001perception of the school district has been something that's been on uh my evaluation for a number of years. Um and we've been making strides towards improving um the perception of the school district. Uh but put together a public perception action plan in collaboration with >> Thank you. That's very helpful. Put together an action plan in collaboration with um uh our staff. Uh so the goal is a positive perception of the school district. The theory of action is if we create a positive experience for our internal audience, staff and families, and promote a positive image to our external audience, community, key stakeholders, then the public perception of the school district will improve. Um leading indicators like how will we know if we're on track uh towards this? Um our staff recommendation. So we have a question
002that we answer twice a year. Uh would you recommend the school district as a place of employment? And then a community net promoter score. Uh would you recommend the school district? Uh and so these are surveys. The staff recommendation one we have a system for putting out on a regular basis. The community net promoter score we have uh to improve our process for soliciting feedback on an annual basis or snapshots or other things. And so that's an area for improvement. Uh lagging indicators like how would we know if it had worked you know after the fact. Um, we would anticipate a better net open enrollment, more ins, fewer outs. Uh, so that's something that we would anticipate. Uh, and then, uh, better teacher retention, so teachers would stay with us longer. And the experience of
003our new teacher hires. If we were so attractive as a school district, people would leave their existing school to come to us because they would see it as a better place to work. And there's, you know, rumors of the past in our school district where people would say you have to go work in another school district for three, four years before you'll have the experience to come here to Lacrosse. We hire experienced folks here. And you know, the the employment pool has certainly changed some over time, but that would be something that we would anticipate would happen if we have the best place to work. Uh we would be drawing experienced teachers competitively. key messages that we're focused on. Um, excellence, great things happen here every day. Uh, you'll see that as a tagline, uh,
004in some of our social media posts. Opportunity unlimited is another one. Uh, we are really proud of the opportunities being the school district of choice and all the things that you can do here. Uh, and then collaboration. Uh, and we pulled this from, uh, the, um, our elementary referendum campaign, better education together. Um, collaboration is a prized value in our community and being able to partner with all the amazing organizations that we have demonstrates our value to the community. >> And the only thing after listening to one of those sessions and it was only one session, but the business community, they couldn't say enough about how the whole community has now improved because of their relationship, businesses helping schools, etc. So, I would add to that list some business leaders of some sort. Absolutely. One
005of my goals this calendar year is to be more involved in the Chamber of Commerce uh and get involved there to make more connections with businesses. Um we're fortunate to have a great career teched uh supervisor in Brida Rotarying. She has phenomenal connections across our business community uh and it relates to great youth apprenticeship options and great connections to our career teched programs. But there's uh always space to do more. Um there were four audiences that we identified as our primary um uh targets for our our messaging. Uh one is families, uh two is staff, three neighborhood associations, and four is realators. Um of course families, we want to have good impressions of our school district. Um and so all three primary messages are are something that we're focused on there. Um the strategies that
006we've identified for uh our families are unifying branding uh creating a more unified brand to keep the school district of lacrosse uh identifiable. Uh second one is experiential marketing. Um basically all of school is experiential marketing. Like you come here, you have an experience, you make an emotional connection whether it's through a class that you loved or hated, uh a sport or club that you participated in and had a great experience in. Um, we do experiential marketing whether we like it or not every single day. The idea then is to amp that up to do better. You know, how do we create the best possible classroom experiences? How do we create the best athletic events? How do we create the best opportunities for clubs uh for our students and our families and then active marketing
007and communication uh for our staff. We want this to be the best place to work and a place that they have opportunity. Um and that starts with um our school district office through customer service, building belonging in our buildings, uh and then uh promoting meaning and purpose, culture and happiness. And we can do that through agency, voice and choice, and of course competitive salary and benefits. For our neighborhood associations, we identified this as a key point of contact, kind of a key communicator. they have a outsized impact in distributing information to their neighborhoods. Uh and so all three primary messages uh matter there, but in particular that connection and collaboration piece, better education together. Um and something we're um going to be talking through with our district leadership team is having principles and staff members
008attend neighborhood association meetings uh on a monthly basis or as often as they meet. uh connecting student groups to our neighborhood associations so they see like uh our students in front of them. Um my experience with neighborhood associations is membership varies. It could be two that show up on a regular basis up to 40 that show up on a regular basis. And by and large I would say that it trends a little bit older in terms of population. It's folks that have been residents in those neighborhoods often for a long time. And so there's an opportunity to connect with folks that maybe their grandchildren are in school or or maybe their kids are adults now and they haven't, you know, been connected locally to public education in a little while. Uh and so we see
