2008-2009 INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS REPORT

GOAL: Eighty percent of employees, parents and community members will agree CMS provides timely, accurate and responsive service on annual satisfaction surveys and polls.

1. Comprehensive service improvement program (SP VI 3).

We will develop a comprehensive approach to service improvement, including management modeling, incentive programs, organizational structures, service processes, employee recognition/reward systems, employee training, and internal/external communication plans that are all focused on better serving CMS publics.
Customer Service kick-off o GOALS: Communicated the following standards to all staff: a. Our actions will communicate that each child is an individual and important. b. When we interact with people we will be very open, direct and courteous. c. We will not use acronyms and jargon when we communicate so that we are easily understood. d. We will be responsive to one another and hold ourselves accountable for being responsive to all of our customers. o Outlined goals for customer service standards o Provided stories with examples from staff of good customer service for the Web, CMS TV and external media o Met with: STAC Area Supts. Exec Directors Auxiliary Services groups (as identified) about customer service goals and expectations, with tips they can pass on Volunteers and Partnerships Edited six issues of the volunteers newsletter OSP E-News Communication Interns: I supervise interns within the Department, making sure they are able to see all areas of communications and gain experience in their areas of interest. I also work with other staff to gauge how interns are performing, their strengths and weaknesses and how we can involve them in real-world experience. o Managed two college-level students who interned in the Communications Department

Key Communicator Program a. Conducted five trainings at KC meetings (registration through MyPD to give KCs CEU credit for meetings) o Held meetings, focusing on the following trainings: NewsPixs Submitting news stories for internal media Submitting news stories for external media Pitching stories to the external media directly Taking good pictures for the Web and CMS TV o At meetings, offered information on district topics, including: CMS budget and reduction in force Lawson conversion Volunteer recruitment, training and hourlogging Financial Fitness workshops Data Dashboard b. Worked with key communicators to get monthly student/staff recognitions sent to Communications staff for annual recognition. c. Share Your News submissions (see chart) Received 319 Share A News Story submissions Departments: 8 Achievement Zone: 23 West: 25 North: 27 East: 42 Northeast: 44 Central: 75 South: 75

District-wide News Submissions

Departments East South

Learning Communities Departments Achievement Zone Central East North Northeast South West Total

Achievement Zone North West

Central Northeast

Department-wide News Submissions 8 23 75 42 27 44 75 25 319

2. Strengthen employee communications (SP VI 7).

We will ensure that CMS employees are informed about CMS news and information on a timely basis by developing a comprehensive internal communications program. It will use a variety of tools and methods, including Connect-Ed, email, CMS Intranet, CMS-TV3, DirectLine electronic newsletter, meetings, special events and other communication channels. We will also strengthen the Superintendents Teacher and Principal Advisory groups, and add advisory groups for other internal constituencies such as support staff as needed. Quarterly brown-bag lunches with the superintendent and other executive staff members will provide an informal forum for employees to ask questions and offer feedback.
(see chart) Coordinated comprehensive budget internal communications, including: a. Completed and disseminated 11 Budget Bulletin newsletters b. Responded to 1,600 internal budget questions c. Posted 21 correspondences from the superintendent on budget updates d. Posted 21 news/information items relating to the 2009-2010 CMS budget

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

CATEGORIES # OF E-MAILS MENTIONING THIS TOPIC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

CATEGORIES Misc. (individual questions, comments) Non-teacher positions (APs, TAs) Four-day work week Printing (cost, suggested cuts) Curriculum/books (cost, suggested cuts) Learning Communities (cost, suggested cuts) Instruction (Time/changes) Pay Reduction Testing costs/NB certification/higher ed funding CMS TV (cost, suggested cuts) Athletics Follow ups (to previous e-mails) Longevity Freeze Retirement Transportation Utilties (lights, printing) Teacher Layoffs (CO Article) Furloughs Parent University (cost, suggested cuts) Construction (cost, suggested cuts) Job Fair Master Teacher Bonus Local Supplements Professional Development (cost, suggested cuts) Tenure Summer School Lottery Funds Snow Day make up Child Nutrition (cost, suggested cuts, not printing) Career Status (how determined) VIF Magnet Program (cost, suggested cuts) Bright Beginnings (cost, cut) Supplies (paper towels, etc.) DRIVERS ED (cost, suggested cuts) ASEP (cost, suggested cuts) Unemployment Year round schools Tiers Insurance Cable in the Classroom (cost, cut) AVID (cost, suggested cuts) Sick leave Extracurricular Renegotiate Contracts (Exec staff, managers) School Board EMMYs State furlough/pay cut

