Peyton Wolcott - How to ask your school district to put its check register online

DELAYING TACTICS'

REASONS FOR DELAY, NOT ASKING NOW YOURSELF:

COMPTROLLER
FRIEND ON BOARD
MAYOR SAID HE'D

Putting check registers
online (3) is a terrific way
for school leadership to
prove their trustworthiness
and (4) can help keep
school employees honest,
knowing that dubious
checks will be viewed by
the public -- especially if at
least half of the check
numbers are included.
Online checks also (5)
encourage wise spending.
New reality: (6) with the
popularity of this
grassroots movement,
schools who don't post
are beginning to look like
they're hiding something.

P E Y T O N W O L C O T T

How we take back our children's education:
one person, one question, one school at a time.

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There are
only two
ways I
recommend
that you ask:
1. Go in person
to your local
school board
meeting, or 2.
Schedule an
appointment
with your local
superintendent
in his/her office.

These two
approaches are
both friendly and
personal and
are the only way
I believe we can
do this
successfully.

I only
recommend
going in person
either to visit
your supe
and/or board
members
(preferably both)
or at the very
least to attend a
school board
meeting.

Please keep
reading. Most if
not all of your
questions are
answered on
this page.

ONLY
TWO WAYS
TO ASK

BEFORE YOUR
SCHOOL
BOARD MEETING

*APPROACHES
I DO NOT
RECOMMEND

Your superintendent will
either say "yes" or "no."

If they agree to do this,
thank them and ask the
superintendent if they have
any questions or concerns
or reservations.

If they do not agree to do
this, thank them for their
time and let them know
you're looking forward to
discussing this briefly
during the next public
comment period.

Be pleasant. Do not carpe
diem and tell them what
you think of the way they're
running your school district.

Do not be alarmed or
express disapproval if you
have to explain what a
check register is to your
superintendent and/or
other district officials and/or
school board members.
(This actually occurs often.)

If you don't already know
whether the school board
is receiving a roster of all
checks in its monthly board
packet, ask. Do not
express alarm if the
superintendent does not
know. (This too has
happened.)

Whether or not your
superintendent says yes to
putting you on the agenda,
call ahead to all of your
school board members
and ask what questions or
concerns or reservations
they might have about their
district's posting its check
register online; share with
them that you're going to be
bringing this up at their next
board meeting.

Do not attempt to argue or
present your case at this
time; simply make note of
their name and their
comments.

If you're at all friendly with
your local press, you can let
them know ahead of time
that you'll be presenting
this idea. If they're
unfamiliar with the idea, the
easiest and quickest way to
bring them up to speed is
to refer them to my website.

AS YOUR
INITIAL CONTACT
OR REQUEST--
IN LIEU OF
A PERSONAL
APPEARANCE:

ASKING
AT YOUR LOCAL
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

Arrive at the meeting 10-15 minutes
early.

Dress: Neat, clean conservative business attire.

Attitude: Be pleasant. If you're angry or appear
to be demanding that your board and/or
superintendent post the district's check register
online, they will pick up on this and it's only
human nature to be defensive.
Remember: 90% of all communication is
non-verbal. The supe and school board
members will pick up on your intent and feelings.
          No matter what negativity has gone on
between you and your board and/or supe in the
past, erase it from your memory even if
temporarily and go in with a clean slate. Start
fresh with this meeting. If you can pull off a
genuine Southern belle smile, so much the
better. Most folks would prefer dealing with
someone who's pleasant than someone who's
unpleasant.   Think of it this way: You're not
storming the gates of an unfriendly citadel to
force them to bend to your will or do something
they don't want to do. You're going as a friend
and long-time community supporter to persuade
them that it's in their best interests and your
district's best interests to post the check register
online sooner rather than later.

Handouts: Bring 50 copies of this flyer.
You can either print out the whole page from the
Internet or copy and paste the report portion (the
comments from the school districts in the grey
box) onto a word processing document with your
letterhead or your organization's letterhead,
include contact information, at the top; at the very
least this should include your name, your cell
phone number and a mailing address. You have
my permission to use the testimonies on the
flyer on a one-time basis only for the purpose of
addressing your own local school board
provided that you clearly state in at least 12-
point font that I am the author and source and
that you found this information on my website.
(Sorry for having to say this. Some folks unfortunately
have gotten a bit careless -- that's the most generous
reason I can come up with -- and tried to pass off my
work product as their own. Imagine my surprise to be
at the Texas Lege in Spring 2007 and be handed a
flyer with a Texas public policy group's letterhead --
bearing my research. God bless them.)

