Thanks to everyone writing with ideas for "guest editorials." Over the weekend we’ll put some together for the website and the blog. The concern most often expressed is whether 9-R’s information is trustworthy. Stretching the truth is a dangerous default public relations strategy and a very bad habit for public servants.
On Tuesday night (2/20), a key communicator suggested that the recent picketing demonstrations would never have happened if communications with the public were better and asked what 9-R is doing to address people’s perceptions.
The 9-R response just missed the point. The Board President suggested key communicators might want a meeting where they could learn about 9-R’s many formats (electronic and paper) for dispensing information. It's not about the amount of information the public receives; it’s about how accurate the “information” is. We are a community small enough that we frequently talk to each other about our schools and children. And as for rewriting the past, not a good idea. We have excellent memories (and Internet access to the Herald’s archives.)
As children we are taught never to lie because if we do, people will stop believing us. Trust in the public realm is just as easily destroyed and as difficult to rebuild. With what’s going on now, my advice is to immediately start being meticulously honest.
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4 comments:
Honesty and Trust. Two concepts not often seen in this Administration.
Trust in the Board to listen and make informed decisions? I can't trust a board that is not allowed access to all the information it needs to make informed, honest decisions.
The truth is spun to fit this superintendent's agenda. Keeping the information confined to what Mary and her Public Information Officer think relevant is dangerous. You create honestly and trust when not acting like you have something to hide. You create trust when you allow open discussion within the decision making process.
You gain trust by asking for community input.
You gain trust by being truthful.
I've been told by someone close to the Superintendent, in a position of authority himself, that the reason our Superintendent is so secretive (controls the information so tightly) is that she was "stabbed in the back" by her colleagues in her previous school district.
The sad part is this authority figure not only believed her, but seems to have accepted her personal history as justification for so much secrecy here in 9-R.
Unfortunately, the Superintendent's demands go far beyond ordinary loyalty, resulting in the lies. The Press Office refers to lies as "half truths" and feels no shame in attributing them to anyone whose version of reality doesn't match the official spin.
I've always wondered if the Press Office ever releases anything that is not first checked by the boss, i.e. would the Press Officer write more fairly and be more honest, if her boss wasn't double checking over her shoulder.
I wonder this, because when the Superintendent eventually steps down, restoring trust will require the current Press Officer looking for a new job too.
I don't think you can spend 7 years spinning the truth, and suddenly change to being an Honest Joe, when a new Superintendent steps up.
It's too hard to tell now where one of them ends and the other one begins.
The Press Officer's favorite quote on her email is:
"Never underestimate the power of a snappy quote." -- Sam Singer
My quote du jour would be:
"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." -- Aristotle
More snappy quotes:
"The credibility gap is so wide that our suspicions are confirmed by any official denial."
Laurence J. Peter
I think this sums up the current educational/political climate inside District 9R.
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