Explore

Strategies & Tactics

We should focus our time and resources on the following areas:

Securing Representation on the Board

(Owner: _______________)

This means winning elections and having candidates you support win seats. This is the world of identifying candidates, crafting campaign messages and a platform, building brand/name awareness, and engaging voters.

Identify and recruit school board candidates.

Mobilize a campaign.

Secure necessary signatures to get on the ballot.

Engage voters.

Hold and participate in candidate forums.

Get out the vote!

Conducting a Defensive Campaign

(Owner: _______________)

Unfortunately, given the last election, we need to “stop the bleeding”. There are bad policies being developed, proposed and approved by our school board. These need to be prevented, stopped, slowed and/or countered.

Ensure we have activists covering committee and board meetings (esp. public comment and emails to the board).

Research and anticipate future (bad) agenda items (e.g., look at what other boards are doing).

Find ways to slow down the adoption of (bad) policy or nullify/blunt its negative impact.

Get the word out about policy that is to be voted on (to the community, fellow activists, media, etc).

Pursuing Proactive and Positive Measures

(Owner: _______________)

There is always an opportunity to lobby for better policy or to engage in problem solving to achieve better outcomes for the students, school and community. This focus area is about asking the question: “How do we get on the front foot.”

Propose improved, and more comprehensive, anti-discrimination (or non-discrimination) policies.

Propose community, or stakeholder, engagement forums focused on key issue areas, such as bullying.

Propose a resolution (e.g., of non-discrimination, of non-partisanship, etc.).

Gathering Intel and Conduct Research

(Owner: _______________)

This is the world of citizen investigative journalism, social anthropology, intelligence gathering and knowledge sharing across communities and networks. If we can detect signals earlier than others, and interpret the meaning and predict the consequences better than others, we have an advantage.

Social media monitoring.

Topical research (School board politics, common focus areas such as “CRT”, “SEL”, etc.).

Network analysis (who is connected to who).

Opposition research.

“Follow the money” analysis.

Branding and Communications

(Owner: _______________)

We have a disparate set of stakeholders to engage: Students, Teachers, Administration/Staff, Board Members, etc. We also have various segments in the community to connect with: Prospective voting age individuals (about to or just turned 18), New voters, Singles, Couples (without children), Couples (with children), Families (with children in high school), Empty nesters, Grandparents, and people with very little connection to schools. The opposition managed to engage voters who are distant from the schools and turned that to their advantage. We have a task ahead of ourselves.

Community engagement

Collaboration infrastructure

Social media (incl. paid promotions)

Surveys

Events

Messaging

Securing Legal Advice and Support

(Owner: _______________)

Pursuing legal action, or even just understanding our own legal position, is critical. Whether it’s conducting an open records request, understanding the legal implications of a policy or taking legal action against an entity, having legal counsel is a key capability.

Open Records Requests

Board policies and procedures

Understanding governance

Policy review

Letters and lawsuits

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