009that as like a key opportunity. And then dialogue when you ask people what they want to see in schools, create connection, um create engagement that's meaningful to them. We have an opportunity to improve um our relationship. And then finally, real litters as a as a kind of point of contact that has an outsized importance in our community. When people move to the area and they're directing people on where to live, they say things about school districts, you know, and we want them to have positive things to say about our school district. And when we've talked to realators, some of them know about the great things in Lacrosse and speak to the opportunity and excellence that's here. and others have maybe uh dated opinions and direct them to other local communities as opposed to lacrosse. Um
010so we need to develop a handout for real litters that's succinct and comprehensive. So that'll be a real challenge. Got to thread that needle. Uh what will people use and take with them and hand out? Um, we're talking about maybe like a realer breakfast in collaboration with LPEF, bringing in real litterers, explaining the great things that go on in Lacrosse, helping shift the narrative. Uh, and then, um, you know, Molly, you had brought up some things about great schools and other things that are out there online when you're moving to the area. How do we ensure that all of those public places where you might get information tell the right story about Lacrosse? uh and so helping promote good reviews on those uh sorts of sites when they aggregate. >> Question. >> Well, in that
011audience, that's where at the business community and then there was one session there and it talked about and you and I talked about it in the car ride home and that was uh I don't know how you pulled it off but child care in the district. Uh the parent they said for instance number one it kept parents in the community and brought their kids and it was good to get young new new teachers in. They came because this district has child care. I think our all day 4K uh program for next year will help uh start some of that and we have such good collaboration with our child care centers. I'm hopeful that we can continue to bolster their success in providing that comprehensive care for folks. >> But yeah, that is something we kind
012of dipped a toe into and >> um decided to pull out. >> They were certainly high on it. >> Yeah, absolutely. And I think particularly in rural communities where there are real real child care deserts, uh we're fortunate to have a lot of great options here in Lacrosse. Uh it's still hard to find a seat though if you're looking. um but there is space available in a lot of cases. So so that's kind of the the highlevel overview of our strategy. The next page gets into kind of more strategic actions. And um you can think about them in three different areas. Branding, marketing, and communication. And I'm uh speaking from what I learned from Nick over the last couple of years. Uh branding is kind of like who you are. It's your um image. It's
013your likeness. Uh the marketing is your kind of like your blowhorn. You're like sending out information, pushing it out. And your communications, your day-to-day, like how are you talking to people, what what's the the ongoing pace and and communication. Uh at our last workshop, we already talked about creating a more unifying brand. and I won't get into that too much, but we think that will do a long way to creating a a solid cohesive identity of who the school district of Lacrosse is. That allows us to differentiate ourselves from others instead of being, you know, more um, you know, schizophrenic and kind of all over the place. We'll be unified in how we approach um the market. Um, more printed marketing materials. Um what we found in uh some surveys that we had done through
014meter uh and others was that there's a desire for printed marketing materials from a certain section of our population. Uh it's usually older folks who aren't connected directly to the schools any longer. Uh and they're not they're just not aware of they're not going online to find stuff. You know, if you're on Facebook, it's it's an internal group. Like you have to be connected. you have to want to connect to Facebook. You're not going to find it randomly. And unless even if you're an internal audience, unless you just clicked on stuff and looked at things for a period of time, it's not going to show up in your feed either. Uh and so, you know, getting stuff to box holders will go a long way towards um making us more aware in the community and
015um with modern uh uh technology, we're able to target segments of the population, too. So, um, Nick just put out a a great flyer on all day 4K. We're able to target young families who are likely in that demo. Uh, same thing for something like, uh, uh, if we're targeting seniors in our community, uh, we can specifically grab that demo and it lowers our costs from, you know, maybe $9,000 for every boxholder down to $600 for a very targeted segment of the population. So, we can be more intentional about how we reach people. um increase active marketing. Um we already do some of this uh paid web advertisements for key messages and uh and then talked about targeted mailings for particular demographic groups. Um TV and radio have waned in terms of like consistent marketing
016opportunities and the costs are so high relative to what you can do in other ways. And our target audience is, you know, folks who have kids and they are generally on their phones. And so we can use um paid uh web advertisements to hit folks whether it's through Facebook or Instagram or Google searches uh and and hit those folks uh in a specific way while pairing that with targeted mailings to other demographics that may be less engaged uh and those platforms. >> Right around the building, >> you can geoence Yeah. Uh they draw from a pretty large geographic area and >> dropping off kids. >> Nick and I have had uh this conversation many times as it relates to other school districts. It's not hard to send a postcard to the Holman zip code. Right.
