It wanted to build a new high school, complete with all the athletic facilities that come with high schools these days, plus a swimming pool, and some other sundry projects. Price tag for the whole proposal? $73 million.

The district felt that the mood was generally positive during the early stages of the campaign, but called in Patron Insight to do a spot check, of sorts. Our research discovered that the patrons were very excited to hear more about the new high school, but cooled quickly, when the talk turned to the athletic facilities and, particularly, the swimming pool. They also were attracted to the news that the clock might be ticking on what had been standard operating procedure in Kansas – state financial support of bond issues that helps districts get more for less – meaning it might be a now or never situation for getting so much for so little out of pocket.

The district used this information to more actively tout the high school and the bond issue funding information, while moving the athletic facilities a bit more to the background. Make no mistake: Information about the pool, the sports fields and such was still readily available. It just wasn’t highlighted at quite the same level, as it had been before the research was conducted.

The result was a 53% “yes” vote (in a simply majority state), affirming just how important it is to talk extensively with patrons about the topics that interest them most – no matter what a school district thinks those same patrons should be interested in.

Of particular interest is a brief story called, “What your social media consultant should tell you,” written by the former social media editor for the New York Daily News. My paraphrased favorites from among her seven tips were:

Have a goal. Under the category of “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” don’t just have a Facebook page or Twitter feed or anything else, because other districts are doing it. Make a plan for what you want to accomplish through this investment of time and resources.

Worry more about engagement than follower counts. Follower counts are a bit like website hits. It’s nice to see a big number, but the key is how long did they spend on your site, what pages did they visit, and what links did they click (if you have any)? Who is following, are they forwarding or retweeting the information, and where else is what you are putting out showing up? That’s what you should be tracking.

Taken individually, none of these facility enhancements would be considered significant. But, collectively they tell the story of a district that is working hard to improve the quality of life within its buildings.

Telling stories only about the individual improvements creates a temporary blip on the patrons’ radar – and some of these changes are so small that some patrons might think, “Big deal.” That’s why it’s important to tell both the individual and collective story, over and over again, every time there’s an improvement of note to mention.

The goal is not to have every patron internalize your entire plan (although some will). Rather, the goal should be for them to have heard the individual components and the plan often enough that they find themselves thinking, “That district is really doing some great things.”

For us at Patron Insight, the presidential election season means that our school district clients have to really step up their games in terms of building awareness of the research we will be conducting on their behalf.

While we haven’t seen a meaningful decline in the percentage of those we reach who are willing to participate during this season, people can be somewhat more wary of taking part. That’s particularly true when some “survey calls” people start getting are actually a ruse from a candidate who uses his or her questions to make a point, and has no interest in the actual data. That’s not good for anyone trying to do legitimate research at this busy time.

What this means is that if you are planning to do any research from now until November, you’ll need to redouble your efforts to get the word out about the timing, purpose, who will be calling (or what e-mails people will be receiving) and how you will use the information. Doing so will help you avoid getting swept away in the fatigue your patrons will be feeling this coming election season.

The superintendent delivers this message to others in the Central Office. Principals say it to teachers. Teachers implore parents and students to come to them with problems or concerns. It’s like death and taxes; it’s expected.

As you consider how you might “refresh” that message this year to make it more meaningful, try also refreshing your approach. In other words, make a promise to yourself that you will double the amount of time you spend out of the office, away from your desk or wherever you reside.

Stop a co-worker in the hall and spend 30 seconds really finding out how he or she is doing. Send a three-sentence e-mail to a parent whose child accomplished something big (for him or her). Drop by a practice and tell a coach how much you appreciate what he or she brings to the students he or she is leading.

In other words, find more ways, times and opportunities to make others feel important this year. No matter where you are in the district, you’ll contribute to building the environment that everyone can appreciate.

Instead, start now by preparing your building staffs to be the best ambassadors they can be – even before the first bell rings in the fall.

Think about all the encounters you have with patrons (primarily parents) during the summer – enrollment, questions about transportation, issues with class changes, etc. – and make a plan for how each one will be even better than last year. You might not be able to give everyone what he or she wants, but you can definitely leave him or her feeling well-served.

