Bringing the Community Into Our Schools

My View

Financing for public schools relies on voter support. As school leaders, we work hard to communicate our needs and yet still find ourselves falling short.

We sometimes run into community members who have no idea about this or that. What’s this I hear about a new school? Why do we need more money for technology? Aren’t our kids spending too much time in front of screens already?

A few years ago, in my former school district in Whitefish, Mont., we contracted with a polling consultant when we were considering asking our voters to approve a $26.5 million bond to build a new elementary school. We learned that 76 percent of our voters did not have children in our schools. In and of itself, that fact has proven to be of significant value.

We realized we needed to find a way to bring our community into our schools so our voters could learn firsthand about our programs and develop positive relationships with our students.