Community Engagement

When a board of education effectively engages with its community, it builds trust and transparency, support for initiatives, and helps build a sense of community ownership and responsibility for the success of local schools.

Engaging with the community also provides the board with diverse perspectives, which can lead to more informed and effective decisions that better reflect the needs and desires of parents, students and other stakeholders.

Explore the resources below to learn how NJSBA can help your board with community engagement.

Communication is at the heart of your school’s success in the community.
Your board needs students’ families, as well as the larger taxpaying community,
to know about your educational initiatives; to be excited about the great things going on in your schools; and to understand the challenges public school districts face.”

– Fundamentals of School Board Membership

Meeting Communications Challenges

A school district’s task of communicating with the public has become more complicated in recent years, as communities have higher expectations for transparency and immediate communication and include a wider range of stakeholders with varied interests and needs.  Social media, while offering new and faster ways to communicate, can also spread information and misinformation quickly, requiring districts to monitor and respond rapidly to maintain accurate messaging. And the sheer volume of information that must be communicated is constantly increasing.

Below is more information on meeting communications challenges.

Selected Resources: Videos and Podcasts

Human crowd surrounding red megaphone object on blue background. Horizontal composition with copy space.

Podcast: Communication Tips for School Districts

Listen now

Explore additional videos and podcasts:

Resources for Boards to Communicate with their Communities

NJSBA has developed the brochures below to help districts educate their communities about how a board of education operates. Districts can easily print out these resources and make them available at board meetings or can share them on their website.