Chapter 1: Introduction to School Public Relations

The superintendent of a multibuilding school district reminds principals that the schools they lead have public relations (by virtue of their images) whether wanted or not. Principals influence the persona their schools portray to the public. Principals are well advised to be sensitive to the importance of positive public relations. Developing good public relations requires understanding of what public relations is, what its goals are, and of the foundational underpinnings from which it evolved.

School public relations, or school-community relations as it is often termed, is actually as old as America’s public schools themselves, yet it has only been a topic of popular study within the field of educational administration and leadership for about 50 years. The antecedents of modern public relations are rooted in communication practices extending from early civilization. Today the goals and practices of school-community relations have been fine-tuned to today’s very carefully planned efforts to interpret schools to their constituencies.