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Making Connections That Count

The Power of Storytelling

Presenters:

Kyle Gnagey, Wayne RESA

Micki O’Neil, Ingham ISD

#MichiganISDs

Introductions

[8:45 am]�Micki

Kyle

Who we are:

ISD PR Network - The Intermediate School District Public Relations (ISD PR) Network is a coalition of ISD/RESA/ESA communicators that collaborates on MAISA-related communication initiatives, coordinates planned ISD communication for identified education issues, and connects for professional development and networking to support ISD communication throughout the state.

Micki

MSPRA – Michigan School Public Relations Association

222 members strong – Ranging from true PR professionals to those learning about school PR and how to support their schools.

School focused PR Professional Development

Tips and tools to share with one another

We are not in competition with one another, so we often share ideas, materials, etc.

Because storytelling and advocating for ISDs, is 100% focused on those we serve

Why are we here:

Demonstrate the need and urgency to spread awareness and understanding of ISDs within our own communities and statewide.

�If you do good things and tell people about it, they will support you.

�ISDs have been traditionally in this servant leadership role. The “best kept secret”. We need to shake that up a little.

�We are an intricate part of the entire education system and what we do matters.

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Brand is not just your logo - Brand is also making that emotional connection with your audience

What do you think about your logo/building?

What do other people think?

What do you want them to think?

Do you know what people are saying about you?

What are your teachers, your residents, your staff saying

Participation in your brand isn't really an optional thing...it kind of happens with and with out your input

If your organization needed to close, would you be missed, who would miss you and why?

This child learned to walk, sign, CTE, we deliver books, talking is teaching

Who is not happy with us?

��What is a brand? – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=sQLlPC_alT8

Sampled: https://mistreamnet.eduvision.tv/Share.aspx?q=3SfVi13wT7TnWyzc2rnIpA%253d%253d

End at 2:42 – don't show unless we can shorten it.

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Marketing Rule of 7

It takes an average of seven interactions with your brand before someone will take action.

Marketing rule of 7 - It takes an average of seven interactions with your brand before someone will take action. This could mean purchase a product or engage with your service.

examples of interactions: A TV or magazine advertisement, Reading a review or an article about your organization, Receiving an email from your brand, Hearing a friend mention your brand, Seeing a billboard on the side of the road, seeing a banner online, company appearing in a google search, company sponsoring an event or being part of an exhibit.

�However, a few things to consider:

As a service provider, people don’t need us, UNTIL THEY NEED US.

This means we need to be present ALL THE TIME.

ISDs are not a traditional school and therefore not as well known

This is where making connections that count comes in….we need to be well known in our communities and throughout the state

Students change grades each year…do they know what’s available in the next grade? Do we leave it up to chance or spread the good news about our programming?

Special Education students come to us on referrals from local districts…will local districts send students to us if our programs don’t meet high standards? And…how will they know?

CTE students need to know their options early, so they can plan to fit classes into their graduation requirements.

�All of these things mean that we can’t be the best kept secret, we must evolve and engage with families where they exist today. We can’t assume families will come to us - education is not that way anymore

�Philosophy and landscape of our service offerings have changed - we have evolved from being that quiet behind the scenes agency so our local districts can shine to needing to share our own story. We also want them to shine, but we need to help the public understand who we are and what we provide at the same time. Our legislators, who are consistently turning over need to know us too.

�Education has become a commodity, not just a service. It is an incredibly valuable thing. Education is a precious commodity...

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“If you do good things and tell people about it, they will support you.”

Do a good job, do a good job, do a good job and tell people about it - we stink at #4

Storytelling: If we don't share our stories, others will share their version.

We all do some sort of marketing when needed (e.g. elections). There is a significant benefit in communicating before it's needed – being proactive rather than reactive.

Connect with your legislators, new and old. Share what you are doing locally to help the kids in their community learn and grow.

If we don't share our story....we become vulnerable to those who may not understand the depth of our work.

Reach out to your communities and be bold with your storytelling.

Recognize your people...that's also storytelling with two benefits.

Educators are not good at touting their strengths or sharing with the world how good we are

Get students and families on camera highlighting staff members and programming.

These will also help with recruiting. Prospective staff members will look to see what people are saying about you and what you are saying about yourself.

