Campbell County board member reaches

out to inquiring minds

By Brad Hughes

KSBA Member Support Services Director

When it comes to spreading the word, Campbell County Schools take a back seat to no one.

Superintendent Anthony Strong e-mails his Monday Morning Message to all employees with school news and motivational encouragement for their work to help students learn.

A monthly e-mail from district Communications Coordinator Melissa Pryor tells parents and staff about news that may not have received media coverage.

A recently redesigned district Web site provides a wealth of explanations, contact numbers and other information for everyone from those born in the community to newcomers.

The district produces a quarterly publication – Discovery – that highlights student and staff accomplishments and the all-important calendar of upcoming events.

This comes from a school district regularly covered by three newspapers and a variety of northern Kentucky and Cincinnati-based radio and television news outlets.

With all of this communicating going on, what in the world is motivating Campbell County school board member Mike Combs to jump into the mix with something he calls The Hump?

Three years ago, Combs brought his marketing and sales background to the Campbell County board. "I’ve worked on awareness and building a strong message, growing e-mail lists, e-conferencing," said Combs, "so The Hump just became a natural extension of everything that I’m doing."

The Hump is an electronic newsletter Combs sends about twice a month to a growing distribution list of 400. His base group started with members of a local youth baseball program that he has been involved with for 25 years, 15 as director. The name, The Hump, comes from Campbell County High School’s athletic teams, the Fighting Camels.

"I usually try to follow up from board meetings with a topical issue I think people would be interested in, based on what people are asking me about," he said. "For instance, we just announced acquisition of land for a new elementary school and everyone is asking a lot of questions about the project, so I’m working on a question-and-answer article about it."

Combs says he walks "the fine line between being informative and being an advocate" in his writing. "I don’t try to make it fluff," he said. "Sometimes I do try to make a point and when I do, I title it as an editorial article, so they’ll know that’s me speaking on a particular point." He also includes links to news media stories about his district and to publications such as the Kentucky School Advocate.

He estimates it takes up to four hours to prepare each newsletter. "I’m working on an article now about national certified teachers," Combs said. "I’ve been told that we have the highest percentage of national certified teachers of any district in northern Kentucky, so I’m calling around to the other districts to get that information. That takes time."

"Extremely positive" is how Combs sums up the response he’s received, both inside and outside Campbell County Schools.

"A principal recently approached me to encourage me to get information about his school’s ‘Strive for 85’ test score initiative," said the father of one, a high school sophomore.

He wrote an editorial piece about the proposal before the General Assembly to expand gambling as a means to produce revenues to fund education. "I asked for feedback, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’ I made the statement that public education exists by constitutional directive, and asked if that is skirted if we look at gambling to provide the funding. And I got responses from here to there (spreading his hands as far apart as he could)."

Before encouraging fellow board members in other districts to undertake a similar effort, Combs suggested making one important decision. "Decide what you’re trying to accomplish. Is it to be a promo piece? Is it going to be ‘kids first’ all of the time? Is it designed to be informative?" he said. "Once you develop that strategy, the rest sort of falls into place."

Before turning back to his keyboard and resuming work on the next edition of The Hump, Combs noted the personal benefits of the effort.

"What started out to me as something that I wanted to do to help communicate a message has turned into something that I’m drawn to," he said. "It’s a nice stress relief."

Several Kentucky superintendents already take similar steps to keep key communicators in the know about their districts. But in Combs’ case, a school board member, an Internet-connected computer and a desire to keep people informed is a marvelous combination, and a great example of what one can do to spread the word.

Teacher Appreciation Week isn’t until May, but a friend shared the following with me and it’s just too good to hold back. The online version of this unknown author’s mini-play is at http://www.public.asu.edu/~aestarr/documents/whatteachersmake.pdf.

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers, "Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach."
 To stress his point he said to another guest; "You’re a teacher, Susan.  Be honest. What do you make?"
 Susan, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make? 

"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ student feel like the winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence.

"You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math and perfect their final drafts in English.
  "I make them understand that if you have the brains, and follow  your heart, and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you must pay no attention because they just didn’t learn."

Susan paused and then continued, "You want to know what I make? I make a difference. What do you make?" 

And that most certainly is a message worth getting out.

Photo: Campbell County school board member Mike Combs works on the next edition of his electronic newsletter, The Hump, which contains news about the district.