Case Study

Managerial Rapport & Doc.

Final Report

Team Innovation:
Rinus Delarosa, Claudia Hernandez, Vivien Regalado, Ana Zuniga
TMGT 3303-V02
Instructor Infante
May 2, 2015

Letter of Transmittal
February 28, 2015
Fernando Gomez
Superintendent
Ignite Public Schools
Dear Mr. Gomez,
Our team has decided to select Ignite Public Schools for our casework project in which we will
examine and make recommendations on how Ignite Public Schools can improve communication.
Recent news has casted a negative shadow on Ignite Public Schools regarding the threat of the
school closing and we hope our recommendations will help and be considered to be used at the
schools.
We have attached our project recommendations and we hope that you read our proposal carefully
and with consideration. If you have any problems or suggestions with our proposal, we would
like to hear it. You can fax any feedback to (956)123-4567.
Our team has taken the time to research Ignite Public Schools and come up with the best
recommendations that we believe could improve the school.
If you have any questions or comments, you can contact us at (956) 987-5432.
Sincerely,

Claudia Hernandez, Team Leader

Table of Contents:
Executive Summary
I.

INTRODUCTION:
A. About the organization
B. Mission Statement
C. Vision Statement

II.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS:

A. Definition of the problems
B. Causes Analysis
C. Comparative Analysis

III.

PROPOSAL OF SOLUTIONS:
A. Website Improvements
B. Social Media
C. Increase Parent Involvement
D. Improve Parent-Teacher communication

IV.

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

APPENDICES:
A. Student/Teacher Ratio chart
REFERENCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
Figure 1-Communication Process Model
Table 1-Ignite Public Schools campuses ranked among public schools

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Ignite Public Schools offers an alternative experience to the Independent School District. Ignite
Public Schools & Community Service Centers has 6 campus locations in Edinburg, Mission,
Weslaco, Brownsville, Harlingen, Raymondville, and Rio Grande City. Just recently, Ignite
Public Schools were ordered to be shut down by the Texas Education Agency by June 2015.
Ignite has chosen to appeal this decision in hopes of remaining open. The closure of Ignite Public
School would affect around 1,200 students and 145 teachers.
After conducting research, we found that Ignite Public Schools lacked a strong communication
connection to the public, more specifically to parents. Parents need to have a strong
communication with their childs school system, and its up to the school to be able to provide
that for the parents. There were different problem areas with Ignite Public Schools, such as a
poor website, almost non-existent social media presence, low parental involvement, and poor
parent-teacher communication.
Team Innovation has come up with several recommendations that could improve the
communication problem areas that Ignite Public Schools are currently facing. Improving
communication to the public especially to parents is very important, and our recommendations
would help.

I.

INTRODUCTION:
A. About the organization:

Ignite Public Schools was formerly known as IRRA, Inc. It changed its name in 2012. Ignite
Public Schools first opened in 1994 and is currently serving the entire valley with locations in
Mission, Edinburg, Weslaco, Brownsville, Harlingen, Raymondville and Rio Grande City. Ignite
Public Schools has been offering an alternative educational experience to the Independent School
District. The multi-faceted curriculum is geared towards an exceptional Pre-K-3 rd and an
accelerated 9th -12th program.
Ignite Public Schools provides the fundamentals for students to succeed in life both academically
and intellectually. Ignite Public schools serves to improve student learning, increase choice of
learning opportunities in the public school system, and encourage different and innovative
learning methods. Ignite offers exceptional opportunities in a considerable range of programs.
All of their students are encouraged to reach their full potential through quality teaching
practices that are delivered by highly dedicated and certified teachers.
Ignite programs are a proven success to help at risk students get their diplomas by providing
students with several options. Ignite Public Schools strongly believe in multiple learning styles
and multiple schedules. Ignite offers morning, afternoon, and evening schedules, it makes
education a reality and eases the transition into post-secondary education.
B. Mission Statement:
"To empower individuals in becoming competent, confident, productive, and responsible citizens
who possess the knowledge, skills and attitude to succeed in higher education and the workforce
for the twenty first century."
C. Vision Statement:
At Ignite Public Schools, we exist for one reason: to assist in assuring the success for every one
of our students.