017But do we want to get into a position where we are actively soliciting other school districts kids? >> I think it was one of their >> not on social media but one of their pages and it was a hard it was a hard press on Alaska. >> Yeah. >> So um that was a bad my opinion it was a bad look. So, I don't know if we'd want to be that aggressive, but >> my goal has always been I want every single one of our resident students to choose Lacrosse. If you live in the school district of Lacrosse, I want every one of them to choose the school district of Lacrosse. If we're good enough that from another school district you think you want to come here and you're aware of us, that is awesome.
018And I think there's platforms like TV, radio, web where you can advertise regionally and not feel like it's a directed message on Facebook that says we're coming for your kids. You know, it's uh hey, we and and and for us to advertise on those platforms, it bleeds over into other school districts. We can't ensure that all of our families know unless we use a range of platforms. And if it happens to bleed over into other communities, so be it. Uh, and so that's kind of been our strategy so far. Um, if folks feel an interest in like directly targeting neighborhood school districts, we'd have to have a deeper conversation about that, but that's dangerous territory for sure. Great. >> Think we should get an admissions office with counselors like at a university and send them
019out. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Some talented people in my office. >> Molly, a thought. Well, one of the things that I found really interesting when I was living in Portland is they almost had a rallying cry around their elementary schools. So, like they had signs everywhere like this is, you know, whatever neighborhood. And that like felt good. And even though that the school that we were in wasn't particularly, you know, rated very high, like we were like, "Oh, maybe we can stay in this neighborhood that we love because there's so much community support for this school." >> Um, that was before we decided to move here, but um, so it might >> Yeah. And if we get the kids to go into our elementary schools, it's likely they'll stay, right? So what if we kind
020of have a rallying cry around that? Yeah, for the elementary referendum, we found out that yard signs are relatively cheap. You can get a lot of them for not that much money. >> Yeah. >> And there's so many yard signs for Aquinus in my neighborhood. I would love to see some, >> you know, southern bluffs, Bobcats or something. >> It's definitely on our radar. We have wanted to wait until we consolidate our schools so that we don't activate negative nostalgia and, you know, parochialism in that way, you know. So once we come together around some new things that will be an opportunity to really get out there and also once we update you know some mascots and logos and things there'll be a real opportunity to push out >> uh kind of school pride uh
021and >> it might be nice to do that with the opening of the new >> to have those signs for all the schools right so that the new school puts out signs of just advertising but everybody >> would have the opportunity to have that for their great elementary Yeah, for sure. When the name is said and everything like a new school >> and I know that in especially in uh my neighbors like there's a lot of pride for Southern Bluffs. Like everybody just loves that school in my neighborhood. So >> probably be cool to have an I teach one too. I mean >> the ones I see are always about students graduating. Those are the signs I like. I've got a lacrosse or where they're going to college, >> which is something that I I
022know I think Krie has said that we keep track of, right? Like where our students are accepted into colleges, but I feel like >> if there's numbers, if that information is good, that would be a good selling point, too, on the other end of the elementary. >> Tell you the ones I don't like is the the giant faces of the graduating seniors that freak me out when you walk by. Oh, I I love the idea of it. It's just when I run by your house and someone is staring out the window at me and it's offputting. >> You might want to I mean just I had yard signs written. Um I've seen some communities that that have a message. Um I think like it was either sock center or sock. It was like be kind
023and just was labeled as the district colors and everybody regardless of age like it's something you could easily as you roll out new branding and new colors >> and going for that unified lacrosse message. >> Yeah, >> that's an easy one to just start with and then when you cycle in then it can do schools and you can do grad you can start layering in things. Um you can also use it as a fundraiser for PTO's as well. >> Absolutely. Those are always easy ones for five bucks to buy a sign. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah, I've seen booster clubs do that. >> Yeah. Uh thank you for all those uh ideas and and opportunities. Um another thing is to strengthen social media presence through best practice. Um we um recently um participated in a research
024study with a a local uh PhD candidate and she shared all of her research on social media in schools. it was mostly focused around declining enrollment and what schools can do around that. Uh so relevant to our experience and uh one of the things she did was a review of our social media pages and uh fortunately we rated very high so thank you Nick. Um but uh we want to continue a paced and steady high high paste and steady high quality social media posts um and using best practice and research to do that. you know, you can't flood the the market with things, otherwise it kind of falls out in the wash. You want it to be high quality. I know Nick is following trends. You know, for a while it was short video and
