Superintendent message in relevant languages

• Highlight the district’s strategic focus areas, celebrate progress made in recent years, and indicate areas that need more attention (i.e., specific longitudinal performance growth targets). If you have parent-facing materials to involve families in district focus areas (supplemental attendance information, CTE offerings, etc.), share those at this time and make it clear to your employees that they should be using these materials with families. Consider meaningful distribution methods for your families, such as:
  • Website article or blog post (you need this at minimum because websites are official sources of district information)
  • Email and/or SMS blast
  • Video recording 
  • Townhall (in-person and/or webinar format)
  • Press release to local reporters and other internal/external partners (employees with special attention to associations and anyone in an outreach/community liaison role; CBOs and nonprofit partners; elected officials; local government services, migrant and early learning partners; PTA; etc.).

Principal messages in relevant languages.

• Consider having principals follow up by providing school-specific information that reiterates and localizes the superintendent’s message.

Focused Outreach

• 1:1s with community leaders. Reference your district's asset map to ID leaders and use the superintendent's message as a starting point for a conversation.
  • Follow up individually to thank people for their time. Summarize what you heard and reiterate next steps.
• Empathy interviews, story circles and/or focus groups with focal student groups and their families. Consider the superintendent’s message (progress celebrated and focus areas) to drive the kinds of questions you might ask to uncover insights about your district’s strengths and challenges.
  • Follow up individually to thank people for their time. Summarize what you heard and reiterate next steps.
• Invite leaders, student representatives or family representatives to join your engagement team.

Broad Outreach

• ThoughtExchange and/or community survey (we can build your community survey into ThoughtExchange if preferred).
• Embed survey or a focus question in parent-teacher conferences and IEP meetings.

Superintendent Midyear Check-in in Relevant Languages

• Provide a midyear update about what you’ve heard, share any relevant resources (e.g. literacy at home resources if literacy is a concern), and share what happens next in terms of developing school district plans.
  • Website article or blog post (you need this at minimum because websites are official sources of district information)
  • Email and/or SMS blast
  • Video recording
  • Townhall (in-person and/or webinar format)
  • Press release to local reporters and other internal/external partners (employees with special attention to associations and anyone in an outreach/community liaison role; CBOs and nonprofit partners; elected officials; local government services, migrant and early learning partners; PTA; etc.).

Share your draft plan with your community in the relevant languages and formats.

• Use ThoughtExchange, a town hall or other formats to collect feedback and fine-tune your draft plan.

Share final plan with your community in the relevant languages and formats

• Website article or blog post (you need this at minimum because websites are official sources of district information)
• Email and/or SMS blast
• Video recording 
• Townhall (in-person and/or webinar format)
• Press release to local reporters and other internal/external partners (employees with special attention to associations and anyone in an outreach/community liaison role; CBOs and nonprofit partners; elected officials; local government services, migrant and early learning partners; PTA; etc.).

Close of School Year Message from Superintendent and Principals

• Reiterate and celebrate what you are proud of and thank key partners that have helped your school district and/or school improve (business and CTE partners, CBOs, PTO, journalists, program leaders from focus areas, etc.)
  • Website article or blog post (you need this at minimum because websites are official sources of district information)
  • Email and/or SMS blast
  • Video recording.
  • Awards luncheon or similar kind of celebration.