A Kansas school district involves the community in the planning of a facilities study. The district found that community involvement is a valuable asset

Elliott, Virginia M.

Heim, Max O.

English

Kansas State University

Educational Considerations Volume 3 Number 2 Article 10 1-1-1976 Involving People in School Facility Planning Max O. Heim Virginia M. Elliott Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations  Part of the Higher Education Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Heim, Max O. and Elliott, Virginia M. (1976) "Involving People in School Facility Planning," Educational Considerations: Vol. 3: No. 2. https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.2084 This Commentary is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact cads@k-state.edu. t A Kansas school district involves the community in the planning of a facilities study. The district found that community involvement is a valuable asset. involving people in school planning By Max 0. Heim and Virginia Elliott M ax 0 , Hcirn has spent nine years In the superintendent's office, either as superintendent or assistant super intendent in Hutchinson, In dependen ce, Olathe, and Manhattan, Kansas. He also has been a principal in both high school and elementary schools. Heim received his bachelors and master's degrees from fOrt H•ys State Collese and his Ph.D. from the Uni\'e:rsity of Kansas 1n administration and curriculum. Virginia Elliott is the Publi c Information Coo 1dina.to r for the Hutchil\SO n Public Sch ools. In this capacity, as \v ell as that of a concc uled patron of education, she Is vitall y interested in school·community relatioos. Ell iott received her B.S. from Sterling College and has comoleted erad uate courses in sournalism at the University of California . She taught com-municatiofls in the Hutchinson disukt four years before assumine her present responsibihhes. Elliott is a member of the Kansas School Public Relations Association and the National School Public Relations Associa tion. WINTER, 1976 The 6-square-mile Hutchinson, Kansas public school district includes three old junior high buildings wh ich dema nd at-tention, a defini te lack of space in physical education facil ities, undeve lop ed land owned by the district close to the border of a neighboring school district, no bus system, and 236 acres of grounds reserved for the Kansas State Fair. To compound an already complex situation, the district has experienced a steady decline in enrollment over the past several years, which is expected to continue during the immediate future. This is the situation which prompted the USO 308 Board of Education to contract wi th an outside consulting tea m to condu ct a facilities study. The rationale for this step taken in November of 1974 was simple: You can't face facts unti l you know them. The Board of Education not on ly wanted the fac ts, they also wanted some expert opinions on what school facilities are needed in Hutchinson. Having a team of expem on school facilities conduct a comprehensive survey seemed the best way of gaining both objectives. However, the study team, in itself, did not allow for all the expert opinion available to the Hutchinson Board of Education. The ideas and opinions of the various factions which comprise a community are as important to the final decision on the facility needs of a publi c school district as the ideas and op in ions of people who work with school bui ldings-espe ciall y if that decision involves a referendum. People in a community have ideas - often practical, valuable ideas. They ask questions school officials wi II have to eventually answe< in initiating a building program. They state opinions which influence final decisions and certainly pcepare school officials for opposition to a referendum. Also informed people on a community can become a school district's best salespeople if a bond issue should be necessary. How do school offi cials utilize this r source? The Hut-chinson Public Schools formed a lay Advisory Committee of communit y representatives. Schoo l administrators thinkh1g about the use of th is approach shou Id be aware of se veral stock criticisms before forming such a group. First, the criticism of "tokenism" should be recognized; the committee "'·as just formed as a ..,token gesture" to\vard interest in the community. The committee will not really influence the Board's d«isions. Of coorse, we must assume this is not the case. An involved, active community offers too many advantages to ignore. A word of caution here: publicity following the Board of Education's decisions on iacility needs 19 1Heim and Elliott: Involving People in School Facility PlanningPublished by New Prairie Press, 2017should emphasize the ini luen<:e of the advisory committee's recommendations. If that influence is not obvious the committee will fall into the category of "token gesture" in the eyes of the community. School administrators should also be wary of the criticism of " politic s" - on ly members of the "power structure" were chosen for the committee, therefore the school district does not want a tru e representation of the community, just a sure thing in case of a bond issue. In selecting members for an advisory committee, school adrninistrators should watch for this situation and avoid leaving the committee open to this criti cisrn . If a Lay-Advisory Committee is not formed to supplement a facilities study a district is left open to the most damaging criticisrn of all- no invo lve ment - the district is not in-terested in \vhat the co1n1nunity thinks, feels, or