When we talk to patrons about what they want from school districts, one of the topics that almost always comes up is transparency.
Patrons want to know more about what’s going on in the district than they currently know. But here’s the problem. Our research also shows they are not digesting the information that’s already coming from the district.
So, what are you supposed to do?
The most important thing you need to do is to find out exactly what information your patrons are and are not getting. What are they hearing? What are they thinking? What communication vehicles are they reading?
The only way to get this information effectively is with community research in the form of a patron survey and/or a communications audit. Look, it’s easy to get information from your raving fans and your biggest detractors. It’s much harder to find out what “Joe Patron” is thinking.
A communications audit will look at your outbound communications to determine what you were saying and query patrons to find out what they were hearing. There’s often a gap here. Restructuring communication messages and rethinking communication vehicles will often help close this gap.
Using community research to help you determine what your patrons are hearing and what they want is always important but is especially crucial if you’re considering a bond issue.
In order to pass a bond issue, you really need to know what “Joe Patron” thinks of your ideas and how much s/he is willing to spend long before you go to the polls. A pre-election survey will give you the data you need to make informed decisions about your bond issue.
If you want to be transparent, start by finding out what “Joe Patron” wants to know by doing community research.