025then carousels became the thing. And so, we got to continue to be on top of what is it that people are reacting to online and ends up in their feeds so that they're looking at it, liking it, and seeing great things here in Lacrosse. And then high quality video as well. um you know the promotional videos that we have get lots of clicks as people are considering ourmies or our choice schools or our charters uh and so continuing to produce high quality video also. Um and then kind of turning away from branding and marketing and more into communication and just like the environment that we have building a more positive uh staff climate and culture. We've been working very hard on that over the last uh two and a half years. We've seen a 30%
026increase in the the staff recommendation of our school district, which is good, and we are average now. And so now we need to be above average. Uh and so we're going to continue to work on that by building uh uh school building climates and cultures. Uh cultivating a district office culture of hospitality, uh developing high quality customer service standards, uh and monitoring our district office for those. um we often have uh competing values we're finding. We value efficiency and we value empathy, but sometimes, you know, efficiency might be chosen over empathy or vice versa. And we need to make sure that we're elevating the right values at the right time so that people feel um like they get a great experience, they feel helped, they feel valued when they come to the district office. And
027so every central office has these issues. Every customer service organization has these issues. And so, uh, just kind of really honing in on what we value and then ensuring that it's present throughout our interactions with anyone that comes into the office. >> One thing I will say with the with the new office structure over there, like walking in, >> you have to know where you're going and there's not like a person there to say, "Hi, what can I help you with today?" And when you find the people, Laura is unfailingly kind and pleasant. >> Yes. But that's, you know, that's a shortcoming of the the structure more than anything else. So, >> signage is forthcoming. We've never had a receptionist, you know, it's always been kind of a walk-in sort of situation, >> walk up.
028Yeah. >> You know, so that that is an embedded failing. So, how do we overcome that? How do we create an environment regardless that makes people feel valued when they come into the the office? >> Yeah. Is there any >> does the staff have training on an annual basis or anything as far as >> have they had it or is this something you're going to explore as >> we have not actively thought about customer service in our organization? Okay. >> You know we are now we we're doing two book sties. One on unreasonable hospitality comes out of the restaurant industry more of a high level thinking about how to approach high quality customer service. Uh and then the other one is more an actionoriented book called Be Our Guest. It's by the Disney Institute and
029it talks about creating a high quality customer service um process. And so between those two books and two different um uh book clubs, we're going to be putting together uh kind of some expectations and practices for the school district and then engaging in active training. Uh and once we've established um uh some expectations at the district office that others can see and appreciate, then we'll be starting to talk to our buildings. Um but we need to model the right thing before we can start to expect others to do uh what we're asking them. So starting by looking at it through the mirror and then we'll start finding some windows. Um and then uh ensure clearly competitive staff compensation and benefits. We have the best wages in the area without a doubt. Our benefits are average
030to below average and so it's an area where we need to improve. Um now that said, our post-employment benefits are by far the best in the area. Uh and it rarely makes sense to leave our school district if you take the full picture of our benefits into account. Uh, and so that's something that we need to continue to promote uh to our staff >> and others. >> This could be a good area for to tie Jim's request in for businesses. I mean, you could probably start building some relationships at a business level and give teachers and staff opportunities to have pre-negotiated discounts or deals or uh it's good way for businesses to give back with very little, >> you know. Yeah. this the Slinger and Pesco. They said they couldn't believe they got a fiber
031fiber welder and you know it was worth like $7,500. Business just brought it in and said it's yours. >> Yep. Whether it's directly into the our programs andor for our that might be a way for you to maybe >> totally a discount at the YMCA or you know 15% off on Taco Tuesday or whatever it might be. Yeah, if you start flexing the power of your organization, I mean, I know our company has, >> you know, discounts at T-Mobile and things like that. Like you just >> things that help uh everybody in their everyday lives. >> Absolutely. >> You can take that opportunity because you're already talking to some of those businesses maybe for things around the district. >> You might find some easy perks to add into the that benefit pool. >> Totally. >>
