As school leaders, we build relationships with not only staff and students in our building, but also our stakeholders. Stakeholders include parents, central office staff, and the community.
First, parents are partners. They want what is best for their child. One way to develop relationships with parents goes back to relationships with students, being firm, fair and consistent. Parents want to know that their child is being treated fairly. Also being in classrooms helps with parent relationships since they know you are seeing what is going on in their child’s class. Being upfront about expectations is also important. For example, the student/parent handbook is posted online various places and paper copies are available upon request. This way everyone knows expectations. For me, use of the Class Dojo app has opened up lines of communication between not only myself and parents but also teachers and parents. Listen to parent concerns, just be clear that you are listening, not agreeing to a change, which requires reflection, thought, and at times consultation with others. Another piece of building parent relationships is the PTO. Communication with this group is vital because they often do so much for your school.
Central office or district office, whichever title you choose, are your support system. It’s important to build relationships with them since they are your “go to” people when you have questions or need advice. Typically there is one person or a team that handles specific areas, such as Human Resources, curriculum, technology, maintenance, finance, etc. Know or learn who to go to for help because there will be a time when you need it. One thing that I try to do is include those who agree or request in my weekly newsletter email. That way they know what’s going on in my building.
Working with community varies greatly depending on the school. Many schools today are large and no longer community based, but no matter size building relationships is important. Having a social media presence helps keep stakeholders aware of events happening in your school. Since I am elementary level, one huge annual event is grandparents day/night. It gives our grandparents an opportunity to spend time with their grandchildren and learn more about the school. Luckily, the schools I’ve worked in have lots of community support. Volunteers, civic groups, businesses, law enforcement, church groups, medical professionals, etc. often gather materials for student use, some read with children, some provide extra sets of clothing, etc. The list goes on and on. We do our best to show appreciation to each of these groups because they do help us meet needs of students.
Building relationships has been the focus of my first few blog posts. Starting next week, I will share my experiences about expectations.
LEaD by Dr. B 