Over the past few years, public school districts have seen a shift from natural school enrollment from neighborhoods in their boundaries to… losing enrollment to private and charter schools. Districts have turned to marketing campaigns, advertising and more to re-attract parents to their schools. What happened?
Private schools have always engaged in advertising. Pick up any local social or parenting magazine, and private school advertisements comprise the majority of their ads. Charter schools have made great headway by riding on the wave of “education reform” and parent choice, and communicating their best student achievement results. Public school district superintendents have been scratching their heads to determine why they are losing students, and turn to district-led efforts to sell their schools.
Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Your district is not selling your schools. Your schools are selling your schools. Or not. In fact, when parents go about making a decision about where to send their child to school, they’re not deciding between your district and a charter school or a private school; they are literally making a decision about whether or not to send their child to one of your district’s neighborhood schools. So … why do central office administrators spend so much time pumping up their districts?
I’ll give you a few answers … and a few ways to turn these assumptions on their heads, and to start focusing on selling your schools, instead.