Distribute a flyer to each of your board members
first, well before the meeting begins, one each to
your superintendent and his secretary, one each
to the press, and the remainder to the folks in the
audience. Leave the extra at the sign-in table if
there is one. By now the meeting should be
about to start.

Your presentation to the board
Introduce yourself even if you are known to
everyone in the room and state your purpose
immediately.

"I'm John Doe and I'm here to ask you to post our
district's check register online."

If you have volunteered and/or been an office-
holder in a school-related organization, mention
this in a modest, matter-of-fact way.

PAYING A PERSONAL
VISIT TO YOUR SUPE

Although I recommend asking at
your local school board meeting,
there is another approach, the
personal visit.

A friend of mine and her husband
are career educators and long-time
residents in their district. They make
a practice of paying a brief
(half-hour) personal visit to each
new superintendent. This is a
different standing than most of us
have with our districts and our
superintendents.

During her visit, my friend brought up
the idea of the online check register,
mentioning it's the coming thing, and
that our state education agency is
already posting its check register
online. She received positive
feedback from her supe, and will be
following up.

My only concern with this approach
is that it might be all too easy for the
supe to delay posting until some
time in the distant future.

That said, I did myself ask another
superintendent (not my local district)
during a personal meeting last fall
and was turned down; the guy
actually had a horrified look on his
face. Six months later, with
subsequent positive press around
the state, plus, again, our state
education agency's decision to post
its check registers online, the same
supe said "Yes."

When your superintendent/board says
"yes" after you ask, please email me
and I'll add your district to our
growing roster. Congratulations!

Remember: 90% of our communication is
non-verbal. What you're thinking and feeling
speaks much louder than your actual words.

ASKING AT A
SCHOOL BOARD
NOT YOUR OWN

First off, hats off for
taking this altruistic step.

Second, what is your
motive? Is this a
neighboring district or is
it in your son's town and
you're visiting?

Or, could your motive be
that your state and
federal taxes are helping
to fund this district?

Why it's important to
keep your motive in
mind: Likely if you're not
recognized someone will
ask where you're from
and what you're doing
there. Easier to respond
to a belligerent trustee
when you're standing
alone at the mic if you've
thought this through
beforehand. Have a nice
one-
sentence statement
printed out on a sheet of
paper you can read from;
include this in the
"identify yourself" step at
left.

To be well prepared is
to be well armed.

Let's take the third
possibility, that you're
asking at a district not
technically your own.

You can approach
supes and school
boards unfamiliar to you
in one of two ways:
either with a carrot or
with a stick. Think
about this: You're a
human being. Which
would you rather have
folks approach you with,
a carrot or a stick?

With the stick
approach, you go to a
district unannounced,
fairly confident they'll turn
you down--again. Both
your demeanor and your
presentation have an air
of the "Gotcha" about
them.

With the carrot
approach, you plan
ahead and call ahead, in
a friendly way. You call
the superintendent and
ask if his/her district is
posting their checks
online yet. When he/she
says "No," you ask if
they've considered taking
this good big step
towards transparency
and open government.
When you get a second
"No" response, you can
say then you're planning
to attend the district's
next board meeting on
such-and-such a date
and time, and, by the
way, as you'll be alerting
the local press that
you're planning to attend,
can the supe give you a
brief statement now,
ahead of time, for a
report you're preparing
as to his feelings (this is
an important word in the
public school world)
regarding the possibility
of the district posting its
check registers online.

5-POINT SUMMARY

2. Don't cold call on the board at a
meeting -- call ahead.
3. Bring 50 copies of the flyer on this
site (the one with the testimonials
from folks who are already posting
their check registers online on this
site, with your contact info up at top
including name, street/mailing
address, cell and email).
4. Thorough prep of the right kind
saves time in the long run.

