NEW PALESTINE — Southern Hancock school officials are calling their new video series on the workings of the school district the “low-calorie version” of their Community Leadership Academy.
The academy allows residents to come inside the district for several weeks to get a firsthand view of how administrative operations and schools are run.
The new video series, called “Schools 101,” is a condensed version of the academy program and will consist of several five- to 10-minute videos on things like school financing; enrollment and district growth plans; transportation; and curriculum, just to name some of the subjects.
Even amid the pandemic, officials thought a need to get more information about the district out into the community was important. Since only a limited number of people will be allowed into the in-person academy program this year, leaders came up with idea for a video series that would serve the same purpose.
“Transparency is always important,” community relations director Wes Anderson said. “We want taxpayers to understand what’s happening with their tax dollars.”
Each “Schools 101” video will provide a brief, general introduction to complex topics, including things like school financing, which was the topic of the first video posted Friday, Sept. 25, on the district’s Facebook page. A second video on enrollment was added last week.
“While we can never fully explain school finance in just a few short minutes, we hope this video will give insight to our community on how schools are funded,” Anderson said.
The school funding video, about 8½ minutes long, goes into a surprising amount of detail about school finances considering its length. Anderson guides viewers through an explanation of how their property taxes pay for their schools and even provides a crash course on assessed valuation and per-pupil funding.
The new series will also help district officials clear the air on many subjects about which parents and community members have concerns and questions. While district officials won’t be able to cover everything in a few minutes, Anderson hopes the videos will cover the main topics community residents are interested in.
“Even just an elementary level idea of ‘here’s how we get money and here’s where your money goes’ I think is important,” Anderson said.
Apparently, so do parents, who have reached out to Anderson via emails and calls letting him know they appreciated his first video on finances and are looking forward to more.
Tania McDonald is an out-of-district transfer parent whose child attends one of the district’s elementary schools. She really likes the idea of having on-demand videos available to help explain the complexities of running a school system.
“I think educating the public on school operations is vitally important for school districts,” McDonald said.
She cited the first video as a prime example.
While on the surface school funding seems as if it should be fairly simple, McDonald said having its complexities explained is helpful for parents.
“I think in order for the public to understand whether their school district is truly doing a good job, they need to understand the way in which it is legally obligated to work and how they make decisions within that framework,” McDonald said.
“It’s easy to say ‘look, they just spent a ton of money on X sports program, yet my kid’s school won’t hire more staff. They only care about sports.’ The reality is, there are different pots of money.”
She also thinks it is important for people to take the time to educate themselves on how schools are run. Otherwise, they can’t make informed opinions about the success of their school system or advocate for change.
The videos, McDonald said, can help with the educational process.
In most cases, it will be difficult for Anderson to go too in-depth in the videos, but he hopes to answer the basics and start some conversations.
Anderson also will invite other leaders to participate in the videos; they will help explain their jobs and duties and how their departments work.
Social media, newsletters, emails and texts are becoming a key way of communicating for district officials, who are taking advantage of the latest technology to reach parents and students.
“We certainly hope so,” Anderson said of reaching families through videos on the internet.
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How to watch Schools 101:
Visit Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County on Facebook.
New videos will be posted every few weeks.
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