032Plus stimulating the local economy. >> There you go. >> Keeping it local, man. >> Keep it local. Uh the next uh relates to experiential marketing, strengthening the emotional connections to schools. Um whether that's through um activating nostalgia and you know mostly just on a daily basis creating a welcoming environment. >> Oh jeez. >> So um that is something that will be kind of a next step as we speak to our our schools. You know people have a lot of pride in their high school in particular and people have pride in their elementary while they're there. So things like yard signs, um t-shirts, um those sorts of things. But then also thinking about like when you go to a basketball game, what's that experience like? Is the dance team there? Does the band play? >> The
033auditorium do >> when you come to an auditorium, what does it feel like to be in there? What's that experience like? You know, in all those settings, what is like are we activating positive emotions in all the ways that we can? Uh and so that'll be uh something that we're thinking about. And then finally, connecting with the community. Um, leveraging relationships with real litters, attending neighborhood association meetings, uh, to promote the school district. >> Uh, and then the last thing we just thought about leveled actions. You know, how do we at our various levels promote this positive perception of the school district? Um, you know, with our staff, it's providing highquality instruction interventions, ensuring a welcoming environment for families and students, and being key communicators in the community. Uh, and that's true for all of
034our groups. Uh, as building administration, leading that positive psychology practices to build staff climate and culture, ensuring a welcoming environment, enacting experiential marketing principles for the district office, aligning resources towards these strategic actions. You know, none of this stuff comes free of time or money necessarily. So, how can we make this happen within our budget as it is? Creating a district culture of hospitality, creating a more unified brand, and then we've got some thoughts for the school board. Uh leveraging your linkages with the community to celebrate the great things that are going on, being key communicators to highlight positive key messages, and promoting positive key messages at schoolboard meetings. There's certainly a role for accountability, but where we can when things are going great, can we go on a treasure hunt and really uh celebrate
035the key things that are there? And I think uh over the last year, I've seen an evolution, frankly, where that happens more and more frequently and really excited to see that continue. So, >> I just I do struggle with um the witch hunt. Um where does what is it when is it considered a witch hunt versus crucial questions? You know, in the book Good to Great, they talk about picking up the rocks and looking at the squigglies and acknowledging that they're there. And um I remember when I was on the board when Jerry Kimber was here, and he only wanted to talk about positive things. And the community knows there's sometimes not positive things happening. And if we as a board don't talk about them, then the community doesn't see we're addressing them. So where
036does that what's the line between that and a witch hunt? because I feel like when I ask difficult questions, I'm getting the witch hunt title. >> Um I think it's something I'd heard, you know, um uh somebody, you know, witch hunts, treasure hunts, you know, it's just a fun way to phrase that. So it's not any specific scrutiny or um criticism. I think as a school district we should be able to be held up to scrutiny and I appreciate the sorts of questions that validate the great things that are going on and of course if we're not meeting expectations, we should be held to account. Um but for some of those questions you know and and I haven't experienced any lately but there is a time and a place too you know is there business
037better left you know addressing it you know in a in a >> close session >> potentially or just you see something and you have a question that you want to follow up on and maybe you got the packet on Thursday you could ask the question on Friday you can get the answer that you uh need and so then on Monday we can celebrate the great thing. Uh sometimes it's a question that deserves highlighting publicly and it's to either uh you know demonstrate that we're doing the right thing or it's to bring you know real scrutiny if we're not meeting the mark on student achievement or our um you know reports aren't in on time you know with the state that deserves scrutiny and accountability. But if there's an opportunity, right, to address those things in
038advance and then celebrate the great work that we're doing, uh there's an opportunity to promote from the very top from our school board the things that are going on in our school district. So, I I think I've demonstrated I'm never opposed to like a tough question and happy to answer and take accountability for what goes on, but if we had to wait our time spent on things, it should be weighted towards student results and I would hope towards the positive things that are going on in the school district. >> I mean, the the difficult questions that should come from a school board should be about how do we make ourselves better? we have to acknowledge we didn't we weren't good at something or something didn't go the way we wanted to and how do we
039make it better. That's that's the job of the school board. Um not to just sit here and complain. I but um and I I would push to the hilt the whole concept of equity. >> Absolutely. >> You give people what they need to improve. >> Yeah. I just think of the school board as like the chief positivity promoter too, right? You're at the top, right? You've got an opportunity for accountability. Absolutely. But you also have the best position to celebrate the great things that are going on. You see it twice a month. >> You have an opportunity when you're speaking to community members, when you're in your board seat to celebrate the great things that are going on. Um, and we can certainly do it, but when it's the staff, you know, like, well, of