Focus on your primary points of entry at each building – phone, e-mail and front door. What can you do to make those encounters better?

If you think that there’s no way you can make parents get all jazzed about the prospect of, for example, coming up to school and dropping off paperwork, think again. Wouldn’t you rather they go tell their friends at the pool how nice people at the school were, then what a hassle it was?

Certainly, you wouldn’t plan an announcement about a big change to drop on July 4 (unless it was bad news that you hoped would get buried). You’d wait until school was in session, and you had the community’s attention. And, you’d probably obsess over the day of the week and maybe even the time of day.

Planning the timing for critical patron research should get just as much mental attention.

Unless there’s an absolute need to collect data during the summer, don’t. It’s just harder to find people willing to participate, and the quality of the data is a bit more suspect. They’re thinking pool, vacation, cookouts – not school.

If it’s a ballot issue you are planning, the rule of thumb should be to collect the data as close to when the district needs to file election paperwork as you possibly can, while still leaving enough time for the BOE to evaluate what’s been discovered and make its plans. The fresher the data, the better.

If you’re doing online research, stay away from the summer and holidays, and make certain you allow two weeks for people to respond. About 80 percent of your total responses will arrive in the first three days, but you need to keep it open for two weeks anyway.

And, of course, the week of Thanksgiving through the first full week of January is also no man’s land for data collection. Avoid it – like the summer – unless you have no other choice.

Specifically, every parent at your Back to School Night events should be provided with a survey that asks three questions.

First, what’s the one topic you’d like to know more about from your school district this year?

Second, what’s the best way to get that information to you?

Third, what’s the one topic you really would like us to not talk about so much (because you’re not all that interested)?

At the bottom of the survey, promise that you will get a summary of the findings back to all parents, and make it clear to your building folks to tell parents that “If you’ve already filled this out in one school, there’s no need to fill out a second one.”

Then, create a simple process where you can tally key words from the surveys, like “test scores,” “finances” and “School Board decisions.” Don’t worry about trying to sort through the long-winded ones; just look for key words.

If you make it a practice to do this every year at Back To School Night (and you follow through, of course, on the findings), you will really be able to stay current with parent interests and transmittal preferences.

Sort of like confidential informants (or “CIs”), who make appearances on all the popular crime shows on television, the job of a stringer was to keep his or her ear to the ground and report in any tips he or she heard. Their rate of pay was not usually much. Their big thrill was seeing a tip of theirs become a story.

School districts struggling to tell their complete brand story ought to apply this principle by engaging at least two people at each building. One could be in the office, but it shouldn’t be a principal, assistant principal or counselor. Make it the school secretary, the nurse or someone like that. And, the other one (if you only have two per building) should be a teacher, a food service staff member or someone who is “in the trenches.”

These are the people who hear what’s really going on, and can share great stories that deserve to get more attention. This doesn’t keep the building leadership from sharing a story, of course. It just provides a structured opportunity for others to join in the process.

At the end of the year, plan to reward these folks with a luncheon or something. Make it a thank you for their efforts, and avoid awards for the person with the highest number of stories utilized during the year, and so on.

It’ll likely be a little rickety at the beginning, as your stringers get used to what is a good story and what is just idle chatter. But, over time, you’ll build a solid pipeline you can count on to keep you in the loop and keep you building your brand by telling a more complete story about all the great work that’s being done at the building level.

We hear it from districts, where the academics are clearly more of the story than what takes place on the field of competition, and also from districts that have cases full of trophies. Patrons want to know that their schools are succeeding with students who have varied interests and abilities.

One way to check your district on this issue is to ask each school to do an audit of what they promoted during the 2011-2012 school year. This “promotion” can be via voicemail, e-mail, and even the morning announcements. How many times (roughly) was the message about a sports team accomplishment versus anything else (not counting fundraising pitches)? If it looks out of balance to you, it probably is.

A great way to bring things back in line is to find opportunities to promote typically lower profile clubs and activities. News about projects undertaken, programs being started and groups being organized are just as valuable to building your “well-rounded” brand story, as are championships being won.