Brownsville Elementary School Case Study

Americans today want more news coverage of their schools. If I was the principal at Brownsville Elementary School, there are a few steps I would take to improve the media coverage for the school. First, I would identify key media reporters and work at creating a friendly, beneficial relationship with them. I would go and personally introduce myself to each of them to begin a rapport with them if I didn’t already know them. I would also take their calls or office visits whenever possible, or call back as soon as possible. Being courteous and establishing friendships would help ensure the information and stories to be more accurate.
Second, I would be proactive and identify all potential news opportunities regularly and feed these story ideas
I would speak with the entire staff about the need to change any negative attitudes towards the media, and encourage them to begin to look at the media as our allies. I would point out that news reporters will spread good news about our school and education, but that we are going to have to assist them in hearing about it first. I would give them a mini media training to help them feel more comfortable with the media and to help them understand what the media likes/expects. Then I would begin by having everyone fill out a form at least monthly, if not bi-monthly, listing any events that could even remotely be newsworthy. I would make sure to let staff know that this is not expected from just the teachers, but from everyone, including the custodial, maintenance, and secretarial staff. By having all of us work together, more events could be identified as newsworthy than if it was just left up to me to think of. Then I could send these lists regularly to the media contacts. The more choices the media staff has to choose from, the more likely they will devote a section of the paper or broadcast for the