CalSPRA’s Listserve is a great tool to learn best practices from school pr gurus, receive mentoring and feedback from colleagues across the state, and gain an opportunity to network daily. Send all inquires to calspra@dns-1.cccoe.k12.ca.us today!

Read up on some of the most current Listserve inquires below.

::Going Green

What are districts doing to address green efforts? In these tough budget times, every little bit will help the bottom line and can truly benefit generations to come.

In Menifee Union School District, the following steps were taken to set things right for the future:

• Switched the bus fleet to CNG (compressed natural gas) buses that send out 0 pollution
• Installed xeriscaping to newer sites saving 3.5 million gallons of water per month per site
• Replaced all urinals with waterless urinals
• Installed 198 solar panels at first site
• Installed energy management systems throughout the District saving a lot of kilowatts

Menifee went "green" both for the environment and for the budget, as the cost of running the CNG buses is substantially less than regular buses, the savings on water and electricity is significant.

Campbell Union School District addressed the issue a couple of years ago as part of its cost-saving efforts. The district found that strict “volunteer” efforts weren’t enough, so it launched a campaign that is now part of its daily practices, including:

• Discussed the importance of the cost savings with site administrators at the start of the year.
• Initiated a 10 percent and 20 percent energy savings “competition.” It charted each site’s energy usage (based on billing) and indicated the lines for each percentage goal. If a site met or went lower than the goal, the site won a pizza lunch for staff.
• The superintendent stayed on it. A letter from the business office went to all sites outlining expectations that lights would be turned off, extra appliances removed (mini fridges, fountains, etc.), signs near all lights and doorways reminding people that we were doing our part to save energy and money for students, and periodic updates on progress at administrator meetings (complete with latest usage charts).
• THE BIG HELP TO THE ADMINS WAS...scheduling a gas & electric “energy audit” for each site.  It helped the principals to have a third-party source telling them how to cut energy use and empowered those staff members who were already primed to participate.
• LEADERSHIP made the difference.  Executives would turn their own lights off when leaving a room, turn other people’s lights off (in a friendly way), periodically remind staff to shut doors when heat/AC is on, bring those charts out to show progress, and communicate how it saved $XXXXX by conserving energy in the pervious year.
• Construction updates included information about “Green” efforts (reused materials, natural lighting, passive solar design, etc.).

::Advertisement Supported and/or Electronic Newsletters

Is anybody out there publishing an advertisement-supported newsletter?

William S. Hart Union High School District accepted advertising at one point; however, after careful analysis of printing costs vs ad revenue, the district found that the ads were basically paying for the extra space they took up, with very little to support the publication itself. Nevertheless, Pat Willett, Community Liaison Officer recommends looking at an electronic distribution that could tip the scales the other way, as it will be distributing its newsletter electronically due to budget cuts.

Orange Unified School District utilizes 1st Hour Communications for its newsletter printing and distribution. Since the newsletter is created in house, there is no additional cost and the ad revenue is available for other advertising expenses, etc. Furthermore, it uses its newspaper “School News Roll Call” to get positive news about its schools to the public. Furthermore, Victoria Webber shares that its other monthly publication has gone online only effective March due to budget constraints.

Turlock Unified School District decided to use an electronic distribution due to budget cuts. Janet Pohl-De Mello, Communications Specialist, shared that it will save in printing costs because all the design is in-house. The newsletter will also be posted on local community websites to help expand audiences.  Every penny counts.

Riverside Unified School District publishes its staff newsletter electronically and everyone loves it. While it’s a little long, RUSD did a survey and found that the majority of people didn't mind. The newsletter is posted on the web, then an email is sent out with an index (front page) to everyone - so people see the entire first page when they call up their e-mail. Then, the district just added the "more" feature this year.

Jacquie Paul, Communications and Public Relation Specialist, shares that she does it herself, it’s easy and cuts out publishing fees. Moreover, it is easy to archive old issues.

::Lockdown Tips

What’s the best term for a “lockdown”?

• Millbrae used “Secure the Building” when Karen Philip was the Superintendent.  
• Tom DeLapp, President of Communication Resources for Schools, has heard some district's call it "secure in place," which implies that everyone is where they are supposed to be and supervised.
• Fresno Unified School District calls it an alert if it is not a true lockdown.
• William S. Hart Union High School District goes into “Safe Mode” because it sounds less threatening than “lockdown.”

Tips:

• Describe the incident (why lockdown was called - precautionary)
• Worked in partnership with local PD
• Our emergency procedures were successful because ...”
• “These emergency procedures are in place because ....”
• Number one priority is student safety
• What parents need to know for immediate future (drop-off/pick up of students, etc.)
• How to get in touch with school office (key contact numbers)
• How information will continue to be communicated (i.e. email, posted on website, etc.)

::Weekly Staff Development Training

Do any districts offer weekly mandatory staff development for all teachers and staff at all of your schools?  

Lincoln Unified School District dismisses grades 1-12 early every Monday.  (Kindergarten has the same schedule all year, with no early release days). It holds grade-level meetings twice monthly (department meetings for 9-12). The other Mondays are for site-specific workshops/meetings.  Lisa Walker, assistant to the Superintend, shared that the district has followed this schedule for over a decade and it has proved to be effective.

Pleasanton Unified has "late start Wednesdays" for collaboration in the elementary for year, but at the high school level for a short period of time. When they made this change at the high school level, most parents complained about the difficulty with transportation and traffic caused by everyone starting at the same time. Myla Grasso, Public Information Officer, shared that the students, however, love having the extra time in the mornings!

Finally, Pleasanton focused communication efforts on the direct student benefits gained. However, some parents were concerned about the loss in instructional minutes, so the district talked about what the staff was doing and pointed to improvements in student achievement.

For many years, Anaheim City School District has had a minimum day on Wednesdays to allow an hour for teacher planning and collaboration. A letter is included in the start-up packets that explained why this is done.

Pomona Unified School District has had early release on Wednesdays and late-start Fridays at the secondary level.  This year it made late-start Friday an all-district thing. Parents were a bit concerned about what their children would be up to, and whether there would be supervision, if they still dropped them off at the regular time on Friday.  But the district made sure it had some almost elective-type programs available for them on Fridays in addition to just playground supervision.