# OF E-MAILS MENTIONING THIS TOPIC 131 120 115 99 84 80 76 76 73 71 65 60 58 58 57 54 46 42 28 28 26 19 16 15 14 13 12 12 10 9 9 8 7 7 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2

DirectLine (see chart): This weekly electronic newsletter goes to staff with e-mail access and is printed for those without it. DL includes:

District news (Board meeting highlights, EC, Title I and other newsletters as well as school dedications) Professional development opportunities (National board sessions, graduate programs, CMS trainings) Personal development (financial fitness classes) Employee Discounts (incentives, coupons, special promotions) Community News (Angel Food ministry menus, community meetings, community opportunities) Team CMS (Employee good news, such as awards and recognitions and principal appointments Awards (Information about scholarships, awards and travel opportunities) Grants (Training and information on available grants) Educator Resources (information on available books or other information for educators to take advantage of) Promoted 43 department newsletters to staff Promoted 24 grant newsletters/trainings to staff

Continued to put out 50 issues of DirectLine per fiscal year o Completed 51 issues of DirectLine, the weekly employee newsletter (July 7-June 22) o Communicate at least 375 district events/ news items to staff, including information on Lawson Conversion, Benefits and Board meetings o Promoted CMS TV news items to employees DirectLine: 17 E-mail alls: 25 o Parent University Promoted 55 Parent University courses/ opportunities to submit courses/ideas Promote 165 internal/external professional development opportunities to staff Promoted 50 award/scholarship opportunities to staff Assisted 220 employees with award/scholarship applications 21 Communicated 94 community news items to staff Promoted 92 employee discounts to staff Promoted 27 student opportunities to staff Increased the number of educator opportunities to Increased employee feature stories to 194

DirectLine Submission Breakdown employees.

Promoted 115 financial fitness workshops to

Improved employee understanding of departments and organizations o STAC Posted seven months of STAC minutes Featured all STAC representatives individually on Intranet and in DL Updated STAC Web site, including minutes template, minutes, contact information and Teacher of the Year forms o Featured all TOY finalists on Internet, Intranet and DL. o Introduced staff to LEAP program and promote LEAP schools throughout the year (Intranet/DL and CMS TV) Coordinated video explaining program Edited, designed and distributed five issues of the TIF-LEAP newsletter Coordinated feature on TIF-LEAP director for Above & Beyond Improved internal toolkits. Coordinated and/or posted toolkits for the following: Back to school (principals) Title I Health Financial Fitness: CMS Human Resources developed a series of free workshops to educate staff on how they can navigate through the current economic crisis. The workshops: Educate CMS employees on changes in the financial market and how it will affect them. Provide employees with trusted resources to turn to for financial planning and advice. Assist employees with the various programs/products that are available to them in this current market. All partners conduct these workshops free of charge. In addition to the free workshops, most of the partners also offer incentives and discounts to CMS employees. In my role, I: o Worked with HR to coordinate which programs are offered, giving feedback about how to promote them. o Developed promotional information for individual courses, which are disseminated through the Intranet, DL and e-mails. o Coordinated opportunities for HR to discuss and promote workshops (key communicator meetings, STAC meetings, etc.)

o Amended communication as needed to increase participation. Transfer Fair: For the Transfer Fair, I: o Met with Human Resources staff to discuss a timeline for the process, communication needs and communication areas. o Coordinated promotion to the internal audience through e-mails, memos to managers/principals and employee meetings. o Promoted fair to staff before and during process, following up with Human Resources to assess participation rates and amend communication when necessary to increase participation. Talking Points: Completed 15 sets of talking points for school dedications, United Way kick-off and other events involving executive staff and Board of Education members.

3. Internal pride campaign (SP VI 8).

We will develop a district-wide program to acknowledge and reward accomplishments and to encourage teaming on initiatives. It will highlight CMS employees who go above and beyond in serving students, CMS and our community. It will also showcase outstanding teachers and principals.
CMS employees have the opportunity to salute their colleagues for excellence. Through the Employee Excellence Awards, they can nominate a coworker for going above and beyond in their jobs. Each month, community partners met at the Education Center Board room and select winners from the nominees. Winners were surprised at their schools/departments with balloons, a CMS-TV interview, gift cards and, when available, tickets to sports events. For this program, I: o Solicited nominations through the Web, e-mail, meetings and word-of-mouth o Collected 100 nominations as they came in to Communications (see chart) o Set up monthly meetings with partners and scanned and disseminate nominations o Coordinated schedules for chief of staff, CMS TV and schools/departments to surprise staff o Sent e-mails congratulating nominees not selected for awards (copying their nominators) o Wrote and posted stories on all 16 winners on the Internet and Intranet, linking them in DL o Worked with CMS TV to highlight winners and providing DVDs of programs on winners to sponsoring partners o Worked with Human Resources to: Help secure partners Develop informational materials for potential sponsors

