Peanut butter and jelly. Needle and thread. Salt and pepper. All these pairings have one thing in common: They work better together than they do apart. But in your central office, there’s another such partnership you may be overlooking: the one between superintendent and school communicator.
In your district, the work of building a communications strategy may be siloed in either the superintendent’s office or the communications department. Maybe you, as the superintendent, are handling comms all by yourself—or maybe you’ve fully extracted yourself from the process, leaving it completely in the hands of your district’s comms director or team. But truthfully, neither of these approaches is ideal. The most effective communications strategies are founded on a solid partnership between the district’s comms director and the superintendent.
If you’re a superintendent already tackling communications solo, you may be wondering if you need a communications pro in your district at all. In short, the answer is yes. As we’ll show you later in this issue, a school communicator can relieve stress in your already stressful job, offer a unique perspective on your work, and even help generate funding for your district. That said, having a comms director in your central office doesn’t give you license to walk away from communications. Your comms chief needs you just as much as you need them.
School communicators (and their teams, if they’re lucky enough to have them) cannot do their jobs adequately without the help, support, and respect of their superintendents. They don’t need you to hold their hands or micromanage them. What they need is access—access to you and to the decisions being made at the highest levels of your district. Otherwise, how can they hope to proactively and strategically communicate those decisions with your audience? Later in this issue, we’ll share research we conducted in partnership with the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) on this very topic. Do school communications professionals have “a seat at the table” when it comes to their districts’ executive decision-making? And what else do school communicators need to feel supported in their work?
In writing this edition of SchoolCEO, we wanted to create something that superintendents and school communicators could read and discuss together. Some of the content you’ll find here will be more helpful to school leaders—like guidelines on hiring your first comms professional. Some is geared toward communicators—like tips on writing in someone else’s voice. We’ve also included a Q&A with a superintendent-communicator team on how they manage their collaborative work.
Strong school brands are powered by effective teamwork between supers and their comms professionals. We hope the content you’ll find in these pages will support you both in strengthening your all-important partnership.
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Peanut butter and jelly. Needle and thread. Salt and pepper. All these pairings have one thing in common: They work better together than they do apart. But in your central office, there’s another such partnership you may be overlooking: the one between superintendent and school communicator.
In your district, the work of building a communications strategy may be siloed in either the superintendent’s office or the communications department. Maybe you, as the superintendent, are handling comms all by yourself—or maybe you’ve fully extracted yourself from the process, leaving it completely in the hands of your district’s comms director or team. But truthfully, neither of these approaches is ideal. The most effective communications strategies are founded on a solid partnership between the district’s comms director and the superintendent.
If you’re a superintendent already tackling communications solo, you may be wondering if you need a communications pro in your district at all. In short, the answer is yes. As we’ll show you later in this issue, a school communicator can relieve stress in your already stressful job, offer a unique perspective on your work, and even help generate funding for your district. That said, having a comms director in your central office doesn’t give you license to walk away from communications. Your comms chief needs you just as much as you need them.
School communicators (and their teams, if they’re lucky enough to have them) cannot do their jobs adequately without the help, support, and respect of their superintendents. They don’t need you to hold their hands or micromanage them. What they need is access—access to you and to the decisions being made at the highest levels of your district. Otherwise, how can they hope to proactively and strategically communicate those decisions with your audience? Later in this issue, we’ll share research we conducted in partnership with the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) on this very topic. Do school communications professionals have “a seat at the table” when it comes to their districts’ executive decision-making? And what else do school communicators need to feel supported in their work?
In writing this edition of SchoolCEO, we wanted to create something that superintendents and school communicators could read and discuss together. Some of the content you’ll find here will be more helpful to school leaders—like guidelines on hiring your first comms professional. Some is geared toward communicators—like tips on writing in someone else’s voice. We’ve also included a Q&A with a superintendent-communicator team on how they manage their collaborative work.
Strong school brands are powered by effective teamwork between supers and their comms professionals. We hope the content you’ll find in these pages will support you both in strengthening your all-important partnership.