II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS:

A. Definition of the problems
Ignite Public Schools website needs improvements, as the website has sections that are
inaccessible and with no information. Ignite is not truly present in social media which would
expand the schools presence in the community. There is not a great amount of parental
involvement at Ignite Public Schools. Parent-teacher communication needs improvement, as
there is a lack of daily interaction between parents and teachers.
B. Causes Analysis
Constant communication needs to be present in a school system, as children attend school to
learn and spend most of their day in school. Parents need to be kept informed of any news or
updates regarding their childrens education. The website not being fully completed can be
blamed on the website designer. If the school hired someone outside the school, it is harder for
the school itself to do constant updates. If the school has no one in charge of social media, that
could result in the absence in social media. Ignite Public Schools have small campuses which
leads to limited space when it comes to activities and hosting activities involving parents. If
Ignite doesnt provide training to teachers in regards to how they should communicate with
parents that could be the cause for the lack of parent-teacher communication. Communication is
key in this situation, and as shown in the communication process model, Figure 1, if any step is
not understood completely or left out it will result in the message not being received completely.
Figure 1-Communication process model

C. Comparative Analysis
Ignite Public Schools is a charter school, but compared to the other public schools it is ranked
very low in performance. Table 1 shows the rank of each campus compared to the other 1698
schools in Texas. Even though, this rank is based on performance, low parent involvement and
poor parent-teacher communication can be factors for a students low performance. When
students are not at school, they are at home. Parents need to be more involved in their childs
education, and continue learning at home to better improve performance.
Table 1-Rank of campuses among 1698 other Texas public schools

Campus:

Rank Among Public Schools:

Brownsville
Edinburg
Harlingen
Raymondville
Rio Grande City
Weslaco

1633rd
1681st
1626th
1619th
1677th
1605th

III. PROPOSAL OF SOLUTIONS:

A. Website Improvements
There are numerous ways that the school website can be improved. Adding a blogging feature
allows schools to share relevant and up to date information with parents, students, faculty, and
potential families, investigating the school. This up to date information helps people feel
connected and part of the schools culture. Also keeping the website clean and clutter free would
improve the school website. Some school websites try to put too much information on their
website, making it difficult for visitors to understand or find what they are looking for. A bad
website makes the school looks unprofessional. All information should be accessible from the
home page but not necessarily displayed there, and links available should have pertaining
information if not they shouldnt be accessible. Ignites website does offer visuals, such as
student pictures, but they are outdated, so keeping the photos up to date to current events looks
good on the website. Incorporating social media in the website would make it easier to find the
schools professional social media sites. Ignite needs to have full control of their website as it
makes it easier to keep content up to date.
B. Social Media
Social media has become very popular recently and its important for an organization such as a
school to get involved in social media. Students use Facebook and other forms of social media,
with how often students are engaging in these social realms anything the school posts will be
instantaneously shared. Students can then interact with content and communicate with the
school. Ignites Public Schools Facebook page only has 43 likes and the last post was dated in
August 2014. Ignite needs to have someone that will be in charge of social media sites and keep
newsfeed on social media current and up to date. About 66% of parents use social media. If the
school would use social media, it would allow these parents easy access to information. It would
easier for some parents to see a social media post than sometimes seeing a note from the school,
especially if the child loses the note. They should avoid product-focused content, and instead
make social updates that consist of educational content that has the potential to attract more fans
and followers. Building relationships with other schools would also help be more involved in the
community, and it would be easier to plan activities. Once social media sites are operational and
running it is important to interact with followers. People will ask questions, and its important
that their questions get answered.
C. INCREASE PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Ignite Public Schools website does not have any parental involvement information or activities
posted on their website. If a parent would want more information they would have to ask at the
school personally. School needs to offer more information to parents that are interested in their
childs educational path. This information can be made available thru their website or
newsletters. The schools should provide parents with more useful information in regards to being
involved more. Parents need to want to be more involved, they have to right to ask questions
about their childs education. Parents have to right to ask about teacher qualifications. The school
can have PTO meetings, monthly Principals Coffees, open houses, and classroom activates that
parents can participate. There are several ways to encourage parent participation in the school.