does. The point, in short, is think ahead. Every school ad-n1inistrator knO\'VS co1n1nunity involvement is a necessary and valuable part of a referendum. So why not make it a necessary and valuable part of a facilities study which might lead to a referendum? Even if the faci lities study does not lead to a referendum, a school district has not wasted time and effort in creating a Lay Advisory Commi ttee. The schools will still gain from a niore inforn1ed. involved, supportive con1munity. It is necessary to clarify one point. Community in-volvement in school concerns should not be an "on again, off again" procedure to pass bond issues. Ideally, a lay Advisory Committee for a facilities study is a supplement to the continuous, built-in comrnunity involvernent effort in a school systen i. Hoi.veve r, this article is directed tovi.rard the specific advantages of con1munity involvement in a faci lities study. Once the decision has been made to form a Lay Advisory Committee, the difficult job begins of pulling people together, f inding satisfactory meet ing dates, and keeping discussion rnoving . In forming the Hutchinson Lay Advisory Committee, after a briefing session on the rcquiren1ents of a com n1u nity ad · visory committee and possible groups to be represented on the comm it tee, each of the Board of Education members was asked to recommend six candidates for the committee. These candidates received a letter of invitation to participate. The letter also included the reason for the facilities study and a brief outline of the responsibil i ties of the group. In the Hutchinson school district experience described here a committee oi 28 resulted from these initial steps. Several points warrant careful consideration \'\•hen select -ing men1bers of such a committee. Again, including only the ''po\ver structure'' of a community shou ld be avoided for reasons rnentioned earlier in this article. Consi deration should also be given to insuring the group is comprised oi both " leaders" and "followers." All of either category will resu lt in a group which cannot function as a group. Finall y, ii schoo l administrators are a·ware of co1nn1unity people \vho 20 would probably oppose the schools' posit ion, the ad-ministrators should consider trying to inv olve these people in the committee. Such opposi tion might be avoided if the potentiall y opposing o~>in ions are ai red before final decisions are 11)<Jde. 1\.1e1nbers of a co1nmit tee 1night include representatives of the following groups: staff, students, PTA, major community employers, news media, service clubs and lodges-bewa re of too many taxpayer associations, athletic booster clubs , art-music-cu l tural associations, band boosters, chamber of cornrnerce, retired persons associations, and junior colleges. A Lay Advisory Committee has now been formed. What is the next step? Information! Members of the committee must be in command of all avail able relevant data. Therefore, the committee should hear all prel iminary reports and the final report of the faci l ities study team. It might be wise to ofier such a committee some guidance after they hear all the facts gathered by the study team and the recommendations of the team-part icularly if the district's situation is co1nplex as was the case in Hutchinson. Too much at one time could overwhelm an advisory com-mittee and make members feel inadequately prepared for their task or feel the situation is impossible. Perhaps the administration, being more avvare of the total picture, could place items to be discussed by the committee in order of priority, giving the committee task direction and scope. This should be clone without "dictating " to the committee. The cornmittee might function more efficiently i f organized into subcommittees. The foll owing are some possible categories for subcommittees: (a) current facilities, needs and inadequacies-they can l)repare tables and charts to substant iate; (b) taxation - co uld chart current and an-ticipated taxes; (c) enrollment and populat ion studies; (d) program and curriculum prob lems and needs; (e) development of campaign materials; (f) coordinating cornm it tee. Every committee, of course, must have a chairperson. Since this person will set the tone for the group, careful consideration should be given to this part of organizing the comn1 it tee. The Lay Advisory Committee is organi zed, it has at its disposa l re levant facts and recommendations of the study team; what now? Recommendations to the Board of Education. This is \1i.1here all of the ''conside rations" in form-ing and organizing the group bear fruit. Discussions, argurne nt, brainstorming, frustration- the rnembers of the committee w ill probably become familiar wi th all of these. Croup interaction takes place. All the administrator can do at this point is supply requested information, wrestle with meeting dates, and let the committee do what it was formed to do. If in forming the group, the administrator considered leadership, includ ed followers a  well as lea ders, kept the group informed, and provided direction and scope, the committee w ill serve as a valuable asset to a facili t ies study. EDUCA TIONA L CONSIDERA T/ ONS, Vol. 3, No. 2, Winter, 1976 2Educational Considerations, Vol. 3, No. 2 [1976], Art. 10https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations/vol3/iss2/10DOI: 10.4148/0146-9282.2084

Involving People in School Facility Planning

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Involving People in School Facility Planning

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