Articles in the Crisis Management category

New on ASBJ.com

As rhetoric heats up, parsing legitimate concerns from intractable political or philosophical positions is getting more challenging. Misinformation abounds, spread worldwide 24/7 by bloggers and social media savants, writes ASBJ communications columnist Nora Carr in her latest installment for the magazine. 

Traditional political wisdom counsels school officials to reinforce their supporters, engage those in the middle, and ignore the negative 2 percent to 10 percent whose opinions will never change, continues Carr.

Unfortunately, with more than 70 percent of U.S. voters no longer directly connected to their public schools through their children, ignoring media-savvy activist groups is likely to backfire.

Before school officials spend limited time and political capital, Carr offers some pointers from savvy public relations and communications professionals on how districts can get in front of an issue before it overwhelms them, and ultimately inflicts harmful political damage.

Read Carr’s column here, though hurry as it’s available free only for a limited time.

Naomi Dillon|July 20th, 2011|Categories: Crisis Management, Governance, Leadership, School Boards|Tags: , , , , , |

Be prepared

BoardBuzz is taking a page from the Boy Scouts and reminding our readers that it never hurts to be prepared.  And our friends at the Iowa Association of School Boards has shared a great resource to help us do that. 

IASB has compiled a resource called Lessons Learned: Natural Disasters Toolkit to help school districts prepare for the unexpected.  The toolkit, developed in the wake of diasters that hit that state last year (specifically tornadoes and floods), is designed to to get school board/superintendent teams thinking seriously about what they need to do to prepare for and recover from natural disasters.  And while some of the information is specific to Iowa, there are valuable resources that will be useful to school districts all over the country.

You can also check out a video resource by clicking here.  What has your district done to prepare for the worst?  Leave a comment and share your resources with BoardBuzz.

Christina Gordon|May 18th, 2009|Categories: Announcements, Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, School Boards, School Security|

The Tale of Two Cities

Two articles in today’s Washington Post caught BoardBuzz’s attention on charter schools. We have discussed the matter here before, but today’s articles by Jay Matthews center themselves around two urban districts, New Orleans and Washington, DC. Neither district is unique in the struggle on charter schools, since many urban districts are facing the issue, but both have unconventional governance structures due to years of below-average performance.

In New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina hit, Paul Vallas took over the district (Recovery School District) as superintendent and new teachers came from varying backgrounds all over the country to help re-build the district. Today’s Post points out that this has led to ruthless tactics at times to keep good teachers but parents seem indifferent on the issue, not really picking a side. Are charter schools the solution for New Orleans? According to Matthews they seem to be helping, but the “regular” schools are still struggling, despite being encouraged to innovate as they get more autonomy from the superintendent.

The charter schools in DC have a different story to tell. In the Post’s Metro section, Matthews discusses the charter school that is set to close due to low achievement. DC has had charter schools for 12 years with mixed results. Some charters have done well, others have not, some have closed due to poor academic scores, others have not. The ‘regular’ schools are in the same situation, if you’re keeping score. DC is unique because Mayor Fenty appointed Michelle Rhee as the chancellor last year and although there is a charter school board in DC, Ms. Rhee has the authority to act as the policy maker in the district as well as the superintendent.

Matthews points out that many studies have concluded, well, inconclusive data. “Nationally, research shows little difference between average test scores for charters and for regular public schools. Experts say the quality of charter schools varies as much as the quality of regular schools.”

So there you have it. Charters will solve all the problems in large, urban districts. We apologize for the sarcasm, but these articles are indicative of the debate at large. Charters don’t play by the same rules as the “regular” schools and are allowed to be more selective in their staff and the students they serve, yet they are often compared as if they are equals in the statistics and the media. Let’s imagine a system where everyone was trained to be innovative, thoughtful, and focused on the students and their successes and get away from the labels so we can work together on solutions–then we have a chance at helping our schools. After all, our future is depending on it.

