By Jack McKay, Chair, Dept. of Educational Leadership
The University of Nebraska at Omaha
In The School Administrator
How do you attract people from your community into the public schools during the school day? One successful method is the Superintendent’s Patrons Tour. The tour is based on three ideas: (1) people support an activity in direct ratio to their understanding and appreciation of the activity’s purpose and complexities; (2) the operation of the school district and its delivery system for educating children is an activity that requires public understanding and support; and (30 most adults’ knowledge of the school district is limited to the schools they attended as students.
Observing Classrooms
The tour has a basic format that can be tailored to fit the size and complexity of most districts. The following format has been successfully used in school districts ranging in size from 500 to 32,000.
The Tour Schedule
The group size generally numbers around 25 or the comfortable capacity of a large school bus. Our tour typically starts at 8:30 a.m. and concludes around 12:30 p.m.
The most successful agenda starts with patrons gathering at the district’s boardroom for refreshments. As superintendent, I would welcome the guests; provide basic information about the district, ad hand out the tour’s itinerary.
At about 8:35 a.m., I divide the guests into two equal groups and have the business manager and the curriculum director lead a brief tour of their offices and introduce their staff. At 9:00 a.m., guests take a drive-through tour of the bus maintenance and parking area and walking tour of the district’s warehouse. Guests then travel by school bus to three schools, an elementary school, middle school, and high school.
At each of the schools, the building principal greets the guests as they leave the bus. The principal describes the school’s student population, enrollment, grade organization, and special services available for students. Each principal has the option to have students talk about their school. At each school, the principal leads the tour as the guests visit the classroom while the students are engaged in a variety of learning activities. The guests are encouraged to visit with the teacher and the students as they tour the classrooms.
The greater the opportunity for guests to observe and interact with the teacher and students, the more valuable the visit. Tours often include visits to classrooms where reading, language arts. math, science, art, and physical education are being taught. One of our goals of the tour is to have the guests observe the continuum of learning activities from the early grades through high school.
While at the high school, guests, building principals, central office administrators, and school board members are served lunch by the commercial foods class (paid for by the administrators). The tour ends with the guests returning to the district office at 12:30 p.m.
To be successful, the patrons’ tour needs a diverse representation of the community. I would invite people who represent a variety of local businesses, civic agencies, and service clubs. As part of an evaluation form filled out by the guests, I ask them to suggest to others that may be interested in an invitation to the next patrons’ tour.
The superintendent set the tone of the program and acts as the overall director by accompanying the guests during the entire tour. The logistics (bus schedule, classroom visits, lunch arrangements, etc.) can be delegated, but the overall success of the patrons’ tour depends on the superintendent.
Ensure Credibility
Although the tour format is structured, it must be credible. Building administrators and teachers must be prepared for the guests, but they are encouraged to not alter the normal learning activities and building routines. The purpose of the tour is to bring citizens into their schools to see, first hand, what is happening every day of the school year.
As a superintendent, I would use this special opportunity to showcase what we are all so proud of doing every day – working with young people. Equally rewarding are the comments of our administrators, school support staff and teachers about how they enjoyed having people from the community observing them in their professional role as teachers and school leaders.
Patrons’ tours let citizens see their schools in action, see the youth of their community actively learning, and a glimpse of the complexity of managing a school system in action. Even more important is the opportunity for school personnel show what they do and the pride in their role in function routinely – from the bus driver, the school building support staff, and to the school leaders and school board.
Suggestions:
- Include a school building secretary in the list of guests seldom to see what happens in other schools in their district.
- Have a printed program available about the district office operations and a program for guests at each school they visit.
- Have students available to greet the guests as they leave the bus and assist when necessary.
- Ensure that everyone in the district knows that there is a Patrons’ Tour in the school district and alert the teachers about the visit to their classrooms along with the approximate time.
- Have a prepared evaluation of the tour available for the guests to fill out on the way back to the district office to be turned in at the end of the tour.
- Alert the local media of the tour and inform them that they are welcomed to send a representative included on the guest list.
- One or two Patrons’ tours per year seem sufficient.
- Follow-up the tour with a handwritten letter to guests, thanking him or her for taking the time to take the tour of their schools. Also, ask if they know of others who might be interested in being on the next tour list.
Thanks to Dr. Jerry Hester, Superintendent of the Vancouver School District (WA) for inviting me to take their Patron’s Tour and sharing the idea.