Based on careful
observation of
what has worked
and what hasn't:
o I do not recom-
mend sending
an email or a
letter as your
initial contact or
request.
o I do not recom-
mend organizing
a petition drive
with your
neighbors.
o I do not recom-
mend sending a
group of letters or
barraging your
board and supe
with a flood of
emails from your
group--as regards
the check register.
o I do not recom-
mend asking by
sending a letter to
the editor of your
local paper.
o I especially do
not recommend
standing outside
your main admini-
stration building
in goofy hats,
holding posters
and foghorns and
shouting, "We
want our check

HOME

Not a PR pro?
How to talk to your
local school board &
supe about putting
your district's checks
online
By Peyton Wolcott / Copyright
2007 / Updated Nov. 30, 2007

Friends, a light bulb went off
recently when an astute friend
remarked, "Most grassroots
parents and taxpayers aren't
very good at PR."

This comment took me off
guard, but do you know what?
He was right.

Many of our best volunteers
are rational people, engineers
and accountants and the like,
who are used to an
environment in which facts
reign.

1. Commit to memory: "Our public
schools are essentially socialist
models and their engine and currency
is the realm of emotions and people
skills. They speak in the language of
feelings, not facts." -- PW

It takes us a very long while
to understand that our public
schools are essentially
socialist models and their
engine and currency is the
realm of emotions and
people skills.

When we speak with folks
who work at our public
schools, it is helpful to
remember to speak in the
language of feelings, rather
than facts. "I feel it would be
helpful if . . . " rather than, "I
think we ought to . . . . "

Further, our superintendents
attend conferences and
meetings where they learn
how to develop their PR
skills, and they hire well-paid
PR guys and gals who are
skilled in the art of public
relations. This is the arena
into which we step.

When we take our logic and
thoughts into our schools'
well-oiled PR machinery,
especially if we are angry, we
lose every time.

Also, by the time most of us
get to the point that we are
interested in seeing how our
district spends its money,
there have been precipitating
incidents. As another friend
put it, "I just wanted to slug
someone at that board
meeting." This man is a
genuinely decent human
being and the comment
surprised me-- but it's not the
first time I've heard this from
a parent.

It wasn't always that
way.
Generally we start out
assuming our dealings with
our school districts will be a
rational exercise. Most of us
are volunteers and in
addition to our taxes give
generously to our children's
schools. Then when we
spend a lot of time there, we
notice things.

Years ago I myself felt sure
that if I showed my local
supe and board where
money was being wasted in
some areas and not
adequately safeguarded in
others that they would
welcome this information
with open arms and changes
would be made on the spot.
Hah! Imagine my surprise
when they reacted as though
to a personal attack when I
was just trying to help.

At this point we often start
gathering hard data* on our
schools because we
assume--also incorrectly, as
it turns out--that "someone"
higher up is watching out.

The "someone in charge"
turns out to be us. We learn
that our local schools have
next to no real oversight; as
just one example witness the
two dozen state, federal and
local governmental bodies
and elected officials two
moms in Texas contacted in
their effort to bring their local
superintendent to justice.

Besides, to focus on spread
sheets and flow charts to
take to "someone in charge"
is to focus on the wake of the
wave and not the boat and
the pilot.

This is why I have come to
the conclusion after years in
the grassroot trenches that
the best and most effective
single step we can take to
help our districts reign in
costs and improve our
vendor-driven curriculums in
order to better educate our
kids is to persuade our
schools to post their check
registers online.

When we approach our
districts, we have found there
are some things we can do
which are more effective than
others.

Like I tell my kids, go and
make new mistakes--don't
replicate mine.

To make it easier for you to
successfully ask your local
district to put its check
register online, I've posted
two webpages; the first one
(here) walks you through the
process, and the second is a
flyer you can print as is.

I've done this successfully,
using the steps outlined on
this page, and wouldn't
recommend that you
undertake something I
haven't already done myself.
If I can do it, you can, too--
and probably much better!

* Yes, you need
hard facts. They
need to be in the
form of paper
records from the
district. And you
need them in order
to have them on
hand for making
your case, not to
take to "someone
in charge."

5. Everyone who has followed these
steps exactly as outlined below has
experienced 100% success;
shortcuts lead to failure.

RECOMMENDED
BACKGROUND
READING

Friends, please read all of this page. It's not the angry or dry facts-based approach you may be used to. This is heart to heart and friendly and has worked
100% of the time when the steps outlined below are followed. Everything here exists for one reason: to help you persuade your schools to say "yes"
with no delays or trials or sidelining you to a committee. If you will put down your pitchfork and follow this approach, your school leadership will be happy and
you'll be happy. HEADS UP: With several hundred school districts now line, all the shortcuts have already been tried, and ALL have resulted in unsatisfactory
results. These points arise from -- to quote Churchill -- other people's blood, sweat and tears -- and will save you time, aggravation and grief. --P.W.

