Activity, Audience, Timeline, Person(s) Responsible, Budget
Process
The principal and school administration is wholly responsible for the smooth running of a school and its impact on the community that it is found in. The principal needs to maintain a good working relationship between the school participants (teachers, student body, and other personnel involved with it) and the community (Kowalski, 2010).
This can only be done through the identification, development, and implementation of a line of approach to create and strengthen school – community-based relations that acknowledge the ethical, moral, and social values held dear by the community (Epstein et al., 2008). This is a daunting task nevertheless, but it has many advantages to it. Very many factors should be considered and include: the principal’s role, the community’s role, what is expected of the students, probable problems, procedures, and mechanisms of evaluation and ways of involving the community (Epstein et al., 2008).
As illustrated by the School Public Relations Plan provided above, constant activities/strategies spread throughout the school academic year are necessary for strengthening this relationship. After defining and setting up goals and objectives these activities main purpose is to work towards achieving them. They are controlled by the audience, individuals responsible, budget constraints and includes “1) the accomplishment process of an event usually over a certain prescribed timeline/stages, with the likelihood of satisfaction, (2) the actual work associated with the objective, and (3) involvement of the who, where, what, when, how many, how much, and how often until the objective is completed.” (Kowalski, 2010)
Team building/camping
This is a sure way of capitalizing on the diversity of the school and promotion communications and involvement with all parents and community groups. The students will be able to have tighter bonds with their parents and teachers as it is not within the school setup but is based on fostering school and community relations. The school administration will be solely responsible for setting this up and ensuring it achieves its goal with some help from parents that will represent the community (Kowalski, 2010). The most appropriate time to have this is immediately after the end of an academic year before embarking on the coming newer one. The main purpose of this activity would be to reflect on the past year and strengthen the relationship with the community (Epstein et al. 2008).
Tour of the school campus
This will be periodically organized by the school principal and will run over two days once every academic year. The main purpose of this activity is to open up the school to the community. Parents want information and to be kept up to speed with the goings-on at the school, they want to feel like they own the school since their children are in it most days as compared with the time they spend with them (Kowalski, 2010). Therefore the happenings within a school need to be demystified. The intended target audience of this activity is the parents and the community as a whole where the school is found. The community, it should be noted holds dearly certain moral, ethical, and social values that it expects the school to adhere to as guiding principles (Epstein et al., 2008).
Academic days/sports day and award ceremonies
These are quite necessary activities within the school. They are not only a positive gain for the students but also their parents, the community, and the school as a whole. This is because they are meant to appreciate the achievements of both the students and the community. Parents can get a chance to see their children excelling in various capacities and also those parents that have been outstanding in various areas are acknowledged by the school (Kowalski, 2010; Epstein et al., 2008).
The individuals responsible will all be expected to work in harmony to make sure the objectives of these activities are realized. The activities will be handled and organized by all groups (teachers, students, school principals, and parent representatives), to create a sense of belonging and ownership. The targeted audience will include the whole school body and the community (parents, students, teachers, school fraternity, and the community) (Epstein et al., 2008).
One possible community partnership that could support student achievement, solve school problems, and achieve school goals is organizing academic days and career talk days. These if utilized well and put into effective use can provide maximum support and involvement from all parties involved (students, parents, teachers, the school administration, and the community as a whole) (Epstein et al. 2008).
The school principal must ensure the implementation committees and persons responsible for every activity to follow the timeline as identified and set out to achieve the set-out goals and objectives of the activities. This will help in fostering, promoting, and strengthening communications and involvement with all parents and community groups in all that is happening within the school (Epstein et al., 2008). The timeline also acts as a checklist for the school to analyze and evaluate itself over a certain period. In addition to evaluating the activities, where positive, then a probable continuation but where there is no gain, a reevaluation need be done (Kowalski, 2010).
Principal’s feedback
The school principal feels that the plan is good as it focuses and stresses on activities that not only touch on student’s welfare but also encompass the community’s involvement in the school’s growth. The school principal agrees that if the activities are implemented fully and are effective then the objectives and goals set out by the school can and will be achieved. He stresses a full involvement by all persons responsible for the various activities put forward and pledges to do all in his power to make sure that the necessary tools and budgetary requests are met and provided for smooth implementation.
According to the principal, in addition to identifying the strengths and probable areas that need more reevaluation, the partnership/relationships forged by these intended activities between the community and the school will go a great way in providing support for better student achievement, solve school problems, and achieve school goals.
To the principal, career talk days should be given much emphasis. He feels that professionals within the community should take an initiative and be at the forefront of this strategy. He argues that the activity should be as regularly as possible as this will help the students to embrace and look at the community with a different view. However, he is pleased to see that there is an initiative designed as part of social responsibility by the students to the community through cleaning up. This he feels would be a learning point for the students to take care of their environment and to be of service to others.
References
Epstein, J. Et al. (2008). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Teller Road, CA: Corwin Press.
Kowalski, T. (2010). Public Relations in Schools. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall.