspaper. he/she needs to ask for their input and opinions to make them feel a part of the decision-making process that will ultimately affect them (Hopper, 2005).

In this modern age, a superintendent needs to be computer literate and utilize the tools he has to keep in touch with his principals and other administrators through email, blackberry, twitter, cell phone, and any other media she can find. Whatever it takes can be helpful, particularly if he runs a large district and has trouble getting around for a face-to-face with everyone on a regular basis. These days, there's no excuse.

Besides his school board, principals, and administrators, he also needs to keep in touch with his own staff. They are the ones who make things happen on a day-to-day basis at district headquarters. Without them, he is lost.

A presence at their staff and departmental meetings and just being visible to them instead of behind a closed door in his office, is priceless to them, and to him. An often forgotten art is praising them in public. Talk about an effective form of communication. It will make a middle level or support level employee feel like a million bucks and you win her support for a long time.

Unfortunately, in many districts (and everywhere else in the world) that has become less frequently done than telling employees what they have done wrong (Hopper, 2005).

Finally, he or she needs to be easy to get along with and positive with his people. They look to him for inspiration and leadership. But he needs to be careful not to become their pal.