View Resource: Reed Community Engagement Process Summary May 2014
This Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD) presentation summarizes the process of working with a New Orleans school community to determine the restart intervention strategy. The primary focus of the community engagement process is to determine: 1) the type of school the community wants, and 2) the best operator for the school. To this end, RSD established a working group comprised of various community members, established responsibilities and goals, and established a process to build community knowledge base.
Outcomes and Lessons Learned: This document reflects how thoughtful and intensive capacity building and facilitation can engage a diverse set of stakeholders around a vision for schools that is about the experience of students and their families and neighbors, rather than narrow questions of governance. This process created a level of coherence amongst the community participants that made it relatively easy to access prospective operators for the school and reach consensus on the plan for its future. Through this process, RSD learned strong engagement takes time but can readily surface a consensus in favor of high-quality schools.
Related Resource: Reed Planning Two Page Explanation June 2014