School Wise Press SARC Services

SARC BITE 27 | OCTOBER 27, 2004

SARCs Influence School Board Races and Parcel Tax Elections More Than You Think

Tuesday's election will find voters all over the state casting ballots on school board candidates and parcel tax measures. Every voter, while deciding who to vote for in a school board race, will stop and think, How's the district doing? How's my kid's school faring? Is the current leadership the best one possible? Those voters who are deciding whether to approve parcel taxes will be wondering if money is being managed well by district leadership.

What are you doing to help them decide? Of course, partisan activity is off-limits for district employees. But non-partisan messages shape the public's understanding. District leaders communicate with their public all year long, using everything from monthly newsletters to civic meetings. Each event builds your district's message. Are your SARCs doing their part? And are you using district-level annual reports to wrap-up your district-wide results each year?

Your public sees annual reports of all kinds. They see reports from the governor on the state of the state, corporate annual reports to stockholders, reports from non-profits and civic agencies. These reports are intended to tell an important story. Your public is expecting no less from school leadership.

One Bay Area superintendent, Lowell Shira, from San Lorenzo Unified School District, offered this hopeful comment in a recent San Francisco Chronicle story about the upcoming election: "If people know what we're doing, they'll support us."

This confidence — that if people know your district's story that they will support your leadership — should be reflected in the quality of your annual reports. If you want to tell your story, if you want your superintendent and board to thank you for helping carry the district's message to the public, make your SARCs and your district annual report look like you want someone to read it. Provide explanations of the facts that matter most. Commit to interpretating results. Invest in design.

To see what some leading districts have done to make their SARCs and DARCs understandable and accessible, take a look at these examples below:

San Mateo Union High School District: Note both summary and full-length reports, both produced by School Wise Press.

Long Beach USD: Note their readable design in the first four pages. They print and distribute a copy to all parents. Produced by Joe Pistoia's in-house team.

Kelseyville USD: Note their district accountability report as well as school level report. Diligent attention to detail and design both. Produced by Kathy Garrison's in-house team.

San Diego City Schools: Note their short reports boil down results to two pages, emphasing what matters most. Produced by Peter Bell's in-house team.

Oceanside USD. Note their one-page Fact Sheet SARC reaches parents in Spanish and English. Fact Sheets are linked to templates, as well. Published by School Wise Press.