On Tuesday evening, March 2, the School District of Lancaster board held the first meeting of its new public engagement committee. Very few actual members of the public attended this start-up gathering, which focused mostly upon the future workings of the new entity.

The first meeting, along with several more to follow, was geared toward developing and defining a strategic vision for the committee, which eventually will seek to stir new dialog and partnerships with the surrounding community.

As the committee discussed its priorities and future objectives, the conversation informally centered upon two core goals: Finding new ways to communicate and share ideas with members of the public; and finding new ways to solicit partnerships with community organizations based among the public.

“Bill Gates used to say ‘bad news travels fast, ’” committee chair Charlie Crystle said, suggesting that good news rarely fares so well. For this reason, the group will investigate new efforts to brighten the district’s public image by highlighting positive developments within its schools and programs.

To advance the district’s communication with parents and area residents, the committee will develop a social media strategy to take advantage of popular networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Matt Stem, acting director of student services, noted that, during his tenure as principal of Fulton Elementary, he had interacted first-hand with an generous collection of community partners. Most of these, Stem said, were informal relationships with nearby businesses and churches.

“But nobody outside of our domain would know that those relationships existed,” Stem said, “We were literally on a first name basis and in a very symbiotic relationship, taking care of one another. And [these were] folks that would probably be willing to leverage their resources at a more macro level, given opportunities.”