Capitol News

The Haslett school board recently reviewed the state of its communications capabilities within the district. 

During a Dec. 12 board of education meeting, the Haslett school board received an update on their communications within the district. Robert Kolt is the CEO of Kolt Communications in Meridian township. He has a background in TV news, government finances, marketing and communications, and has worked as a faculty member at Michigan State University for several decades now. He is working with Haslett Public schools to improve their communications.

A big focus of news and communications is pushing out as much positive information as possible, both in internal communications and to the outside media, Robert explained. News has a very negative bias, so any good news that can receive attention is good. He also advised the board to stay out of social media as much as possible, because it would require yet another operator and program to manage.

Robert also talked about the importance of clear and understandable information, especially in building a brand for the district. He explained that even older people, people without children, and any residents are affected by the news and feel of the district, so as much as they can communicate clearly and positively, it will improve the entire community. The board asked him many questions and gave their thanks for his advice, and said they looked forward to working with him in the future.

"Well, what I really like is that internally you're really working on preparing a lot of information that you are communicating to parents. I think there is a desire to brand the district and bring it all," Kolt said at the meeting. "A lot of people are doing things. Administrators are doing things. Where I think that they hadn't been aware of is what other people were doing and you got to continue on a regular basis to make sure that administrators know what others are doing and share that information because there's new innovations that are coming out. I mean, it's interesting to know what one's one principal is doing here and what the other principal is doing in another place and what a teacher is doing here. So it's not just putting out information, but it's making sure that it's absorbed and understood and it allows innovation to happen. And, you know, sharing that information is important. You know, you won't please everybody, but it's important that the information is received and it allows you to determine if there is, you know, anything negative to you, it allows you to detect if there are any problems."