040course you're going to say all the nice things. you know, for the folks that are here to hold us to account if you also see nice things, that's has a extra weight that um you wouldn't hear, you wouldn't get the same credit as a principal or a teacher or a superintendent. >> I think to Deb's point, it's it's about balance, too. And like here at the board table at our regular meetings is exactly the place for all of those questions. all and >> and at the same time like when we're there there there can be a positive culture of rigorous accountability, >> right? Because it is it is focused on productive solutions like you said like not not being a complainer without having a solution in mind and I I think that's what we do
041um or and what we should strive for at any rate. So I just think it's a balancing act. I think too some of the problems some of the problem is that schools reflect problems that are going on in the broader society. Sure. >> And sometimes the things we're measuring are an impact of things going on in broader society and we sometimes have ways to move the needle on that and sometimes >> we can but not very much. Right? And so we can ask tough questions but >> sometimes we come up against are we Are we moving towards something where we can move the needle or are we just sort of acknowledging that the societal problem that like when we come up with against percentages that are so this is why we sometimes look about look
042at districts that are comparable size comparable makeup right or statewide stats right because then you're like oh what a surprise after COVID attendance was terrible everywhere in the country uh that doesn't mean we don't work on attendance But there has to be that balance of attendance is bad. It's not just us, >> right? This is this is a nationwide problem and these are our moving the needles. And I guess we don't always get to solutions without asking those questions. But those questions can sometimes feel like why aren't you doing more on something that like we're going to the hilt for it and it's not always in within >> educators per you >> even more of a recognition of that planetarium and the work he's doing up there. I mean that's a good salesmanship for the
043district. >> And the school board starts with showcases and celebrations and you know often our announcements are those things as well. So, I'm not discounting the great things that are going on, but if we put ourselves in the mindset of one of our roles is to promote the school district, there's an opportunity at every board meeting to do so. And even when we're grappling with tough stuff, how we ask questions, how we frame things has an impact on our staff who watch meetings, our parents who watch meetings, community members who show up, you know, for the first time. And so I would just ask the board to think about that, you know, as a role uh as not only to provide accountability and scrutiny as is certainly deserved and a part of your role, but
044also how do we promote the school district, you know, from your unique position. I think bringing the linkages forward to talk about what's happening in them has been a good example of like even when we talk about difficult things. I think it's improved how staff feel about transparency, communication, about the fact that we're acknowledging when things are hard, but also celebrating the great work that they do in the middle of really difficult situations that they don't always have a lot of control over. So, >> it also it it helps to de I I totally agree with that and I I think it helps to develop a a community culture around the school board. Like I'm sure you've all had the experience where somebody is like they find out you're on the school board and they're
045like, "Oh god, that must be terrible. Thank you so much for doing that." And I'm always trying to be like, you know, I really enjoy it. >> Like even the hard conversations, the the yearslong process we went through with the referendum was really stimulating and really interesting to get to think about the community that I'm raising my family in >> in a really deep way. And that's a good thing. Like it's it's stressful because it matters, right? But it's I'm happy to be here and doing this work. And I think that I can telegraph that in my conversations with people. So, >> and that will hopefully bring more people to want to participate and bring their talents to to the school board over over time if they see people who are doing it being really
046invested in it. >> I think the the point is well taken though. I think the and I think the tone has changed from the last time I was on the board. So took the year off, came back. I think the the makeup of the board and the way everybody asks questions has changed. It feels less like there's uh an intended result that they're trying to dig for and just truly just people are looking for curious reasons, right? They're trying to understand the content. They're trying to understand context. Um, I think in society we know that there will be certain people who will have outside outsized voices that will latch on to things that are negative. And I think your the point is well taken that we need to do our job and do it well
047but understand how to be diplomatic how we ask our questions but also because somebody's going to if there if we I'm a pretty direct and blunt person and I've had to try to not be as much um because I I understand that if I say something directly or I make a off-hand comment somebody could latch on to that and that be >> a PR issue for the future. So >> I think we're doing a really good job of what you're asking us to do. Great. >> Um and I think like I said from two years ago from when I was on the board and we were in contentious times I think the community especially like I felt it in the community. I felt the anger. >> Um I don't feel that as much anymore because
