Volume 7 :: March 2006

January Sacramento Summit Fulfills its Promise as Usual
By Cindy Sabato, past CalSPRA President and CalSPRA eNewsletter Committee Chair
CalSPRA’s annual Sacramento Summit always proves to be a treasure chest of invaluable information about the Governor’s budget, pending legislative maneuvers affecting schools districts, lobbyist activity, and legal issues affecting all of us on the job...

Golden (Mentor) Nuggets
By Linda A. Estep
It seems my “wisdom” has been reduced to a nugget. Cindy Sabato, a gazillion miles away in Guam, recently dropped into my email box requesting some words from me for the Golden Nugget. It has been awhile since I have written anything for CalSPRA and I am honored at the invitation to visit with you for a few lines...

:: Save these Dates

::CalSPRA is now accepting nominations for Board Treasurer
Now through March 31, the nominating committee of Past President Joan Ski and members Joan Boiko and Nola Lionberger, are accepting nominations for the soon-to-be-vacated seat of CalSPRA Board Treasurer. Qualified candidates will have: 1) at least one year in the field of school public relations; 2) a current membership in CalSPRA; 3) evidence of active participation in CalSPRA. You may nominate yourself or anyone you know who would be interested, please contact any of the nominating committee members. If you’ve ever wondered how the CalSPRA president gets to be the CalSPRA president, it usually all starts with the treasurer or secretary.

::Take a chance for a scholarship to NSPRA’s annual conference in Chicago
Each year, CalSPRA is pleased to offer one deserving member a scholarship to attend NSPRA’s annual national seminar. The scholarship is named in memory of Mary Lester, who was relatively new to school communications, demonstrated considerable professional growth in her job at Santa Clara County Office of Education and on various CalSPRA committee, and would have attended her first NSPRA conference in 1989 had she not passed away at the age of 29 in 1988. The scholarship will go to an active member of CalSPRA who has never attended an NSPRA conference and who is willing to report to CalSPRA members their NSPRA experience. The scholarship is equivalent to the NSPRA seminar registration fee. All other seminar costs, including transportation, lodging and meals are the responsibility of the scholarship recipient or their employer. This award has no cash value. For conference information, go to www.nspra.org.

::Honor yourself and Our Profession at CalSPRA’s Celebrating Communicators Conference
Last May, the 2005-2006 CalSPRA board took our usual communications contest awards program up a notch or four, and if you missed it, now’s your chance to join your school pr colleagues in a truly distinguished affair. We added a Thursday late-afternoon workshop to complement Friday’s focus, replaced the somewhat “unrefined” Thursday evening reception with a formal hors d’oeuvres/cocktail reception to honor any retiring school public relations professionals as CalSPRA Golden Mentors and to recognize the CalSPRA Communicator(s) of the Year, which goes to a member who personifies all the qualities and characteristics that make for a top-notch school public relations practitioner.

Before the reception, Thursday afternoon features a two-hour session on customer service and a bonus skill-building session called “Operation Recovery.” If you spend a good deal of time “recovering” relationships that have been severed by the poor customer service habits of others and have not written standards for customer service, this workshop is for you. Customer service habits are improved when frontliners are held accountable, and this workshop will help you create a blueprint for a “customized” customer service handbook for your community. Participants will enjoy a lively discussion of the best customer service practices and work together to design the outline of the most useful document to come along in years.

Friday’s skill building workshop will continue the customer service focus with an interactive session on “How to Start a Customer Service Revival.” During this three-hour workshop, from 9 a.m. until noon, San Francisco-based Turning Point Solutions will engage participants in role playing other interactive activities to cover poor customer service, fundamental needs of customers, seven rules for frontliners, components of a customer service revival and more. A lunch buffet will follow and will lead into the Friday afternoon presentation of the Communications Contest Awards.

The Annual Celebrating Communicators Skill Building Workshop and Communications Contest Awards will be held Thursday, May 18 and Friday, May 19 at the Island Palms Hotel & Marina in San Diego (just up the street from Humphreys, which increased its rates on us quite a bit this year). The full conference rate is $119 and includes Thursday workshop and hors d’oeuvres reception, all Friday sessions and Friday breakfast and lunch. The Friday-only conference rate is $89. Hotel room rate for overnight guests of CalSPRA is $135/night plus 10.5% tax. For hotel information, call Island Palms Hotel & Marina at 619-222-0561 or www.islandpalms.com.

::Ethics Training Anyone?

::Board Member Email Address on Web?

::When your Superintendent Retires

::Classified Employee Recognition Programs