[SchoolMatters] Our first Telephone Town Hall!

[Brian Wheeler]

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This message is not an official communication of the Albemarle County School
Board. It is a private, e-mail-only newsletter written by Brian Wheeler,
At-Large Member of the Albemarle County School Board. 
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[Want to share some public comments on this message?  See the weblog version
here: http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/town_hall.html  ]
 

Albemarle County Public Schools held its first ever Tele Town Hall meeting
this evening.  Our goal was to reach 24,000 households in the community and
get as many participants as possible engaged in a one-hour telephone town
meeting about the school budget.  

http://www.k12albemarle.org/board/budget

I severed as the moderator and was joined by School Board member Diantha
McKeel, Superintendent Pam Moran, Assistant Superintendent Bruce Benson, and
Jackson Zimmerman, our Executive Director of Fiscal Services.  We got great
behind the scenes support from Christy, Jennifer and Robert as they made
sure the technology worked and callers got into line with their questions.

As you can see in this photo on my blog, we had lots of water, papers, a
speaker phone and a big screen that allowed us to see the progress of the
town meeting.  I used the laptop computer to ask survey questions of the
audience and to place listeners on the conference call to ask our team
questions. 

Were you on the call?  Did you think the telephone town hall was effective?
I'd be interested in your feedback.

 <http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/town_hall.html>
http://schoolmatters.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/town_hall.html

We will get a final analysis of the number of people who were reached and
participated, but the information in front of me as moderator said we had a
peak of 750 people active on the call. If people were not home, they were
left a voicemail message.  While we were competing with a Virginia-Virginia
Tech basketball game and a number of important school events, that
participation rate ensured we had a steady stream of questions from the
audience.


Early in the call we asked the audience about who they were, and here were
the answers:

*	Parents of Albemarle County students = 42%
*	Employees of Albemarle County = 8%
*	Community members = 50%

I am pleased we had so many community members involved.  That was one of the
key audiences the School Board wanted to reach.  I am not surprised by the
low rate of employees on the call.  One factor of course is that many of our
staff do not live in the County, often because they cannot afford to do so.
The list of phone numbers we could get was for registered voters in
Albemarle, so that limited the audience in that way.

I cannot remember how many questions we had, but I am guessing 20-25.
Several things really set this apart from our typical public hearings on the
budget.  For one, a WHOLE LOT more people participated.  Second, there was a
broad variety to the questions.  Third, it was a two-way communications
format between school leaders and the community (at public hearings we don't
immediately respond to the audience comments).  Fourth, we came to YOU, the
community, which I know is a lot more convenient than trucking out to a
public meeting. 

The community didn't hold back and posed a number of smart and challenging
questions to the panel.  The feedback and questions we received will help
shape the School Board's focus in additional budget work sessions this
month.

Preliminary data from the other survey questions I gave the audience were as
follows:

Is the Telephone Town Hall an effective way for us to communicate with you?

*	Yes - 94%
*	No - 6%

Do you agree with the School Division's commitment to be competitive in our
market for teacher salaries?

*	Yes - 88%
*	No - 12%

A podcast of the entire town hall meeting will be available on the school
division's website later this week.  

Brian Wheeler

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Brian Wheeler
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Brian Wheeler, At-Large Member
 <http://www.k12albemarle.org/>  <http://www.k12albemarle.org/> Albemarle
County School Board
89 Langford Place
Charlottesville, VA 22903
 <mailto:bwheeler at k12albemarle.org> bwheeler at k12albemarle.org
tel: 434-984-2233
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