048I think it's the work that has been being done as a group. I think it's good I mean that we're we're also modeling then what we're asking of our students to be effective communicators like in in your case right understanding the difference between intent and impact right and being able to I'm going to put on my academic training talk about the rhetorical situation in which we find ourselves as communicators and and whether you're aware of it or not you're you're doing audience analysis right you're you're considering how to craft a message to achieve a desired result and that's something we all do all the time and if we were more mindful of it in our capacity as board members I think that's a good thing for us >> but I think Deb you do a
049good job of that you're thinking about certain sections of the community that might be concerned about a financial issue or a curricular issue and you're speaking specifically to that and I think there's an opportunity to also think about the folks that might have a pre-existing negative opinion how do we present something through a positive positive lens to demonstrate that while we're struggling through something, there's opportunities and excitement here also. >> Yeah, it's a yes and moment. >> Yes, exactly. >> Which Carrie Booth modeled very nicely with me earlier today. >> So, that's our plan right now. Uh, appreciate any feedback. There's a lot right now. You might need more time to digest it. It's also late at night and got other things on your mind. >> And it'll take time as it rolls out as
050far as how it looks and so on and modifications along the way. >> Totally. We'll learn some lessons along the way and find that some things work and other things don't. Um, social media and communication is an ever moving target. You know, we'll be constantly adapting there. Um, I do think there is something enduring in these messages though. Excellence, opportunity, and collaboration. uh and the specific post or strategy might change, but if that becomes a little bit more of who we are on a consistent basis through a marketing lens, I think those are good messages that people will resonate with. My only feedback and I've I will keep I have a couple um when you when you get the brand you get the direction you're going I think within especially as you're looking to unify
051the brand of lacrosse right both schools we're always going to keep our two high schools but um you know we want to be seen as one community because we are um within the school storage two things. One, make sure that or explore if you are a donor to do this, having student input and staff input on designs on what the swag looks like. Like you want them to be excited to to go buy things. You want parents to be excited. You want community members >> to be excited not just for Central and Logan. >> Yeah. >> Um but two, you should start sprinkling in district unified >> with the new colors. So, if I as a parent who maybe doesn't have any loyalty, I just am really happy to wear lacrosse colors like and I'm
052going to go to I've got a kid at Logan or a grandkid at Logan and a another one over at Central like you can just go into lacrosse. >> Absolutely. >> Right. So, you can start sprinkling that in >> district established whatever. >> Correct. Whatever the colors are should be unified. Um >> I think we should get the game day bibs that are all like striped in the colors. >> But again, I think I don't know if there's graphic design classes. I know I had them in high school where you could give projects to people and say, "Hey, one of the projects in every section is to build some kind of logo wear." >> Yeah. >> Um it might just keep it fresh and might keep it uh edgy and not like I know it's
053cool. So like >> my kids elementary school had an art piece that was chosen from the elementary school on a t-shirt every year. So every year they came out with a new t-shirt that had whatever the art piece was the art >> tradition then too. >> Yeah. The art teachers. And so yeah, they also did that for the PTA meetings. They had they framed and matted kind of like they do here with the art exhibits, right? And then they had a PTA meeting and everybody >> came to the art exhibit and heard the >> bought a t-shirt. >> We've got a lot of that in our house. At least we have a management class which runs our school store and so I think that opens up the possibilities to like have their input because >>
054I don't I think we got it already. There should be a t-shirt press that one of our teachers has to be able can't remember if it's t-shirts or hats or I was out of one of the related classes by the time it came in. But I think that does open a lot of doors to have student input and I think when students are excited about it, parents will be excited about it and then I think that'll just kind of have a ripple. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. So if you can get it from both ends, you want your staff to be excited. You want them to wear whatever they're whether it's school related and or district related. But >> um I think >> that is a huge form of branding >> because it's out in the
055community. It's it's trickling trickling through the community. So >> we need stickers, too. We need We need all the things. All the things. >> But who doesn't use stickers? But like sticker stickers, right? >> Water bottles. We It could be >> That's right. water bottles, laptops. I mean, >> could be virtual classes between the two high schools. Uh it could be algebra one, but students on both sides. One day one teacher maybe delivers and next day the other, but makes it more of a con communication connection between two. >> Now we're getting into curriculum. >> It's not fun. >> I don't want to I don't want to press any >> I know we talked about unifying the reds, right? Did you decide on a secondary color or not? >> Uh, no. We haven't gotten on