�Marketing and Outreach - In the private sector, marketing is a SIGNIFICANTLY important part of any business strategy. Now I get it, we are educators, we aren’t business people. But let’s think on that for a minute….if there is any arm of education that is most closely related to business, it’s an intermediate school district/regional educational service agency.

�The arm of education that is most closely related to the business industry is intermediate school districts - we provide programs and services to students and families. We also provide supports to local districts and other ISDs – professional development, bus services, technology, business services, communications services, etc.) we also have the most connection to business and industry. Businesses don’t leave it to chance for others to tell their stories, why should we.

�Examples: SE, CTE, Early Childhood, Operations - bus Driver training, PD, Policymakers

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“Michigan’s Intermediate School Districts play an essential role in educating our state’s students and every ISD leader has a responsibility to tell our story to our constituent districts and our communities. No one is more equipped to tell the ISD story than we are and if we don’t tell our story, who can we trust to do so?”

Dr. John Severson�Incoming Executive Director

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Storytelling

If you’re not telling your story... then who is?

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Digital Transformation Video by Erik Qualman

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ISD: Please Pass Our Millage

IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN

Popular Local Newspaper

Voters Asked to Vote “Yes” on Millage Proposal

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“Storytelling means sharing what we do every single day. It’s an opportunity for us to make use of every unique perspective. As we talk about whose job it is to promote the brand, who the leader is, and whose voices should be heard—it really becomes a patchwork quilt. It’s about sharing ownership and asking how to approach that kind of shared narrative.”

“When you find a way to share all these unique voices within a larger story about culture, climate, and organization, you begin to see the layers of what takes place every day. Storytelling is a shared lift. Sure, I can provide vision and delegate tasks because that’s my job, but if I’m the sole author of our story—well, that’s a pretty thin book.”

From: School CEO – Winter 2022

Jeffrey Collier, Ed.D.�Superintendent, Saginaw ISD

MSPRA Superintendent Communicator of the Year

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How Will You Tell Your Story?

Rich History
Exceptional Programs & Services
Statewide Reach
Adaptability in the Face of the Covid-19 Pandemic (and other crises)
Appreciation Campaigns
Highlighting Successes and Talented Educators
Give Your Constituents a Voice

Firefighting Communication is NOT Effective

Micki:

Question: How many of you are new to a superintendent role in your ISD in the last 3 years?

Question: How many of you are new to ISDs in the last 3 years?

As you all know, ISDs were established in 1962 to provide programs and services to local districts. Today we have 56 ISDs across the state of Michigan.

The law calls us ISDs, what we call ourselves now is a little different ISDs, ESAs, RESAs, and several others. It can be confusing, makes it hard to market ourselves as a group. Which would reinforce the need to market ourselves more.

Firefighting Communication is NOT Effective

Proactive work is critical

There are 56 ISDs in the State...if each ISD proactively sent out one message to the public or the community each week, we would reach nearly 3,000 impressions for the year. Some ISDs will do more than one a week. We send out something almost daily. We will share examples from several ISDs across the state in the areas of

Rich history
Exceptional Programs & Services
Adaptability in the Face of the Covid-19 Pandemic (and other crises)
Appreciation Campaigns
Highlighting Successes and Talented Educators
Give Your Constituents a Voice
Evolution of the work

Making Connections that Count!

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+ Beginning School Bus Driver Training

+ School Bus Driver Continuing Education

+ Mandated Supervisor Education

+ Driver Certification

Many ISDs offer bus driver training as part of TAAM

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ISDs operate Project SEARCH programs across the state. This one is in partnership with Ingham ISD and Michigan State University.

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Collaborative Services happen across the State of Michigan. This example is for tri-county Prevention Services.

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Michigan’s First Online Course for New Bus Drivers Now Offered by Wayne RESA

Course Launches Same Day as Obama Era MAP-21 Regulations Take Effect, Which Threaten to Exacerbate Nationwide Bus Driver Shortages

Wayne, MI. — To address the statewide crisis of school bus driver shortages, Wayne RESA, the intermediate school district for Wayne County, has today launched a digital course to streamline training in the face of new federal regulations that threaten to delay the commercial driver qualification process.