Andrew Paulson|June 9th, 2008|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis, School Boards, Student Achievement, Teachers|

NSBA gives back

Sonny%20and%20Emeril.jpg
NSBA’s Secretary-Treasurer Sonny Savoie poses with
celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse at the event in New
Orleans.NSBA joined the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CCTB), its hotel community, and two other organizations that relocated their conventions to Chicago to present nearly $900,000 to the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity and the University of New Orleans’ Lester E. Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration.

When NSBA relocated its 2006 conference to Chicago, the Chicago hotel community offered to raise money to assist its colleagues in New Orleans affected by the storm as well as to help in the efforts to rebuild the New Orleans tourism industry. The money was raised when the Chicago hotels agreed to set aside a portion of each hotel room night sold from the relocated conventions of NSBA and the two other organizations.

“NSBA remains committed to the national effort to help rebuild and revitalize New Orleans,” said Anne Bryant, NSBA’s executive director. “When the CCTB and hotels offered us this opportunity to relocate our conference as well as to give back to the New Orleans community, we were thrilled. Being able to support the renewal of the city is something we couldn’t pass up.”

Of the $900,000 dollars raised, a total of $447,800 will go to the University to fund 48 four-year scholarships. The check was presented at celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse‘s restaurant, as he has been a constant supporter of the efforts to rebuild New Orleans.

Sonny Savoie, NSBA’s secretary-treasurer, who attended the event, noted, “As a resident of St. Charles Parish, so close to New Orleans, this gift from an organization that I represent to a city that I love, is especially touching. I’m proud that NSBA has made a commitment to the revival of this great city, and I hope that we’ll continue to support New Orleans as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina.”

The remaining balance of $447,800 was also presented to the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity during a visit to Musicians Village. The funds will be used to build six homes for partner families from the hospitality industry that have been displaced by the storm. Construction on the homes is expected to begin within the next six months.

You can see additional photographs from this event by clicking here. For more of BoardBuzz‘s coverage of Hurricane Katrina, click here, here, here, here, and here.

Andrew Paulson|May 17th, 2007|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|

Katrina-affected schools still need help

And plenty of it. A U.S. Department of Education site offers plenty of ways to do so. The site includes application info about hurricane recovery act programs, and ways for organizations and individuals to help directly, and to find out what schools need.

And the time is now. “Without a last-minute bailout by the federal government, South Mississippi schools will soon be forced to lay off hundreds of teachers and administrators,” reports that state’s Sun Herald newspaper. “The Bay-Waveland School District usually receives about $5 million from the city’s annual tax revenue to help pay teachers, coaches, counselors and principals, and to buy textbooks.

“Katrina washed away about 85 percent of Bay St. Louis’ taxable income, and Mayor Eddie Favre said the school district would only receive about 15 percent – or $750,000 – of its usual $5 million next year.” And some Texas schools believe they are getting raw deals when it comes to Katrina funds.

Andrew Paulson|February 22nd, 2006|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|

Federal hurricane relief funds available

Important news from the U.S. Department of Education this week: the long-awaited relief funds for school districts that enrolled students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now available. This is part of the $1.6 billion school relief package Congress passed in the waning days of 2005.

Congress appropriated $645 million for school districts (and private schools) that enrolled displaced students. The Department of Education has notified state departments of education, and provided guidance for how school districts, private schools and private school parents, and state departments are to apply for the funds. Go here for details. The DOE site also includes links to the Federal Register notice, sample applications that the states may wish to utilize for local school districts, and more.

School districts should note that their deadline to submit enrollment figures to their state departments is January 26th, and the states’ deadline to submit applications to the U.S. Department of Education is February 2nd. Federal relief funds will be distributed quarterly for this school year. Noting the very tight deadlines, the Department of Education has indicated that enrollment counts submitted by the local districts and states for the first two quarters of the year (suggested as an October 1 and December 1 count date) may amend their initial figures later if they collect “satisfactory data” not available when they submit their initial application.

Andrew Paulson|January 13th, 2006|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|

Charters for New Orleans?