 Increase the number of sponsors for this year and 2009-10 Increase the award amount for this year and 200910 Increase variety of gifts for this year and 2009-10 Promote award to sponsors for this year and 200910

Percentage of Nominations Received

Departments East South

Achievement Zone North West

Central Northeast

Percentage of Winners

Departments East South

Achievement Zone North West

Central Northeast

Assisted internal departments with media relations/media coverage and event-planning. Assisted with coordination of media briefings, news releases and media pitches for Ready. Set. Go. release and National Inclusive Schools Week.

Challenges for 2008-2009

1. Communications staff reductions and reassignments: The reduction in secretarial assistance and media relations staff resulted in a tremendous increase in assisting in others areas, such as: a. Challenge Answering the main line when Ada left for the day or was at lunch b. Challenge Answering the media line when left alone in the office c. Challenge Diminished time spent at schools and departments, attending meetings, writing stories and covering events d. How addressed: i. As time-consuming, and sometimes frustrating, as this has been, it has presented me an opportunity to interact more with the media and to develop my skills in media relations. I did receive positive feedback for my performance in this area (see e-mail below) ii. I think a possible solution to this problem could be more defined responsibilities for all Communication staff, including coverage of calls and respect for all areas and responsibilities within the department.

2. Budget Communications: Budget Communications was a challenge we could not have anticipated at the beginning of the fiscal year. The economic downturn and subsequent cuts and reduction in force have created a stressful environment throughout the district. a. Challenge Answering 95 percent of the internal e-mails and about 150 of the external e-mails about the budget have been more demanding and time-consuming than anything else this year. b. Challenge Answering hundreds of emails from staff was mentally exhausting as the questions, concern and suggestions were saturated with panic about rumors, fears and indictments. c. Challenge I found great resistance from some departments in areas when seeking information to include in budget communications. This slowed response time and consumed unnecessary time. d. How addressed: i. As challenging as the budget communications have been, they presented me with a great opportunity to truly embody internal communications. I have been able to really engage staff in dialogue and assist CMS leadership in positioning itself as being responsive, transparent and thoughtful (see next two pages). ii. At the height of the e-mail barrage, I devoted two hours each two hours each day to responding to e-mails. I found this allowed me time to focus on the budget specifically for part of the day without neglecting my other duties. E-mail comments
From: Niki Sashington Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:19 AM To: budgetquestions Subject: Re: RE: Thanks again! I'm really please with the response I've been receiving from you guys on the other end! Keep it up!! Sent from my iPhone On Apr 21, 2009, at 11:15 AM, "budgetquestions" <budgetquestions@cms.k12.nc.us > wrote: > They are working diligently, but there were many applicants and they > may have gotten a little back up. ________________________________________ > From: Niki Sashington > Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:13 AM > To: budgetquestions > Subject: Re: RE: > > Thank you. Another quick question. So if the closing date was April 7 > which was the week of Spring Break, would they have called last week > or this week?

From: OKANE-FENK, JENNIFER J. Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:33 PM To: budgetquestions Subject: Budget FAQs

This update was great (really!) and should help answer many concerns that many of us have heard repeatedly throughout the district. Thank you. Just a warning - You may see some questions come about the color Parent University fliers that went out announcing the Spring sessions.
From: WITTFELD, PAMELA C. Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 5:44 PM To: budgetquestions Subject: RE: budget question Thank you for the personal reply! :) Pamela C. Wittfeld National Board Certified Teacher EAYA Art Dept. Chair Visual and Performing Arts Ardrey Kell High School From: Niki Sashington Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 3:40 PM To: budgetquestions Subject: Re: Transfer Fair to New Schools

Thank you for your response and keeping me informed.

