Ideally, school leaders will welcome the participation of a community coalition and offer their cooperation and support. Yet a measure of independence from the school system is essential to the coalition's credibility. To gain and sustain their support, the coalition must make its mission clear from the beginning, and school system leaders need to understand how the coalition will seek to achieve its objectives. The structure of the coalition's leadership can also help. One of the leaders of the Jackson coalition, Ann Jones, is an influential local businesswoman who is also a former school board member.
Service creates credibility.
Try to include among the coalition's early goals something tangible that the schools identify as a needed improvement or contribution, but that also brings members of the community into direct contact with the schools. When a coalition in Wichita recruited volunteers to work regularly in the middle schools, for example, skeptical educators saw that they were willing to do the really difficult work of helping children learn. The good will thus generated can serve as the basis for genuine, respectful cooperation between the school system and the coalition, even when the coalition asks tough questions or proposes ambitious reforms. Students come first. Higher student achievement is a goal that creates an expanse of common ground, where members of a coalition can usually work productively together.