The governor of Louisiana wants to take over the New Orleans schools. “State takeover of schools is not a new idea in Louisiana,” reports Education Week. “Since last year, the state has already stripped the New Orleans district of control of five schools, which were then turned over to outside organizations to be run as charter schools. But the governor’s plan would make it far easier to take such action by lowering the academic threshold for takeover.” Charter schools are a <a href=”http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/11/01/10orleans_web.h25.html“>big part of the governor’s plan. School board members are listening and cooperating.

“While members of the School Board have chafed in the past at state efforts to interfere with their system, board President Torin Sanders did not sound a hostile note when asked about Blanco’s proposal,” reports the Times Picayune. “Instead, Sanders said that the governor should recognize that charters have also failed in the past and said the state should look at other methods of running schools.”

Charters or no, what do you do when the homes of 40 of your school districts’ teachers have been flattened?

Andrew Paulson|November 8th, 2005|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|

Schools as wireless Internet hubs for their communities

Cisco Systems is providing $40 million in cash, equipment, and services to rebuild hurricane-damaged schools along the Gulf Coast. The initiative will include wireless broadband “mesh networks” that extend school resources to entire towns, reports eWeek.com.

From Cisco’s news site: “The mesh network wirelessly extends the educational and accountability resources of the school system across the community enabling unprecedented levels of collaboration, cooperation and learning for students, teachers and parents.” eWeek.com provides the technical explanation: “In a wireless mesh, the network dynamically routes packets from node to node, so only one access point has to be connected directly to the wired network; the rest share a connection with one another over the air.”

Also part of the Cisco effort: Comprehensive e-learning programs that focus on Internet technology skills. Read more here.

And: Forty-three school buildings in Michigan’s Oakland County, a Detroit suburb, will soon have access to cheap high-speed wireless Internet, as part of a county-wide project.

Andrew Paulson|November 1st, 2005|Categories: Crisis Management, Educational Technology, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|

Rising construction costs are latest storm for schools

The legacy of the hurricanes of ’05 will continue to slam school districts that are planning construction.

Kansas schools are expecting costs to rise 20 percent because of reconstruction efforts in the Gulf Coast areas. Schools in New York State are cutting back because of issues that are affecting the construction industry as a whole: “Rising oil prices, some officials said, affect construction costs in two ways: Prices for petroleum-based products, such as roof insulation, are rising; and contractors also are adding ‘fuel surcharges’ to their bids to account for high costs associated with transporting materials,” reports the Westchester Journal News.

Schools in Colorado are learning about shortages of concrete, steel, and other building materials. And: Where did all of the school construction money go in New Jersey? Read about it here.

Andrew Paulson|November 1st, 2005|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|

Wilma’s damage to schools: “Lucky no more”


Is Wilma as bad as Florence or Jeanne or Katrina? Florida schools are seeking to answer this odd-sounding but necessary question this week, as they assess the affect of the latest in a string of big storms to directly blast through that state. Many schools on both coasts are shut down. Collier County, on the Gulf Coast, experienced its most powerful direct hit since 1960, inspiring the “Lucky no more” headline in today’s Naples Daily News. Read more here.

Across the state, Atlantic coast schools were slammed as well. The area surrounding the Broward County schools administration building in Fort Lauderdale resembles “a war zone,” reports the Miami Herald. All the 14-story building’s windows are blown out, with “all manner of school district paperwork strewn around streets near the building.” That county’s public schools are closed the rest of the week, mainly due to power outtages, as damage is assessed. The school district was just getting around to gearing up its support for those affected by a previous hurricane.

As of this morning, six million Floridians are without power. Long term power outtages is a major reason for another debilitating and often very expensive condition impacting schools affected by hurricanes: mold. And now, schools in Northeastern Atlantic states are getting ready, such as this school district in Connecticut.

Andrew Paulson|October 25th, 2005|Categories: Crisis Management, NSBA Opinions and Analysis|
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