From: CONNELL, SYLVIA Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 8:10 AM To: budgetquestions Subject: Thanks Thank you for all your hard work. We appreciated you and your staff. From: HUNT, NANCY C. Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 5:14 PM To: budgetquestions Subject: Budget... Thank you Dr. Gorman for the regular updates re the budget....it really does help so much!! Nancy C. Hunt, M.Ed.,NBCT Literacy Facilitator Steele Creek ES From: Jennifer Schwarz Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 2:14 PM To: budgetquestions Subject: comment I have found your discussion of the topics to be informative, thought-provoking, and am appreciative of your openness to communicate/educate "the team" in the challenges facing the system. Thank you very much for providing this additional information. Best Regards,

Jennifer Schwarz, OTR/L

Assistive Technology Coordinator

3. Key Communicator Program: While I truly love this program and it has, more than any other area, allowed me to interact with staff and improve two-way communication, I have struggled with this program. a. Challenge It has been a problem attempting to increase the number of news submissions. This may have been due to the budget crisis and focus on that at school level and in departments leading to more emphasis on communication out to staff. It may also have stemmed from having many key communicators worried about being let go and eventually finding out they were part of the reduction. Whatever the case, it continues to be a problem. b. Challenge Coverage of submitted items seems to be slanted more toward areas with media relations account reps. There has been a reiteration, in many cases, to state thats not may school, but the account rep for the learning community news is often too busy working on those areas specifically within their job to work as a public relations person, too. c. How addressed: I made an effort to work intensively with key communicators in areas that did not have an account rep in media relations. I think this did allow for some success in submissions from the South and Northeast learning communities. However, promotion of events coverage of those areas lagged behind other learning communities. d. Possible solution: I believe the program can be enhanced by changing the account rep format first developed for learning communities and making media relations responsible for three learning communities each. This may seem burdensome, but I believe it will relieve some of the perception of bias for or against a learning community while also allowing media relations to better fan out good stories from every area to CMS TV, internal and external communications. I also believe this will allow me to focus more on planning the meetings and securing the speakers key communicators request to address their concerns, thereby enhancing the information we push out to staff.

4. Challenge DirectLine: DirectLine is the anchor of internal communications. Along with the Intranet, it is the primary source for information for many employees. a. Challenge DL can be time-consuming to prepare. Its also difficult to enforce deadlines. Many staff who submit information wait until Monday morning to submit information that must go out in that days issue. b. Challenge DL has grown literally. When I began in 2006, it was no more than two pages. It peaked at 11 this year. Much of the information was important but the amount was overwhelming. c. How addressed: I have begun including hyperlinks within the newsletter to the sections. This allows staff to jump down to the section(s) they want to read without scrolling through pages of information. I am also continually working on editing down inserts and using the Intranet and Internet as means of providing the news, linking it to DL. d. Possible solution: I plan to revise the submission criteria for DL and strictly enforce the deadlines for all submissions within Communications and from other areas. 5. Challenge Employee Excellence: Employee Excellence presentations are the highlights of my month. Surprising and rewarding staff for good work is something that has afforded a lot of opportunities to get out into departments and schools and to show that CMS values its workforce. a. Challenge Coordinating the surprising has been a logistical nightmare. I begin by getting the windows of time available for Chief of Staff Tyler Ream and then contact those involved to plan within that time frame. It can mean back-to-back or very spread out presentations. b. How addressed: I have been as flexible as possible with my schedule to allow for proper planning and execution. I have also been proactive in working with all parties, which has helped when the unexpected happens and schedules must change (such as the last day of school when Tyler had a flat tire and needed to reschedule two of the four presentations). 6. Financial Fitness: These workshops have become a great asset to some employees, providing them with information and resources in difficult financial times. a. Challenge Communication of these workshops got off to a rocky start, with information coming in late and little content being available for promotional purposes. b. How addressed: I was able to articulate my concerns to the Human Resources staff involved in the program and brainstormed solutions to increase interest and attendance. I wrote up each course as a separate blurb in DirectLine and on

the Intranet. This change has increased the number of enrollees from zero in many early classes to 53 registered attendees (and eight told to register for a later date) in late June. It has also shown HR staff my flexibility and dedication to assisting employees, which has improved relations between myself and many HR employees. 7. Communication Interns: We had two college-level interns and one graduate who worked in our department to gain experience and/or credit. a. Challenge Better screening of interns is required to insure they are prepared for independent work with quick turnaround. Having a syllabus or outline or goals and objectives beforehand would allow us to make sure only those who can work without a lot of supervision are accepted. b. Challenge The role of the intern coordinator must be made clearer. It becomes difficult to check on the progress and status of interns if they do not understand who they must report progress or issues to and who will provide them the most direct feedback. The person doing evaluations should be the primary source for feedback with others assisting. This was true for the most part, but became a problem when it was not for credit. c. Possible solution: Clear duties must be outlined and the intern coordinator must be established so others can enhance the program, rather than arbitrarily managing interns without input from or communication with the coordinator.

