Standard 13

Have ever taken the time to look at and read the National Standards and

Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools ? If you haven’t yet, I really encourage you to take some time to read and reflect on each standard. There is so much that can be useful for a school leader, a pastor and even a teacher. It can also help serve a school as they prepare a strategic plan or an accreditation.

I wanted to specifically mention Standard 13 because it relates to marketing. On the website, http://www.catholicschoolstandards.org/, you can also find rubrics and other resources to guide you. There are four levels on the rubrics used to assess each standard and its benchmarks. Level 4 means a school exceeds the benchmark and Level 1 means it does not meet benchmark. Where does your school fall if you were being evaluated today for Standard 13 benchmarks? Level 1 or a Level 4?  If you can’t honestly say you are at a Level 3 or 4 for all benchmarks of Standard 13, then maybe this could be a goal for next year.

There are quite a bit of resources from other dioceses to help you if you need more than the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools website. In looking I found a entire enrollment management workbook from the Archdiocese of Seattle Catholic Schools and another from the Diocese of Grand Rapids, both with committee roles and even sample agendas. If you’d like more assistance or direction in working on Standard 13 or marketing in general, please just let me know. I’d be more than happy to find ways to help find you additional resources and suggestions.

On Hold

If you are like me, you probably hate being on hold.  The background music is often too loud or annoying. You probably keep checking the time of the call to see how long you’ve been waiting and the longer it is the more your irritation grows. Have you ever thought about this for those that call your school? Have you ever listened to your on-hold music? How long do people on hold wait on average?  If the phone beeps to remind you someone is waiting, does someone pick it up and provide an update or does the hold just get renewed? How many buttons does someone have to press to actually talk to a human? These may sound like little things, but for some it could be another thing adding to their internal list of complaints.

Now I’d like for you to take a minute and think about the time someone spends on hold as an opportunity to share the good news about your school.  Does your phone system allow for customizable messages for the hold time? If so, think about what you could do with that 30 or 60 seconds a person waits to talk to you.  We know companies pay millions of dollars for a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl. Why? It’s because they have a captivated audience and their message can be cleverly communicated during that time.

Now if you decide to change up your hold message/music, please have some type of system and person/people responsible for updating regularly; no one likes a Christmas message in January.

Here are some ideas to get you started of what you could try:

• Record students singing at Mass. No one can resist student voices.
• Promote an upcoming event or fundraiser—PTO meeting, parish event, prayer service.
• Record a weekly prayer read by a couple of students.
• Highlight a recent student/team achievement—Quick Recall, essay winner, basketball league champs, etc.
• Share snippets of information about a saint or two read by students or staff.
• Provide statistics about Catholic education or particulars about your school.

There are lots of free tools you can use to create very professional recordings. If you have questions or need help getting started, contact me.  I’d be happy to help.

Website check

Will Rogers is credited with saying, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." That goes for your website as well. More than likely any interested parent has been looking at your website well before they even call you for a visit. New parents not only look for information about policies and procedures, but also clues about your school culture. They read your weekly newsletters and they look at all the pictures. So when was the last time you checked out your website? And I mean really looked at it with a critical eye. If you can't remember then it's been too long.

Who manages the website for you? Is there a committee? Are various grade levels represented on that committee? What about parents? More than likely you have a parent in the marketing or advertising field. Would it be possible to recruit their help in routinely checking the website and providing feedback? Or what about a parent who always seems to catch the typos on the emails or newsletters sent home? What about putting that critical eye to work in your favor? Ask him/her to check the site every couple of weeks for typos, outdated information, etc.

There also needs to be a routine check on surrounding schools, both public and private. You can also check out schools in other dioceses near and far. Is there a way information is presented on another site that appeals to you? What type of pictures are displayed? If they seem favourable to you, then imitation can be the best form of flattery. If you don't like what you see, hopefully that means your site is on the right track.

This can be a task you can delegate to another staff member who might excel in this area, but if you are a school administrator you still need to be checking now and then to be sure the school's vision is truly being communicated.  If you want more information or tips on maintaining your school website, just let me know.

Elevator Speech

Last semester I had to create my personal philosophy of educational administration which was to be included in my portfolio. Many found it difficult to summarize everything they believe into only 2-3 sentences. The assignment lead to a class discussion of your personal elevator speech; you know if you only had 5 minutes in an elevator with someone would you be able to “sell” yourself. 

It got me to think about our schools.  Do you have an elevator speech for your school?  You might be thinking, of course I have something. Ok then, do your teachers know about it or do they have their own? Why should your teachers know this speech or have their own? Well, there are more chances that your teachers will be stopped at the grocery store, on the soccer sidelines or at the basketball game and asked about your school.

Several years ago, our superintendent made a back-to-school video message for our teachers and he focused on Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why. That “WHY “ for your school is ultimately the foundation of your elevator speech and the answers to what makes your school so special. Maybe at the next faculty meeting you could spend a few minutes discussing the “WHY” for your school and perhaps even role-play a few responses to questions your staff may encounter. I’m sure some could provide examples of questions they’ve already encountered.

If you need more inspiration, check out Sinek’s book; you won’t be disappointed. If you’ve already read that, then take a minute to look into his other title Leaders Eat Last; another great selection I highly recommend.

The unspoken lessons of Catholic school

My article appearing on page 13 in the 1/29/16 edition of The Messenger, the newspaper of the Diocese of Covington. (http://www.covdio.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/8604MessengerJan29.pdf)

People have asked me over the years why I spend the money to send my children to Catholic schools when we have good public schools in this area. I’ve been asked why I’ve dedicated over 20 years to teaching and working in Catholic schools, stating teachers already get paid less than they deserve and Catholic schoolteachers less than that. Often, my response is that Catholic schools are an extended family, or being able to talk about and share my faith is a right I don’t want taken away. Then there are times my decision to be a part of our Catholic schools is confirmed exponentially.

Several years ago I was a part of a Catholic school family where the principal had received a life-threatening diagnosis. He needed to have surgery and, if successful, he should be able to continue to live a normal life. On the day of the surgery, just before the surgery was about to begin, the entire school gathered in church to pray the rosary.It was a beautiful example and a life lesson for those students; sometimes the most important thing you can do in a day is to pray and to pray for others.

When I was growing up, my Catholic school was near the local firehouse. Anytime the fire trucks or ambulance left to do a run, we would hear the sirens. Every time that happened, our class stopped what we were doing and said a “Hail Mary” for the safety of those in need and for those that were helping them. It is something that I continue today, and I have taught my children to do as well.

This week I learned that a lifelong friend’s husband has a terminal illness. Their school-aged children go to Catholic schools. My son brought home the story about his teacher holding the hands of one of the affected children and telling him she will pray for him, pray for his family and pray that God will be with them throughout this journey. That is a family I want my children to be a part of, a family that I am eternally grateful to be a part of as well. I know that these children’s Catholic school family will pray with them, will care about them and will be able to live out their faith with them.

These unspoken lessons of having faith, of the power of prayer, of love and care, of service for others, and of allowing God to be a part of our lives everyday are the lessons that will carry my children, and continue to carry me, throughout life. That is why I’ve chosen Catholic education as my vocation, and why I have chosen to send my children to Catholic schools.

Shannon Bosley is the technology and curriculum coordinator for the Department of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Covington.