Inviting parents to the school thru several activities will make them more involved in their
childs education.
D. Improving Parent/Teacher Communication
Communication is one of the top strategies for fostering the relationships that grow between a
parent and the educators that work with their child. The educational system is faced with many
challenges and obstacles, and when parents and teachers communicate effectively these may be
successfully overcome. Children who know that their parent and their teacher communicate often
have been found to perform better academically. There are parents that will be involved from the
first day of school, but challenges arise with parents that hardly ever step into the school, let
alone have a conversation with their childs teacher. Other times, parents will drop off the child
but wont converse with the teacher. Teachers should have a parent bulletin board that is
maintained and updated frequently. There are numerous items that can be posted in the bulletin
board to make it accessible for parents to see. Daily notes on a child, is also a great
communication tool. Teachers should provide daily feedback to parents, and if this feedback
cant be done in person, it can be done thru notes. Something as small as a post-it note, can let
parents know whats going on, or what their child needs to work on that day. The school should
also post signs of events or any important information in the entrance of the school building.
Verbal reminders can also improve communication. Teachers can make the effort to talk to
parents during drop-off or pick times. Teachers can also call the parents. Teachers at the
beginning of the year will collect phone numbers from parents and best times to be reached at.
With increased technology usage, teachers can also utilize e-mail to send messages to parents,
and teachers should also provide their e-mail in case of any questions/concerns from parents as
well.

IV. Conclusions/Recommendations
Recommendation 1: Complete and updated school website
As we researched the website, we saw that a lot of links were empty and didnt have any
information. It is important that the school website be complete, as a parent could be looking for
that specific information and the parent should be able to access it on the website. The website
should be updated frequently. Upcoming events and important dates should always be viewed in
the website. Pictures of students/events should also be up to date. It would give access to families
that cant attend school events to be able to view photos of their child.
Recommendation 2: Expand to social media
Social media is very present today, and the school should indulge in the presence of social media
to reach the community. Social media gives the opportunity to families that may be interested in
the school, to get a glimpse of what Ignite is. People who use social media like the easy access
and how easy information can be readily available. The school can start with Facebook and then
expand to other social media sites. It is important that social media sites are updated as well, and
stay active.
Recommendation 3: Push for parent involvement
Studies have shown that when a parent is actively present and involved in a childs life, it leads
to higher success rates. As important it is for involvement to come from the parents, it is also
important that the school gives parents the chance to get involved as well. Hosting events and
activities can attract parents to get involved in their childs school life. Open houses and report
card nights allow teachers to communicate with parents one-on-one. Ignite should incorporate
these events into their school.
Recommendation 4: Increase parent/teacher communication
Parents and teachers need to be in agreement and have that open communication. Parents need to
be aware of any events going on in the school and their child. Teachers can incorporate several
different communication methods for parents. Teachers can incorporate a bulletin board outside
the classroom. Teachers can send daily notes/comments on the student. Teachers in the beginning
of the school year have to establish a strong relationship with parents to be able to effectively
communicate with them.

Appendices A:
Student/Teacher Ratio

Student/Teacher Ratio:
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

28.4
20.4

18.9

24.3

22.3

22.8

References:
"Ignite Public Schools and Community Service Centers." Ignite Public Schools and Community
Service Centers. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
"Ignite Public Schools and Community Service Center District - Edinburg, Texas
SchoolDigger.com." SchoolDigger. Claarware LLC, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
"More Parents Using Social Media to Keep Tabs on Kids, Survey Shows." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Shalini. "Event and Exhibition Marketing Comparison." Web log post. : Communication
Objectives. N.p., 05 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

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