School District Capabilities

WORKING WITH SCHOOL DISTRICTS

There is no denying that public education has become increasingly polarized and politicized. Issues related to curriculum, diversity and inclusion, social-emotional wellness, LGBTQ issues and more have increased the need for public school districts to develop communications strategies and messages as they navigate these highly sensitive, incredibly important and often emotional topics with their stakeholders.

JT is a valued and experienced communications partners and would welcome the opportunity to support your parent, faculty/staff, public and media communications with independent strategic counsel and advice, as well as hands-on implementation assistance.

JT has worked with hundreds of school districts providing a wide range of proactive and reactive strategic communications services.

We understand the challenges and opportunities public bodies face when communicating with parents, faculty/staff, local residents, community/civic leaders, elected officials—and the media. We are frequently engaged by law firms representing school district clients who face communications challenges resulting from labor negotiations, personnel actions, environmental/facilities issues, student discipline, cybersecurity threats and more.

Rapid response and issues management
- A crisis can come in many shapes and sizes. It can come on suddenly, putting your school district’s reputation at risk, disrupting operations, and consuming your attention and resources for days, weeks or even months.
  How you respond to public concerns at a time of intense internal stress and external scrutiny truly matters.
  Around the clock, JT is prepared to immediately jump into the thick of a crisis to support parent, public, internal and media communications. Our scope of work often includes strategic counsel; development of key messages, media statements, Q&A, talking points and digital content (website and social media); mainstream and social media monitoring; and spokesperson preparation.
Crisis communications planning
- JT works with school districts to prepare for potential crises before they occur by developing a comprehensive crisis communications plan. Elements of such plans often include:
  1. Practical and tactical “best practice” guidelines for managing communications in a crisis
  2. Development/refinement of topical organizational messages
  3. Target audience identification and recommended communications protocols for each
  4. Customized local scenarios based on potential crises unique to your district, including template communications materials
Communications audit and strategy development
- JT conducts comprehensive communications audits that thoughtfully consider what is and is not working, identifying new ideas and opportunities to enhance the impact and effectiveness of your communications and outreach efforts, and offering actionable recommendations to maximize district communications, internally and externally.
  All audits include JT’s expert analysis of current communications tools and tactics and interviews with key internal stakeholders to gain their insights and perceptions. Other additional components that can help assess perceptions and attitudes of target audiences and inform the development/refinement of key messages and communications strategies, include:
  1. Professional public opinion research (telephone or online polling)
  2. Focus groups
  3. One-on-one opinion leader interviews
  4. Benchmark analysis of comparable school districts
Media, message and presentation trainings
- Even the most skilled school administrators can lose sleep thinking about such media interviews or community meetings, and many school board members step into their roles with limited or no media or public speaking experience.
  JT’s hands-on, customized communications training features both hands-on skills-building and realistic practice scenarios developed in collaboration with our clients to ensure that the training is relevant to actual opportunities and challenges currently facing the school district.
  Our media training workshops are for individuals or groups of up to 12 participants. Sessions are designed to help school district leaders:
  1. Better understand how reporters work and what they are trying to get out of an interview.
  2. Develop basic media interview skills for a variety of purposes.
  3. Learn how to communicate key messages under pressure or during a crisis.
  4. Prepare for and deliver high-impact community or conference presentations, including Q&A responses.
Video production
- JT’s in-house video production team can help package school programs and initiatives into visually compelling digital formats for use in presentations, on websites and on social media. We can start from scratch by capturing footage, conducting interviews and editing, or we can package and edit existing footage.
  Click here for an example of a recent video JT edited using footage provided by the school district.
Of-counsel communications support
- JT often provides “of counsel” communications support to school districts, serving as a sounding board to help administrators evaluate communications strategies and brainstorm proactive initiatives through spot counsel and hands-on implementation support. This type of engagement also allows superintendents and communications professionals to build a relationship with JT staff, so should an issue emerge or crisis occur, we have already developed trust and a working knowledge of the district.
~accord

JT’s school district work is led by:

Who: School District

Holly Bartecki

Executive Vice President

A former school board president, Holly also leads much of the firm’s work on behalf of K-12 school districts. This includes comprehensive communications audits, strategy and message development, and crisis communications support for instances of employee/student misconduct, labor relations issues and finance or facility issues.

Meet Holly

Mary Patrick

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner

In the thick of a crisis, Mary is on the front lines providing strategic counsel, drafting messages, preparing questions and answers, advising on rapid response and identifying and training spokespersons.

Meet Mary

Jessica Smith

Senior Vice President

As a former school district communications administrator for the state’s second largest high school district, Jessica works with JT’s K-12 clients on both proactive and reactive projects. In addition, she works on a wide range of public affairs and communications projects.

Meet Jessica

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Who: School District Quotes

“I had the pleasure of collaborating with JT on a communications audit for Woodland District 50. From the beginning, JT’s approach was thorough, detailed and customized to our needs. They were open to our feedback throughout the process and respected our knowledge of the community, which we appreciated. JT’s final report to the Board of Education included both key findings and actionable, strategic recommendations to assist our district with taking its communications to the next level. JT team members were receptive, available to us on a constant basis and made us feel valued both as clients and as people.”

—Jennifer Tempest Bova

Director of Community Relations, Community Consolidated School District 62 (Formerly Public Information Specialist, Woodland School District 50)

"The media training that JT provided was realistic and provided the right level of intensity so that our leaders gained a greater level of comfort performing in a high-stress, high-stakes situation. The individual feedback from JT to our leaders was direct and provided useful strategies that could be immediately applied. Our team felt deeply that the training was extremely valuable and came as close to a real-life scenario as possible; yet provided a safe environment for our leaders to try, fail, and improve in their media presence."

—Karen Geddeis

Director of Public Relations and Communications, Glenbrook High Schools District 225

“As a new superintendent facing a series of high-profile issues, I turned to JT for strategic counsel and hands-on support. I trust the JT team to ask the tough questions, provide wise counsel and serve as a strong partner in developing communications strategies that build confidence even in times of crisis. As an added benefit, we’ve learned from the JT team and further developed our own internal capacity to quickly respond to emerging issues and challenges — but, it’s still great to know they are there for us 24/7 when we need them.”

—Dr. Trisha Kocanda

Superintendent, Winnetka Public Schools District 36

"Throughout my superintendencies, both I and our District Communication Director have relied on JT to provide strategic counsel and insights on tough issues and complex challenges. They have always provided valuable perspective and guidance. The JT team is well-versed in current and emerging issues facing school district leaders and have been available to us on evenings, weekends and holidays when needed. It is not a question of whether something will occur that threatens the reputation of a school district, it’s only a question of when. Every school district leader would benefit from subscribing to JT’s daily digest of school news and having them on speed dial for quick consultations and emergencies.”

—Dr. Bruce Law

Superintendent, Township High School District 113 (Formerly Superintendent, Hinsdale Township High School District 86)

To explore ways your school district can more effectively communicate with internal and external stakeholders, both proactively and reactively, contact Executive Vice President Holly Bartecki.

Office: (312) 337-7400

Cell: (312) 671-0101

hollyb@jtpr.com

FYI SCHOOL NEWS

JT publishes a free daily digest of issues-focused, school-related news clips that is emailed to hundreds of superintendents, school communications professionals, board members and consultants across Illinois. To subscribe, email Executive Vice President Holly Bartecki at hollyb@jtpr.com.

Strategic School District Communications Services

Proactive and Reactive