Meeting Agenda/Notes September 18, 2018

 All attachments in pdf


Agenda
September 18, 2018 Board Communications Committee Meeting
11:30 a.m. -  Meeting Room A
Panorama Village Administrative Center
240 Villa Crest Drive
State College, PA  16801


I.        Call to Order

II.       C-NET Update (attachment)

III.      Consideration of Communications Audit (attachment)

IV.      High School Open House Update


V.        Committee Chair Discussion

 

VI.      Public Comment  Each individual will be limited to comments of five (5) minutes as  time permits for items on this agenda or related to Board business.

VII.     Future Agenda Items
               2017-18 Annual Report (attachment)


VII.     Adjournment

NOTES

September 18, 2018 Board Communications Committee Meeting  
11:30 a.m. -  Meeting Room A                                                     
Panorama Village Administrative Center                                       
240 Villa Crest Drive
State College, PA  16801

 

I.        Call to Order
Mr. Leous called the Board Communications Committee meeting to order at 11:38 a.m. He noted the first item will be the C-NET Update with Cindy Hahn.

Committee Members Present: Lori Bedell, Amber Concepcion, Jim Leous, Laurel Zydney 
Others Present: Amy Bader, Gretchen Brandt, Mary Jenn Dorman, Dan Duffy, Cindy Hahn, Nabil Mark, Tami Nowacki, Bob O’Donnell, Chris Rosenblum

A copy of all materials distributed to board members for discussion is included with the official notes, unless otherwise indicated.


II.       CNET Update
Mr. Leous thanked Ms. Hahn for being present. Ms. Hahn noted C-NET has been around for 30-years and SCASD was involved shortly after the start up. C-NET has a small budget but doing well keeping up with things. They produced 482 programs last year with four full-time staff and two part-time producers. They work with Penn State College of Communications and have interns that change every 14 weeks. This was the first year of implementation of a new Strategic Plan for the organization; Ms. Hahn spoke on the process to renew the cable franchise with Comcast; they are renegotiating earlier than the projected 2022 and should wrap up in 2019; the District sponsored 48 programs in 2017 and had 44 bulletin board messages that equates to 4.4 programs; she reviewed graphs showing SCASD Program sponsorship during 2013-2017 years and the use of C-NET Services for all the C-NET Member Organizations. District use of C-NET is stable year to year; there are only two rooms with a fixed system, SCASD Board Room and the Borough; and she reviewed the how and where to watch C-NET for education - channel 98, streamed live on YouTube, Cnet1.org, ROKU, and DVD copies that are available at Schlow Library. Dr. O’Donnell let Ms. Hahn know he appreciates the agility and operational aspect of the team and interns. He also asked if there is anything Ms. Hahn needs from us, to which Ms. Hahn responded that CNET would do anything for the District and noted that Chris Rosenblum has joined the C-NET Executive Team.  Committee members questioned and discussed: HD in negotiation of the franchise - adding two HD channels, YouTube stream is HD and CNET is HD already, archiving our meetings, and Mr. Leous offered to write a letter from the District for CNET to Mr. Fountaine for the wonderful service they provide for the negotiation.

 

III.      Consideration of Communications Audit  
Dr. O’Donnell spoke on focus in regards to improving and moving forward with multi-year changes for District communications efforts in needs of families, Memorial Field, possible facilities not using in the future, budget development, and community understanding. All of this will require all hands on deck, so to speak and turned to Mr. Mark to continue. Mr. Mark explained communication means something different to different people. We need to dig deeper to know where we need to improve as a District and he has talked with state and NSPRA people. There are three different options:

  • NSPRA - A Communications Audit (audit is different due to being tailored to needs)
  • SCoPE - School Surveys (just a survey and cannot customize to us)
  • NSPRA - Rubrics of Practice and Suggested Measures (self evaluation)

Mr. Mark noted we are on the cutting edge with communications, we survey parents, students and staff; the rubric has three levels - emerging, established, exemplary; we are falling mostly in established; he has not talked with anyone that has used the Rubric; did not go further with NSPRA Audit due to cost ($13,0000); no District in PA has done SCoPE, but some in New York and Ohio; there is no customized SCoPE, it is a one size fits all; if we chose this, we could put communication questions in the survey. SCoPE cost is $6,000. Dr. O’Donnell spoke on a survey at York in 2010 that aligned to Strategic Plan and Priority Goals, he will email to Board. Discussion occurred with questions, suggestions, concerns and outcome was:

  • Communications committee can help with pieces of this.
  • Mr. Mark really needs to read through and identify areas most important.
  • Need to help people with concerns and who to talk to, especially people not socially plugged in.
  • Start with the Rubric - these groups work with public schools.
  • Rubric can organize thinking, help people to know where to go, what to do, have a door to go through, states a teacher or counselor in the resolve chart, and want people to know there is a safe place.
  • Communication coming from whom and have consistency.
  • Know who the communication is coming from, help visually with a banner and photo to identify Principal, Communication Team, etc.
  • Knowledge base whether it is Districtwide or specific school only.
  • The larger community - can check in with different facets of the media world and get their thoughts on how to engage the community.
  • Could go ahead and do rubrics and then could follow up on what comes out of this.

Mr. Mark noted we do have a tip line in the app and other resources are available in the platform but no one uses them.

IV.       High School Open House Update
Dr. O’Donnell noted they were meeting this afternoon and planning to have students, faculty and staff throughout the school. Taking what they learned from the last time and improve with map of layout of location of specific classrooms. The date is October 3, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Discussed having extra faculty there, have display panels to show what the project looks like, have people at every elevator, will have water, and nice to have photos of food served to students. Board members who are planning to attend, should let Dr. O’Donnell and Mr. Brown know.

V.        Committee Chair Discussion
Mr. Leous noted there would be a discussion on the committee chair and passing Policy 005.  Committee members voiced the following: a committee should wait until December if it is not going to be across the Board; the new Policy states starting in December; look at membershipof committees and have the chair be the right fit; consider every committee electing own chair; the need to clearly communicate what the process is, Board supports and agrees to the process, and agrees to move forward. Hesitation to do anything at this time with only one more meeting until the December Reorganization for this committee; questioned consistency and might be a good idea to revisit the charge for Communications Committee; spoke on how it was during referendum; and the good work this committee has done over the years. It was decided to have a Board discussion at the September 24 meeting on Policy 005.

Mr. Leous provided the following summary: Ms. Concepcion, Mr. Leous and Dr. O’Donnell  will work on a letter to Tom Fountaine for CNET - maybe a resolution would be better; Mr. Rosenblum will start a google doc for the letter; Dr. O’Donnell will share the 2010 York survey; Dr. Duffy will check with Dr. Dwyer regarding Susquehanna and NSPRA in 2017; and Policy 005 discussion added to September 24 agenda.

VI.       Public Comment  
Tami Nowacki had some suggestions - would like to see more social events. There is no consistency with schools and suggested ice cream socials. PTO meetings have an agenda and no time to get to know teaches/principals/counselors/psychologists and have Dr. Chatters attend as well. Spoke on Back to School Night and some buildings children can attend but at others, no children; needs to be more consistency; how people are on Facebook; she asked about having questions for SCoPE and Mr. Mark noted it is their product, so no questions are known. Ms. Nowacki commented on: not many attend High School and Middle School PTOs, and need to free up time for parents to talk. Ms. Concepcion noted some things are organized at the school level, every building is unique for the community building, and can not expect consistency across schools’ events. Ms. Nowacki noted kindergarten camp is now across all schools and it was noted this was a school event vs. volunteers doing events. For a future agenda, she would like to see Gifted/Learning Enrichment since it does not seem to be going to each class.

VII.      Future Agenda Items
Mr. Leous noted they will talk about the Annual Report at the next meeting and Mr. Rosenblum noted that suggestions and feedback were welcome before the next meeting, and revisit rubric. Committee member had other items and noted Board coffees. Mr. Rosenblum shared that he will supply materials to State College Magazine monthly for a spot in the front of the book. Mr. Mark spoke of Facebook live at Homecoming Parade and three students will emcee beginning at 6:00 p.m. Thursday.

VIII.     Adjournment
Mr. Leous adjourned the Communication Committee meeting at 1:23 p.m.

Submitted by,

 

Mary Jenn Dorman
Board Secretary