Communication Plan 2000-2001



Goal #4

To communicate the value of EE to Wisconsin school board members and school administrative staffs and to increase their support for EE.

Objective 4A – Parent organizations will increase financial support and volunteer time on behalf of EE programs in their schools.

Objective 4B – The number of parents expressing support for EE programming to schoolteachers, administrators, and school board members will increase.

Strategies for Targeting Parents and Members of Parent Organizations

A) Organizational Steps

  • Identify the parent organizations for schools or school districts and the contact people for these organizations
  • Identify the manner that the parent organization can further EE. Some examples include: using profits raised from parent organization fundraisers to purchase EE materials or to fund residential or day visits to local environmental education/nature centers or providing parent volunteers as chaperones on EE field trips or assisting teachers in the classroom with EE activities.
  • Develop components of the organizing packet including:
    • Laws governing EE curriculum implementation
    • The current level of EE curriculum implementation
    • Statistics on parental support for EE
    • An example letter to request support from parent organizations for EE. The promotional material "EE Works for Wisconsin" should be included

B) Implementation Steps

  • Alert environmental educators, specifically those individuals receiving the organizing packet, as to the benefits of parental support.
  • Encourage environmental educators, EE centers/organizations, teachers and parents to write letters and/or give presentations to parent organizations describing ways parent organizations can be involved in supporting EE programs at their school.
  • Encourage formal and nonformal environmental educators to request support from parent organizations for specific upcoming programs, activities, and events.
  • Encourage organizations to write new releases supporting and describing the benefits of EE with the target audience of these releases being parents and parent organizations.