Each school board is different--and all are the same.
You have to find a way to make it as easy as
possible for yours to say "yes" to your suggestion.

H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e

Vendors may or may not have already made
overtures to your supe and board on many occasions including
social settings at which time business may likely have come up. If
the vendors are there in suits and carrying briefcases, you can bet
this is not their first contact with the school district. Why not borrow
a page from the vendors and meet with your superintendent and
board ahead of time?

TOP: Marble Falls ISD (TX) trustees Kelly Fox (R) and Tommy Chaney
BOTTOM: MFISD trustees Richie Giesecke (L) and then-trustee Candy Ratliff

If you're at all friendly
with or known to your
local superintendent,
call ahead a few weeks and
ask with a smile on your
face and in a friendly voice
to be put on the next agenda
as a discussion item to
discuss the idea of your
district's posting its check
register online.

Marble Falls ISD (TX) superintendent
Ryder Warren at a team-building
meeting for the school board.

If you've lived in the community a long time,
mention the number of years. If your kids attend
or graduated from the district's schools, mention
who and when.

Emphasize the positive:
(1) Posting the check register is your district's
opportunity to show their commitment to
transparency.
(2) It is your district's opportunity to show their
commitment to open government.
(3) By posting its check register online now,
ahead of everyone else, your district gains
valuable PR in your community for its willingness
to be transparent and to make a commitment to
open government.

Avoid:
(A) References to "accountability" and
"responsibility," or any other words with a stern
tone.
(B) Telling your board how you plan to file open
records requests based on information provided
in the online check register.
(C) Any indication that this is a "Gotcha."
(D) Talking about anything else, including your
junior high schooler's problem with his/her math
teacher, discussions about how your district is
wasting money, recruitment ads for your new
group.

Stay focused.

LIKELY OPPOSITION FROM
YOUR SUPE & BOARD
When you speak, address your board's questions
and concerns and reservations they mentioned
when you telephoned them ahead of time. Most
likely these will be along the following lines:

o Additional expense (time, labor, copying) for
the district. "It would be extra time for the staff."
o Negative attention. "Parents won't understand
the checks." "Our front office will be too busy
responding to public records requests."
o Lack of trust from community. "The
community should trust our superintendent
and/or business manager who's already doing
such a great job."
o Additional technology. "It'll take forever." "We'd
have to buy new software."

All of these and more are already addressed by
the six school districts whom I've interviewed
and this information is in the report on this flyer
Suppose they say, "We're already posting our
accounts payable online. Isn't that enough?"
No, it's not. While this is certainly a good step in
the right direction, it's not enough. The district's
posting its entire check register online, check
numbers included, reduces the amount of
financial mischief which can be made.

Okay, ye of little faith: Why do we know these
foregoing steps work? It's a well-established
axiom of advertising that the testimonial is the
strongest kind of ad, and on this flyer you have
testimonials from several school districts in
multiple states who are already successfully
doing what you're asking your district to undertake.

In the unlikely event your board members bring up
a new question/concern not included in the report
on the flyer, please contact me and I will help you
address this.

Your closing remark: "You've seen good and
compelling reasons to post our check register
online. It's the right thing to do and it's the way
school districts are going. Let's be ahead of the
curve. We don't want to be perceived as being
anti-open government and anti-transparency, do
we? Besides, we don't have anything to hide.
Thank you."

If you're on the agenda, make your presentation
when it's your turn. Because you've already taken
the time to talk with your board members and to
address their concerns, your presentation will go
faster and be more positive, and the board's
discussion will likely be more positive. Also, by
making your phone calls ahead of time and
addressing the board's concerns, it's more likely
they'll vote "yes" on the spot. Had you not taken
the time ahead of the meeting to address their
concerns, it's more likely your board would defer
their decision until they can "think about it
further"--a polite way of saying "No." You want to
do everything you can possibly do ahead of time
to enable them to say "Yes," right then and there.

