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Copyright 2003 - 2006
KU Department of Pediatrics.
All rights reserved.
This web site created by
John Goodwin, MD
Revised: October 30, 2003
Working Closely With Schools:
The third step is contacting the schools and school systems that you wish to involve with your program. The KU Children’s Center invited the public school systems closest to the Medical Center. Due to the large number of private schools in the area, we chose at first have them contact us if they were interested in participating. As the program matures, we should be able to accommodate more private schools in our program.
The nomination form is sent out to the schools. The schools can make as many copies as they need and either mail or fax them back to the department. One approach that we found successful was to discuss the program with all principals during a school district meeting, if the school district will allow you to do so.
Schools that witness a presentation will regularly send more nominations. The teachers and principal are eager to spend part of the day teaching the importance of community service. They are relieved to have an outside group encourage the same behavior that is taught daily in the classroom. The presentation is fun for the students, and rewarding for the teachers. Furthermore, the principal is thrilled to have the media on their property taking pictures of good things happening at their school.
Your program is limited by the interest and support of the teachers and principals in your community. It is difficult to keep the interest of these busy people because our program is not a requirement. It is not hard, however, to convince a principal to continue participating once he or she has seen a presentation. The children, teachers, and parents can't seem to get enough. As the word spreads through school district on how successful the program is, more teachers and principals will fax or mail nominations to your office. Currently, KU gets approximately three nominations each week. We have tried to make the form easy and fast to complete. Make certain that your fax number and address is listed prominently on the form, and distribute forms through the school district each quarter.
Our program had the luxury of speaking with all of the principals in one district at a district meeting. After an initial meeting with the superintendent, we were invited to speak at a district meeting. In 10 minutes I explained the program. Excitement among the principals quickly grew. They wished to see a presentation and wanted to complement their deserving students. It is no surprise that this district sends by far the most nominations to our office. The other participating districts have less information and clearly less enthusiasm for the program. This, however, is changing as the program is being seen on television and in the newspaper.
We sent information to five large public school district close to the medical center. Three of these responded, including the one that invited us to a district meeting. Mass mailing to each school in the district was accomplished by the head office in each district. Private schools that learn about the program through word of mouth or by seeing the program on television or in the newspaper are encouraged to call the KU Pediatrics Department for information. These schools were not presented with the information in the beginning simply because of the logistics and cost of mass mailing.
Principals are encouraged to send as many nominations as they wish. Nominations are chosen as described in the program section of this web site. Communication is essential to guarantee that the residents are adding to the school day during the presentation, rather than interrupting it.