Community Involvement in our Schools

Hi Steve -

Nice video.  Below are key points on a) concrete justification for a better reputation, b) what Sinaloa should be doing, and c) what you can do in your future media efforts.

The community and homeowners need Sinaloa to have a better reputation because:

1. If enrollment is higher at Sinaloa, then Sinaloa gets more money. This equates to more money for resources.

2. As enrollment increases, Sinaloa battles back against the brain drain where the cream of the crop go to Oak Park.  SVUSD loses over $2 million per year to Oak Park in state funds because Simi kids are going to school there.  This needs to be reversed.

3. As the brain drain subsides and more college minded students stay at Sinaloa, a) test scores go up, b) enthusiasm for the school goes up, c) parent activism goes up, d) the sense of community is re-established, and e) the teenage relationships solidified through junior high are retained through high school. Once all that happens, our sense of community on the West side will be restored.

Mrs. Jenke at Sinaloa is good. She has done a lot since she became principal. Going to 7 periods is a great thing for example. Allowing 7th graders to take Algebra is another. Here are some things that Mrs. Jenke also needs to do:

1. She needs to be challenged to have a highly organized and professional presentation and outreach at the orientation when parents first visit Sinaloa. It needs to be the most impressive presentation anyone has ever done at a Simi Valley school. It needs to include video.

2. Sinaloa needs dozens of parents on campus every day for lunch. Teachers should be invited to join. Adults mixing with kids changes the dynamic. It is amazing. It doesn't matter if the parents all sit together, or if they try to actively mingle with kids. As long as they are visible.  That is a big thing that is different about Sinaloa and Oaks Christian. It is simple and it doesn't cost any money. Its hard to be a bully if there are 30 parents hanging around.

Then, as part of your own media efforts, you need to do this:

1. Build a video presenation of Sinaloa and Royal consisting of success stories of kids who have gone through Sinaloa and are now at great colleges.   Imagine a video that shows an enthusiastic college student on the campus at UCLA where she says "Hi! My name is Danielle Bodnar and I went to Sinaloa Middle School and Royal High School!"  Do that again with real Simi students from USC, Stanford, Wharton, Harvard, and other top 100 universities.  Use a green screen at Christmas time when the kids are back home, and then place the kids back on campus using video editing...(After Effects, etc.).  Include a clip from a Royal High graduation where they announce the 60 to 80 kids going to great schools and studying to be doctors, etc.

2. Royal High has a map of where kids went to college. It is impressive. Go get it. Put it on your website. Put your logo on it, and publicize it.

3. Write features on graduates who went to Sinaloa and Royal who are now doing something amazing.

4. Write a feature on the Sinaloa field trip to Washington DC and NY.... and/or other things that Sinaloa is doing.

Kid Rock didn't become a bad-ass by talking about how he was trying to improve his looks. He did it by telling us how great he is.  Sinaloa needs to do the same by presenting their success stories. Their success stories are the kids that went through the school, went to great universities, and are making it in high paying, professional, and technical jobs.

However, Mrs. Jenke does not have the tools and staff to pull something like this off. Its a modern media/Internet thing and it takes an eye for presentation. The district needs its own publicity person, however absent that, some local businesses like yours can provide the example. Once you do it at Sinaloa, it will have the effect of making all the other schools better as well.

As a relator, money you spend on packaging the right message can and should be used when parents first visit Sinaloa.  Visible corporate sponsorship of schools is a sign of a great school.

And finally, you need to vote for me, Kevin Underwood, and Cathy Carlson in 2012 when we run for school board and put parents back in charge of our schools.  Once that happens, community efforts to improve the schools will have full backing and encouragement from the school board. That combination will be a powerful force that can actually make change happen.