School District 225 Will Spend $21,750 On Communications Audit

The District 225 school board has approved a $21,750 audit that will help craft a communications plan to better reach taxpayers.

Public affairs firm Jasculca/Terman will conduct a phone survey of taxpayers, a focus group discussion with local leaders and an online survey for parents and students to assess how the district communicates with residents. As part of the audit, the firm will also conduct a review of the district's website.

Board member Joel Taub said the main goal of the audit will be to ask residents, "How do you want us to reach you and when we do reach you what do you want to know?"

The district last surveyed tax payers in 2005 when it was experiencing funding problems and conducted a phone survey to gather feedback on programs, staff and potential cuts. Today, methods of communication are rapidly changing and communications professionals must adapt. Creating a strong online presence and effectively utilizing social media are among several communication techniques the district hopes to incorporate.

With this in mind, the district is aiming to reach as many people as possible, as effectively as possible, explained board member Robert Boron. The most important element in the new media landscape remains making sure people are reading information that is sent out to the community, he added.

Working without a strategic plan for relaying information to the public is hit or miss, explained district director of communications Karen Geddeis.

"It's like throwing things at a dart board and hoping you're going to hit the target," she said. "Research is step one, you have to know where you are."

Keeping Taub's central question in mind, the public affairs firm will analyze the effectiveness of district 225's current communication plan and make suggestions for improvement.

"Most importantly, I want to see how we should be best communicating and in what media," said Taub.