Successful Advocacy at LCPS

I'm watching the Board of Supervisors public hearing tonight, and listening to the many speakers on school issues. Those poor Supervisors. No wonder they speak to their School Board counterparts with an underlying tone of "what the heck are you guys doing over there?"

Frankly my fellow citizens, the Public Hearing is one of the least effective ways to have your voice heard. I'll use this post to give you my take on how to get your issue before the Board.

With the new School Board and the new year, we start fresh with the list of issues to consider over the course of this year. This comes after an election and budget-cycle induced hiatus of committee work over the past three months. Now, new committee chairs have been assigned, new meeting times are being negotiated and a new year's set of agendas are being filled. If you have an issue that you want the School Board to consider this year, this is a good time to bring it forward.

The list of committee assignments is on the LCPS website for your information, but it's helpful to know that for most citizens it's enough to contact your own representative, who will usually bring issues forward on behalf of their constituents.

As you are deciding who to call, here are some tips from my experience, in no particular order except the first one:

1. Most important: Exhaust your other options first, particularly when it comes to individual complaints. Problem with the class? Talk to the teacher. Problem with the teacher? Talk to the principal. Problem with the principal? Talk to the Superintendent. Still no luck? Now try your Board member.
2. Know your stuff. Information is the coin of the realm. Provide your representative with written information to work from and you'll give the issue a big head start.
3. Learn the reasons against your argument as well as your own and treat them with respect. Yours is not the only side to the story, your School Board member knows this.
4. Have personal contact with your School Board rep. We are not so innundated by calls and emails that yours will get lost in the shuffle (except perhaps when it pertains to a boundary issue and they come in by the hundred). Trying to contact every member is not as effective as contacting two: the member from your district, and At-Large member Tom Reed. Letting your representative know that you live in their district gives them a chance to be your advocate. Too many times I see emails with a name and a phone number addressed to every board member. With no indication whose district it's in, it's easy enough to not feel personal responsibility to respond.
5. Get some people together who agree with you. Work together, even if you just coordinate by email. You don't need a movement of hundreds, but it helps to show that there is broader appeal than one person.
6. Baby steps. Don't ask for district-wide mandates, because it just doesn't work that way in most cases. Principals in Loudoun have tremendous autonomy, and this can work for or against you. Find one who thinks your idea is a good one and try to create a successful pilot program in a single school before trying to take the County by storm.
7. Government is about legwork. Effective people know that the big public meetings with the dais and the microphones are just the tip of the iceberg, the showpiece. Want to really hear the meat of the discussion? Go to a committee meeting. Want to really advance your issue? Offer to help with the research and coordination. Join an advisory committee. Don't forget to help other people with their issues too.
8. Understand how your issue fits in with others. It's all a big interconnected web and you can't pull one string without affecting the rest. For instance, if you want to alter the bus schedules in your area, understand the effect this will have on the budget, on traffic flow, on school schedules and on kids. Instead of saying "I understand this will have some effect on the transportation budget," take the time to find out and then write "I understand that an additional bus and driver will cost the district $57,000 per year." (I pulled that number out of the air, don't quote me on it.) If you don't know the answer, call and ask how you find out. If someone asks why, be honest and explain to them that you're interested in promoting a change and want to know the ins and outs.
9. Finally, follow up. With the passage of time some issues will rise to the surface and stay there on their own and some need to be nudged back up again. Write and call your member to remind them if you're waiting for a response or some action.

I would welcome comments on the experience others have had, either doing things similar to what I listed here or going against this advice.