2009-2010 INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

GOAL: Eighty percent of employees, parents and community members will agree CMS provides timely, accurate and responsive service on annual satisfaction surveys and polls.
1. Comprehensive service improvement program (SP VI 3).
We will develop a comprehensive approach to service improvement, including management modeling, incentive programs, organizational structures, service processes, employee recognition/reward systems, employee training, and internal/external communication plans that are all focused on better serving CMS publics.

a.

Improve Internal Communication areas (DirectLine, Intranet) Complete courses on Electronic communications a. Communicating in the Virtual Workplace b. News University Courses i. Anatomy of a Multimedia News Organization ii. Targeting New Audiences: Finding Your Niche iii. Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling iv. Online Project Development

b.

Key Communicator Program Use social media and web streaming to engage KCs and provide information. Conduct at least four trainings at KC meetings Increase Share Your News submissions

2. Strengthen employee communications (SP VI 7). We will ensure that

CMS employees are informed about CMS news and information on a timely basis by developing a comprehensive internal communications program. It will use a variety of tools and methods, including Connect-Ed, email, CMS Intranet, CMS-TV3, DirectLine electronic newsletter, meetings, special events and other communication channels. We will also strengthen the Superintendents Teacher and Principal Advisory groups, and add advisory groups for other internal constituencies such as support staff as needed. Quarterly brown-bag lunches with the superintendent and other executive staff members will provide an informal forum for employees to ask questions and offer feedback. a. Launch pilot social media effort for staff i. Complete courses in social media marketing/networking

1. Integrating Social Media in Marketing Campaigns

2. Public Relations and Social Media 3. Social Media Research, Metrics and Evaluations Knowing Your Audience and Analyzing Results 4. Developing a Social Media Strategy

5. Social Media Marketing in the 21st Century 6. Electronic Marketing 7. Build and Engage Local Audiences Online (News U) 8. Twitter for Journalists (News U)
ii. Develop plan for internal use of social media iii. Launch social media

b. Improve employee understanding of budget changes

i. Continue budget e-mails, newsletters as needed ii. Update Key Communicators on budget changes iii. Attend any meetings necessary to inform staff of budget changes c. Continue to put out at least 50 issues of DirectLine per fiscal year i. Standardize criteria for submission to better explain what will not be included/covered ii. Promote submission criteria for DL so staff understands how to submit news items iii. Communicate at least 375 district events/ news items to staff iv. Promote at least 200 internal/external professional development opportunities to staff 1. Work with professional development to promote monthly opportunities 2. Work with HR to promote higher-education opportunities 3. Work with external partners on opportunities 4. Promote at least 150 upcoming events to staff 5. Communicate at least 150 community news items to staff Work with community partners to get information on events Work with local agencies/government to get information on events Work with local higher education institutions to get information

v. Promote at least 150 employee discounts to staff vi. Work with HR to strengthen promotion of discounts

vii. Work with HR to increase numbers/types of discounts viii. Increase Benefits communication to 50 items ix. Increase educator resources promoted to staff to 25 x. Increase the number of educator/summer opportunities to staff to 25 xi. Increase all-staff communications promoting CMS TV programs to 65 1. Include attachments to video files xii. Increase employee feature stories on Intranet/DirectLine to 130 xiii. Increase the number of award-winning staff recognized on Intranet/DirectLine to 125 xiv. Increase the numbers of employees profiled in DirectLine and on the Intranet to 100

d. Improve internal toolkits. Create new toolkits as needed e. Begin to promote LEAP program and promote LEAP schools throughout
the year

i. Intranet/DL and Internet, CMS TV 3. Internal pride campaign (SP VI 8).

We will develop a district-wide program to acknowledge and reward accomplishments and to encourage teaming on initiatives. It will highlight CMS employees who go above and beyond in serving students, CMS and our community. It will also showcase outstanding teachers and principals. a. Through Intranet and Internal communications, increase external awards i. Increase the number of awards promoted to staff to 65

b. Working within Human Resources and following the SOP for Employee
Excellence Award promotion and recognition:

i. Increase nominations to 200/winners to 20 1. Departments: 40/6 2. Achievement Zone: 16/2 3. Central: 24/2 4. East: 24/2 5. North: 24/2 6. Northeast: 24/2 7. South: 24/2 8. West: 24/2
ii. Increase award given to $150/per winner iii. Increase amount of items given from at least one to three

iv. Standardize e-mail to nominated staff and procedure to send out c. Continue Employee Recognition Month campaign and activities