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2016 — The Flint Water Crisis is a humanitarian tragedy. Allegan County is joining the effort to support the children of Flint by collecting new books. Exposure to lead may create significant learning problems. Providing books is one way to promote literacy and make a difference in the future of Flint children.

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Oakland Schools collaborated with the Oakland County Health Division to assign a nurse in all 28 Oakland County school districts. Currently, nursing support provides the districts with consultation, leadership, and professional development opportunities to promote quality school nursing and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Oakland Schools also participated in the Oakland County COVID-19 Task Force. This collaboration with other community entities resulted in grants being offered to all local districts and public service academies in Oakland County providing for reimbursement of expenditures related to Personal Protection Equipment.
Through Oakland Schools’ successful partnership with United Way, General Motors, and the Michigan Community Service Commission, over one million masks and 1,000 tubs of hand sanitizer were donated to Oakland County students. Oakland Schools facilitated the distribution of all resources to local school districts.

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Evolution of Work

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Special Education

22.5% of students in Michigan receive special education services.

FICTION

Source: MiSchool Data

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The Magic of WISD's High Point School

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Career and Technical Education

During the 2019-20, over 97,000 Michigan students participated in a career and technical education program.

FACT

Source: ACTE Michigan Fact Sheet

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The Wilson Talent Center

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Student Champions

(Micki) videos need to be short and send a message that resonates.

Not all videos need to be high end.

Here is a great student champion example from Lenawee ISD. When talking with their Community Relations Coordinator, Andrew Munson, he shared their goal:

PLEASE USE THE SECOND VIDEO

First option: https://vimeo.com/708267067

And a second option: https://vimeo.com/708261000

“We wanted to create quick videos highlight CTE students and earning certifications. For this project, we felt students would connect more to simple, approachable videos rather than a full-blown professional production. We filmed a series of videos using an iPhone, a tripod, and a $40 Bluetooth lapel microphone. The video was edited in the free iMovie app with the video clips and simple slides created for the transitions. This is a great reminder that districts can create quality, useful video content without expensive equipment or a professional video team.”

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CTC Bio-Tech Engineering

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Early Childhood

Early learning and early care increases high school graduation rates by 14%.

FACT

Source: First Five Years Fund

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“Since schools first shut down in the spring of 2020, our students have experienced things that none of us really imagined, from emergency remote teaching, social distancing, packets being sent home, Zoom classrooms, wearing masks, and an ever-changing set of circumstances. The 2020-2021 school year was unlike anything we had ever seen. This school year has also been different, and while we’re never going back to 2019, things are slowly looking like they once did.

So, we thought it would be a good idea to hear directly from students on how things have evolved over the past two-plus years. What do they like? What has changed and what has stayed the same? What do they want the adults to know? To that end, we asked several students throughout the region about their experiences…learning in the pandemic.”

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Preparing Students for Real World Jobs | Craig Campus in Action

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Communication Plan Toolkit

Developed by members from

the following organizations:

Allegan Area ESA

Berrien RESA

C.O.O.R. ISD

Ingham ISD

Lenawee ISD

Muskegon Area ISD

Oakland Schools

Washtenaw ISD

Wayne RESA

MAISA ISD PR Network

MSPRA

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Digital Toolkit and Accompanying Samples

Where to find the digital toolkit
How to access samples of communication on Google Drive (bit.ly/MichiganISDs)

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Collective Effort

Statewide messages

Local stories
Calendar for celebrations
Monthly reminders

ISD MSPRA Network & MAISA

Regardless of ISD size
We are here to help

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How Can We Help You?

Presenters:

Kyle Gnagey, gnageyk@resa.net

Micki O’Neil, moneil@inghamisd.org

#MichiganISDs

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Acknowledgments

Intermediate School Districts

Allegan Area ESA

Berrien RESA

Clare-Glawin RESD

C.O.O.R. ISD

Eaton RESA

Ingham ISD

Kent ISD

Lenawee ISD

Muskegon Area ISD

Midland County ESA

Oakland Schools

Washtenaw ISD

Wayne RESA

Associations

ISD PR Network

Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators

Michigan Association of School Boards

Michigan Dept of Ed – Office of Career and Technical Education

Michigan School Public Relations Association