Volume 5:: September 2005

Don’t be too busy for professional development
By Cindy Sabato, past President, CalSPRA
:: As school public relations professionals, we are easily so consumed by our work that we forget to take time for our own professional development. Professional development comes in many forms, and we can be creative in expanding our own skills as well as the perceived value of our profession by going beyond the usual workshops and seminars. You may love your job, but the quality of the job you do hinges on your ability to grow, to learn new things, to present new things, and to stay continually energized. Professional development is the key...

CalSPRA’s Mary Lester Scholarship Winner, Myla Grasso, speaks about her first NSPRA experience
By Myla Grasso, public information officer, Pleasanton Unified School District
:: NSPRA was everything it was advertised to be and so much more! My first NSPRA conference was enlightening, enthralling and totally entertaining. For someone who is a real “rookie” in the field of school public relations, the experience has already paid off and will, I am sure, continue to do so in the future...

Customer Service Complacency: Victim or Perpetrator?
By Shirley Burkhardt, public information officer, El Monte City School District
:: Shirley Burkhardt writes about one of the workshops she attended at the NSPRA Conference in Boston.

Golden (Mentor) Nuggets
::At the May Celebrating Communications Excellence conference in San Diego, Golden Mentor Dick Van Der Laan offered some personal survival tips for school public relations professional. We are reprinting some of them here for members who could not join us in May. Before his retirement, Dick was the executive director for communications and community relations at Long Beach Unified School District and has been actively involved with CalSPRA for more than two decades...

CalSPRA Mentorship Committee Message on the API
By Trent Allen, CalSPRA's Mentorship Committee Chair
::Did you ever feel pressured as a student in school by the tests, grades, and need to succeed? The tables are turned somewhat when the California Department of Education (CDE) sends school report cards home to parents in the form of Academic Performance Index (API) growth scores. API is the cornerstone of California’s accountability model, and it is important that we help our communities understand exactly what API scores mean to our students and schools. Here are some helpful tips...

CalSPRA Membership
::One of the most valuable resources any California school public relations professional can have is membership in CalSPRA and access to its various and many benefits, such as our listserv, workshops, and networking opportunities. This is the time of year to renew your membership and encourage those new to our profession to join. You might also think of a principal, administrator, or board member who has some PR savvy and might enjoy the CalSPRA experience. In fact, if you are using an institutional membership for only yourself, you’re wasting money. Find two other people to put on the membership. Renewals are due by October 1 to make the deadline for inclusion in our CalSPRA 2005-2006 directory, but it’s never too late to join! CalSPRA registration and renewal forms can be found on the website at http://www.calspra.org/membership/index.html.

Save these Dates

Administrative Regulations for Dealing with the Media
::Oftentimes, our districts decide it might behoove them to establish some sort of administrative regulation on dealing with media inquiries, and in particular, on directing staff to refer media inquiries to the proper person and the proper office...

Naming New Schools
::We’re always on the lookout for names for those new schools going up all over the state. But we all know that sometimes what’s in a name can cause all sorts of trouble for school district down the road. Here are a few listserv responses to the issue...

::For the latest out from the California Department of Education, www.cde.ca.gov, and from the Office of the Secretary of Education, www.ose.ca.gov.

:: EdSource Online publishes the latest information on California educational policy and news at www.edsource.org.

::School Services of California, Inc. is an invaluable resource on a variety of public school issues and especially fiscal topics: www.sscal.com

::The Northern California law firm of Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard posts new educational Legal Alerts at http://www.kmtg.com/legalalerts.htm#Education_Law.

::For networking and professional help from other school communicators across the country, visit the National School Public Relations Association at www.nspra.org.

::The site, www.schoolmatters.com, contains statewide, district and school-level data on achievement, demographics, and spending.

::Association of California School Administrators (ACSA): www.acsa.org

::California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO): www.casbo.org

::California Association of Student Councils: http://www.casc.net/

::California Federation of Teachers (CFT): www.cft.org

::California School Boards Association: www.csba.org

::California School Employees Association (CSEA): www.csea.com

::California Teachers Association: www.cta.org

If you know of another link that has been invaluable to you in your work, please help us include it in our next newsletter by emailing the CalSPRA eNewsletter Committee Chair Cindy Sabato, APR at cms28@guam.net.