Board to hear plan for schools

• By CHARLES LUSSIER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 25, 2009 - Page: 1B

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The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Monday plans to discuss how best to market its offerings to a community that has in many cases turned its back on public schools.

The board will hear the latest evidence of this disconnect, the results of a phone poll conducted over the summer, the third annual poll of parish residents the school system has conducted.

At the direction of Superintendent John Dilworth, the school system would not release the detailed results of the phone poll in advance of the special meeting Monday, set to start at 5 p.m., so that board members will hear the presentation first.

But school system Communications Director Chris Trahan discussed the results in general terms.

“The disappointment is that we went down in every category,” Trahan said.

Trahan said bad publicity appeared to weigh down this year’s ratings: specifically, the takeover of eight low-performing East Baton Rouge Parish public schools in the past year and public outcry over an attempt to route the test scores of magnet school students to neighborhood schools to boost their overall school scores.

Trahan said he thinks the dip is a one-year blip that can be repaired.

“The good news is it’s fixable,” Trahan said. “That is something that can be and will be fixed with the upcoming marketing campaign.”

That marketing campaign is to be led by New Orleans-based Zehnder Communications. Zehnder recently beat out nine other advertising firms to come up with a district-wide marketing plan.

Zehnder is presenting its plans to the board Monday night as well.

A five-member committee, which included Trahan and other public relations professionals, examined the 10 proposals. Trahan said Zehnder’s work stood out from the pack.

“One of the things they are really good at and that they are known for is cause-related marketing,” Trahan said.

Trahan noted that even as public perceptions of it have dipped, the school system enjoyed one of its best years with regards to test score increases, and has not had a major school safety incident in a while.