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May 2018

Summertime is communications planning time

While the number of fires to put out may be down to zero on most summer days, that doesn’t mean an annual office file purge should be your only goal during the upcoming three months or so. Here are some activities to consider that will give you strategic insight for the next school year:

If you haven’t conducted a communications audit in several years, summer is a great time to launch part one – a review of recent outbound content, by an unbiased third party, to see what it is you are really saying. That way, once the school year begins, you can pick up with part two (reviewing what you want to be saying) and part three (finding out what stakeholders are hearing).
Planning a potential ballot issue for next spring? Summer is the perfect time to set the research calendar to make certain you hear from a cross-section of registered voters – not just the “frequent flyers” who love you and those who think you have no clue how to run a school district.
Summer is also a good time to step back and consider ways to engage your community more effectively on a long-term basis. A Citizens Advisory Committee – in person, if you have a population that does actually show up for meetings, or virtual, if even free pizza doesn’t draw a crowd – can be a great audience of idea testers and ambassadors.

Patron Insight can assist with these services and many more that are perfect to start during the summer. We also offer an opportunity – in certain cases – of splitting the fees between the current fiscal year (if yours ends June 30) and the next fiscal year to help limit the impact of the cost. All of these are based on the project and timing. Samples of our work in these areas can be viewed on our website.

Interested in more information? Contact Rick Nobles, Patron Insight president, at
(913) 484-0920 or rick@patroninsight.com.

After the construction concludes, District asks, "How'd we do?"

The Rolla (Mo.) Public Schools are in the midst of a rather atypical research endeavor right now.

They conducted research before fashioning a ballot issue, which ended up winning at the polls. They constructed the projects and started the programs specified in the bond issue, and they now are all up and running. But they still wondered, could anything have been better?

Specifically, did the community feel well-informed about the progress of the projects? If not, how could it have been improved? And now having cleared this hurdle, how do you think we’re doing? Are we living up to the goals we set forth in our strategic plan back in 2014 (specifically, the district’s Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, or CSIP)?

So, they engaged Patron Insight to ask those questions via telephone and online research. The results will be available later this month.

“In all the excitement over projects to get done and programs up and running, following a bond issue, it’s easy to assume residents felt connected to the process,” said Dr. Aaron Zalis, superintendent. “We want to find out for certain, so we can continue to improve our performance and our efforts to make that connection.”

For more information about research of this type, contact Ken DeSieghardt, Patron Insight CEO, at (816) 225-0668 or ken@patroninsight.com.

Missouri districts win at ballot box

No victory should go uncelebrated, and so, Patron Insight wants to recognize and congratulate our school district clients who achieved ballot box success this past April on bond issues and operating levies.

We assisted these Missouri school districts with planning research that helped them shape the following successful measures:

~ Brentwood School District passed $16 million for renovations to Brentwood Middle and High schools.

~ Columbia Public Schools passed a $30 million no-tax-increase bond, which includes new construction and much needed building improvements on several facilities that exceed 40 years in age.

~ Liberty Public Schools passed a $49 million no-tax-increase bond, responding to the need for additional learning space, safety and security upgrades, and maintenance of existing facilities.

With the passing of these ballots, Patron Insight has helped clients raise more than $7.1 million in new tax revenues over the past 10 years. If your school district is considering an election in 2019, contact us today to see how our pre-election survey can give you insights to shape your ballot box plan.

Welcome to our new clients:

Mulvane USD 263 (Kan.)

Welcome back to these clients:

Basehor-Linwood USD 458 (Kan.)

Patron Insight, Inc
19733 Birch StreetStilwell, KS 66085 www.patroninsight.com
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