Connecting with Parents
Parents must be your loyal ambassadors. Parents who proclaimed, “the teacher is always right,” raised me. Today’s parents, in contrast, often repeat tales of real and perceived insults that they or their children “suffered” at the hands of teachers and administrators. Prevent bad parent press and ensure great parent allegiance by cultivating parent loyalty.
23. Plan and execute concrete steps for you, your lay leaders, and staff, take to ensure parent loyalty.
24. Welcome each parent when they walk in the door! Security guards as well as volunteers can accompany instructions to “sign here” with warm, welcoming smiles.
25. Once parents enter the office, be sure that your office staff behaves like friends not foes. Sadly, I’ve observed school office personnel bury their heads in their papers as if hoping that the person at the next desk will greet the (clearly unwelcome) visitors.
26. Be sure parents are greeted warmly over the phone.
27. Be sure your voice mail system is user friendly. Call your extension. How many buttons did you have to push before encountering a human?
28. Institute a policy of mandating that all (non-emergency) calls are returned within 24 hours.
29. Think about your written communication. Does it consider what the parents want to know? They want to know about their children’s curriculum, accomplishments, and activities. They want to know that you are their partners in reinforcing critical values and midot. And of course, they want to feel secure that their children are gaining the skills they will need to succeed academically and professionally.
30. Use more than one method to inform parents about upcoming events.
31. Do not flood your parents’ in-boxes with messages that don’t pertain to them. Did you know that one of the top reasons people give for unsubscribing to emails groups is “too frequent emailing?”
32. Be honest: are you an email abuser? Think not? Think again. Click here to read my past article, You’ve Got Mail.
33. Communication guru Frank Luntz asserts, it’s Not What You Say, its What People Hear. Lose the knee jerk “how am I supposed to predict what they hear” reaction. Become familiar with parents’ pre-conceived notions, thoughts, biases, goals, and dreams for their children.
I realize that it’s hard to digest 33 tips. Read them, use them, and bookmark them so you can revisit them often and easily.
Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part I
Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part II
PR that is guided by a carefully articulated plan, will hit the target! If you have any questions about laser-targeted PR please feel free to send me an email or call 516.569.8070.
Kol tuv,
Candace Plotsker-Herman