If you're not on the agenda but make your
presentation during the open forum session, be
careful about staying within the minimum time
allotted to you, and thank them for listening. The
board members will likely not say anything.

Thus far everybody who's asked along the lines
indicated above has received a "yes" from either
their board or their superintendent--on the spot.

Afterwards
If your supe/board said "yes" at the meeting,
follow up with a nice letter to the editor of your
local paper(s).

If your supe/board said "we'll think about it" at the
meeting, this is now the time to begin a
letter-writing campaign; ask friends to send faxes
and emails to the board and superintendent
showing their support for posting check registers
online. KEEP IT POSITIVE!

If your supe/board said "no" at the meeting, start
filing public records requests, starting with
looking at your supe's and board's travel and
other expenses. Share your findings with your
community in a positive way -- not a "gotcha" -- by
asking questions along the lines of, "I'm
confused. If we're really broke and needing more
money, why is our supe staying in luxury hotels
(cite dates and prices and purpose of trip)? Are
our schools so perfect that he/she can travel to
Rochester or New Orleans and fix their schools,
too?" And/or: "Why did our board treat
themselves to a $900 steak dinner at the last
school boards convention? Couldn't they have
just gotten a Big Mac and let the rest of the money
go to books for our library?"

Next. take the time to
call each of the school
board members
individually, and ask
them about/share with
them this exciting new
possibility. For 35 states
outside of Texas--for right
now, anyway-- you'll be
able to say, "Wouldn't it
be cool to be the first
district in our state to
voluntarily post its check
register online? Think of
the PR benefits to the
district, taking this bold
big step towards
transparency." Ask them
if they have any
reservations, issues or
concerns. This part is
easy, because every
objection they could
have--expense / time /
labor involved, possible
deluge of negative
questions, etc.--is
probably addressed on
the report on this
printable flyer.

When you go to the
school board meeting in
another district, rather
than feeling (there's that
magic word again) you're
storming the castle walls,
treat it instead like you're
going to a friendly
gathering committed to
doing something positive
for school children, their
parents and taxpayers.

Now, please take a
moment to read the
column at left, "Asking at
your local school board
meeting."

Again, this isn't to be
bossy, but to save you
time, grief and energy.
There really are parents
who will show up at
school board meetings in
cut-offs and flip-flops to
discuss something
serious--then claim
bewilderment as to why
no one takes them
seriously. Or they aren't
aware of board rules and
become frustrated when
they speak at a board
meeting during the public
forum and no one says
anything, including,
"Thank you."

Benefit from the mistakes
of those who have come
before you.

Llano News editor Jimmy
Stephenson (L) with Llano ISD
trustee Alan Geistman (M).

When this photograph was taken of the Llano ISD (TX) school
board, members were legally doing business with the district in one
form or another: the fellow in the plaid shirt (2nd from left) did
plumbing as a subcontractor; the guy in the middle helped relieve
the district of what he called worthless" fill dirt; the red shirted fellow
owned a furniture and appliance store and sold furniture and
appliances to the school district. It will be useful for you to be
familiar with each of your school board members' various revenue
streams to your public school district.

registers online NOW!"

While any of the above actions may
get you 15 minutes on the news,
they are almost 100% guaranteed
likely to antagonize your district's
leadership and put you in an adver-
sarial position at a time when you
want to be in a friendly relationship.

You're going to be
competing with
vendors for your board's
and superintendent's
attention at the board
meeting.

These vendors have a
great deal at stake --
substantial revenue
streams which may affect
their families' incomes for
many years to come.

Conservative Commentary - WHAT WORKS: How to persuade your school district to post its check register online

Online financial
transparency for public
schools is more important
now than ever before given
our worsening economy.

Why: (1) Public schools
rely on goodwill for their
financial support, and
online checks make this
goodwill a two-way street.
With public education
dollars shrinking and
taxpayers unable to afford
higher taxes, (2) it's time
for a more meaningful
dialogue between school
leaders & communities
than pie charts regarding
where spending cuts
should occur. For
example, should school
nurses be eliminated -- or
the district's travel/meal
budget for administrators?

SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHECK REGISTERS
ONLINE: WHY?

As another example from
real life, should Detroit
schoolchildren have gone
without so that former DPS
supe Connie Calloway
(above) could have two
chauffeurs, both of whom
quit, alleging she wanted
them to carry her purse for
her?

Connie Calloway