We were reminded that the responsibilities of school boards has pretty much remained the same over the past 150 years and that we are pretty much at the bottom of the political totem pole. Not too encouraging. But we were also inspired to do something about it.
Mr. Ken Chapman's presentation was called, "A Contented Oyster Never Made a Pearl," meaning that we, as school boards, could sit back and be irritated or do something about it and turn it into a pearl.
With the millions of people all over the world connected through social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, Mr. Chapman planted the seed of thought to use this form of media to reach out to our communities. Of course, traditional, face-to-face communication will remain a time-honoured tool, but we cannot sit back and let the new forms of communication pass us by.
It is time for all school boards to become more connected to their communities through all forms of community engagement. Once we become "influentials" by forming a connected voice, we will be able to overcome this top-down style of government we have become accustomed to in Alberta. Bill 44 spurred the initial connected voice. We need to keep the momentum going and foster these influential relationships.
Hey Rhonda - you are getting into the swing of things really well. I have already had two readers come to my blog from yours. Thannks for the link. I will put you on my Blog Roll.
ReplyDeleteI sent a tweet out about your blog. If you haven't already, go to Google Analytics and start tracking your traffic. Have you sent out an email to let your contacts you are doing this? Best wait until later on Monday to do that to be most effective.