Board and staff map out transparency plan, communications channels and a community calendar

Board members and district communications staff reviewed the district’s current outreach channels and sketched a plan to increase transparency and public access to information.

Speaker 4, the district communications representative, described existing channels — the website, Infinite Campus messaging, social media and YouTube for meetings — and proposed using a Google form and a distro list to build a community newsletter and mailing list. "We could do that through this resource with a Google form where they just fill out ... that they're agreeing to being added to that list," Speaker 4 said, while cautioning about public‑records (CORA) and privacy implications.

Why it matters: Board members said clearer, proactive publication of budget and policy information, an events calendar that lists school performances and board visibility opportunities, and an accessible agenda system could reduce repetitive public records requests and improve community trust.

Specific proposals and constraints: Speakers discussed downsides for staff workload and the need to clarify what information is appropriate to publish proactively. A plan floated included a pop‑up calendar on the district website for meeting weeks, developing a board‑level communications calendar, and using Infinite Campus SMS for family contact while assessing third‑party SMS tools.

Next steps: Administration and the communications lead will explore a distro list and newsletter workflow, audit pages that should be proactively published (finance/business services), and report back with time and cost estimates; the board flagged this topic for deeper work at the January retreat.