056that path yet. Early days. >> The Logan gray on the the the new bleachers. If you think the black from Central and the white from Logan, >> there we go. >> It's gonna blend into that darker gray, which is already there. So, if you're looking for something that has a little bit of elements from both, >> that's what I was thinking you're going to do anyways. >> Again, it's a trendier color right now. That darker gray right now with the bright popping red will look nice. >> The one you're wearing, >> I don't know what this is. Whatever my wife bought me. >> Um, I'm teasing. So going back it goes graphite or >> I went back to the board rule and I I don't want to >> uh belabor the point but um I
057maybe we want to craft this differently and I wrote a lot of words that uh can certainly be put in a much more beautiful eloquent way but it's really I think we want to use the board table to promote uh p positive publicity for the district through collaborative discussion being respectful professional always reflecting posit and and to reflect a positively on the district. Not that we're just talking about positive things, but that we and and um my dad always said that it takes two for a fight. So, I'll own this one. But >> a year a little better than a year ago, there was a nasty article in the paper about a board dispute at the table about a board president saying something and SULA bristled at it. And um that's not the publicity we
058want. and and I'm in this role as I'm doing my job I'm trying to do everything to avoid that we have lots of differing opinions idea ideas around the table and we might often not agree on everything but if we can do it professionally respectfully and collaboratively focusing on what's best for the district I think that's our role as as the board and that's what I would kind of craft that message to be more about I absolutely basically hearing what everybody else is saying around the table. >> I'll grab that language from you. I like it about that article. I just I helped contribute to it. Um I probably would have said the same things to do it over again, but maybe in a different way because it didn't it didn't reflect well on the
059district and it it wasn't a good thing. So >> yeah, I think the words that you provided there are great. I'll grab them from you and and use that. >> I think the only last thing and I'll stop because it feels like it's a one conversation at this point. Um, I want to make sure that as you think about brand, you think about extracurriculars. I'm not, this is I'm beating this one because we talked about this a lot on Saturday, but I think it's you lose families because of our extracurriculars. So, I understand the point you took on Saturday that you do not want to force programs together, but based on the numbers and some of our sports and extracurriculars, they'd be better together and more competitive as we saw with Showquire this year, which
060came together naturally. Um, again, I'm not asking the football teams to be one football team, but >> very clearly not. >> Again, I always make this point. I'm not asking that, but there are there are plenty of opportunities that would that would >> but invite the conversation. >> Correct. I I would just >> have a we have to push this conversation forward. >> Yeah. Uh but again, one of the issues there as far as if it's a small team or whatever, >> most of the time it goes back to who's in charge of that activity. And therefore, we need to somehow recruit people that are interested in guiding athletes along the way or any kind of activity, whether it's a robotics club or whatever. And the person on top is going to make all the
061difference in the world. >> I think if we're looking for one of them, it's a lot easier than looking for two. I was actually I was having a conversation like this with my classmates this morning. It's like you guys can read my mind. Um we were having discussions about show choir because a bunch of my friends are in show choir and they were talking about how central and Logan together and how this really work because you have like a really broad range of talents and funding works out a little better and you have just a broader reach. And there was talk for a little bit about a handful of clubs just to have the funding basically becoming one between the two schools. I know I feel her. Deca had talked about it before where each
062chapter on its own was fairly small, but you can actually get things done when you work together. I've seen a lot more of it with like the the competitions held at basketball games. >> Uh and I say that with like it's the food drive competition where you can use that rivalry and for good, >> right? But I think that bumping some of the extracurriculars together, I don't think forcing it is the right way, but I think casually suggesting it might not be a horrible idea because sometimes it is the smarter move for the programs and for the resources you have and you can do more, right? It goes back to our our key statements like you can do more together. >> Absolutely. No, I appreciate that. Absolutely. And we have some that are I mean
063half of our 40% of our programs already co-opted. >> Yes. >> How do we leverage that into success and demonstrate the value to others? >> Yeah. >> Well, thank you all. Like I said, if you have further thoughts, please send them my way. Um, we want to create the best possible image of the school district and be the district of choice. Not just the image, >> the reality, just the >> um and I can do it earlier. Heat. Heat.