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SRQ DAILY Oct 14, 2017

"Had Irma not grazed Cuba, had it not wobbled and started to get disorganized as it crossed Marco Island, had it not veered east of Sarasota, we might still be without power."

- Donal O'Shea, New College of Florida
 

[Under The Hood]  Governments Need PIOs, Not Publicists
Jacob Ogles, jacob.ogles@srqme.com

Comments at the bottom of news stories become such breeding grounds for vitriol they’re often best ignored, but the realization a public relations firm was discreetly weighing in on community conversation on behalf of a local school district on a newspaper message section earned plenty of attention this week. ThreeSixOh PR, a company run by prominent public relations specialist Candice McElyea, abruptly parted ways with the Sarasota County School District after a local news outlet learned comments on its website had been posted under several names using the same IP address—one traced back to McElyea's firm. The revelation resulted in a subsequent cold war between the newspaper and the firm, and McElyea noted in a recent ThreeSixOh blog post plenty of suspect users write online comments all the time. “We wonder why we are specifically being targeted,” she wrote.

This affair generated a wider discussion on whether it’s appropriate for PR firms or their employees to post on news and review sites to prop up clients; it’s a practice many label unethical, but one everyone acknowledges happens.

But arguing about that specific practice ignores the heart of the issue—the difference between public relations and public information. None of this would be newsworthy had McElyea’s work been for a local business. The issue came from spending taxpayer dollars to prop up a government’s image. We should ask why the district needed a PR firm in the first place.

The district recently hired ThreeSixOh, promising $225,000 over two years to take over certain public communications tasks. That sounds like a lot, but it’s worth noting the district’s internal Communications and Community Relations department for this fiscal year budgeted 9.2 full-time positions at a much greater expense of almost $872,000, and the hiring of an outside firm served as an attempt to reduce the budget. There’s debate to be had on whether this service should remain in-house, but efforts toward fiscal streamlining while still providing a consistent stream of information should be applauded. Regardless, the job should entail transmitting information, not shaping opinion.

If a private business wants to spend hundreds of thousands improving its image, hey, it’s their money. But the district works with taxpayer dollars. School district officials work for and report to the public. Anyone handling communications for a government agency properly serves as a conduit between citizens and stewards of community resources, not as a publicist.

That’s what makes the nature of the recent actions troubling. Consider this from McElyea in the ThreeSixOh blog post addressing this scandal: “As most public relations firms do, we have a team of social influencers and bloggers who we work with on a regular basis to monitor online comments and post as they see fit to support our clients.”

In other words, if people talk smack about the district, the team at ThreeSixOh felt obligated to turn conversation another direction.

Look, if a pizzeria hires a PR firm to convince the public it serves the best deep dish in town, a PR flack may feel justified fluffing up the restaurant’s online profile with phony Yelp reviews. But a public school district should not pay somebody to do the same.

And governments deal with different types of public controversies. How would someone feel if a public information officer jumped on message boards to defend an officer accused of brutality? Or a public works official caught fixing bids? Or a teacher suspected of abusing a child? When such matters arise, we need one thing from public information officials: transparency. They shouldn’t try to shape perception, just provide as much information as is legally allowed and appropriate. And we need to trust they will do this.

Outside moments of crises, public information officials should engage the public on a variety of processes and keep citizens informed on the mundane but still important tasks done day-to-day. And especially for schools, there’s a public education element to the job. But there’s no need to argue with critiques nor to defend officials tasked with conducting the public good.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor to SRQ Media Group. 

[Education]  Colleges, Hurricanes and Trauma
Donal O'Shea, doshea@ncf.edu

Colleges, like people, have personalities. Some are welcoming, others reserved. Some are straight-laced, others informal. Some are prone to drama, others unflappable.

So it should come as no surprise that colleges can experience trauma. Last week, in fact, the presidents of other area colleges and I concluded that our institutions were suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The cause? Hurricane Irma.

At New College, the symptoms manifest themselves as a sense of dislocation. Due to the school closure, we just had our first regular faculty meeting this past Wednesday, and we had to postpone our opening annual trustee meeting. It seems as if classes have just started. Yet we are in the midst of midterm exams, and our mid-semester break begins Monday. Faculty members and students are working long hours to make up lost class time.

Irma touched everyone. Many students, and some staff and faculty, fled ahead of the storm. Some students arrived home on the east coast of Florida, only to be sent back by their parents. They joined others sheltering on campus, uncertain what the storm would bring. I saw this first hand, as I and much of the college’s leadership team spent the night on campus as Irma passed through. Events forced each community member to make potentially life-altering choices with uncertain outcomes.

For me, the nadir was a discussion on the Thursday morning following the storm. The power was out, and fuel for the generator of the chiller plant that New College shares with Florida State University’s Ringling museum was running low. The fuel suppliers with whom Ringling and New College had contracted were unreachable. To conserve fuel, should we cut off air and humidity control to one or more of the galleries in the Ringling housing irreplaceable 18th-century paintings? Or should we cut power to New College’s marine laboratory letting the sea and ocean animals it housed die? With two hours of fuel left, we were spared the awful choice. A truck full of diesel fuel from University of South Florida’s Tampa campus arrived to fill the generators. It was a reminder of how much we depend on one another.

As late as 2am on Saturday, Sept. 9, Irma was a Category 5 hurricane, with a forecasted track going up Florida’s west coast, the eye perhaps over the warm Gulf water just off the shore. Had Irma not grazed Cuba, had it not wobbled and started to get disorganized as it crossed Marco Island, had it not veered east of Sarasota, we might still be without power. Lest we doubt this, 11 days later, Puerto Rico got what was forecast for Florida, and almost 90 percent of the island is still without power. For a few hours, Maria completely obscured Puerto Rico. Irma, even bigger, was forecast to cover Florida from west to east as it made its way up the state. Sarasota-Bradenton and Tampa Bay would likely have been devastated.

Blind chance alone, not anything we did, saved us.

Time heals. So does action. For New College, institutional healing will require that we reach out and help those at other institutions, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, which are in the midst of suffering what we were spared. As a small gesture, but one that demonstrates our concern, we will do as Gov. Scott suggests and waive out-of-state fees to give students from Puerto Rico the opportunity to come to New College until their home institutions get on their feet. We will try to extend other aid. We cannot escape the possibility of a direct hit by a major hurricane, but we can help make all of us more resilient by helping one another.

Donal O’Shea is president of New College of Florida. 



[KUDOS ]  Pine View School Ranks High in U.S and Florida on Niche.com

Pine View School has been recognized as the top public elementary school in the U.S out of 49,776 schools and the sixth-ranked public middle school out of 23,000 schools in the nation in 2018 by niche.com. Pine View was also ranked third in the state among public high schools for STEM classes (science, technology, engineering and math) and sixth among public high schools in Florida for the quality of its teachers. Pine View serves 1,970 intellectually gifted students in grades two through 12.“This is an amazing achievement, and I am so proud of our hard-working teachers and students,” said Principal Stephen Covert. “Every day they are continuing Pine View’s tradition of excellence.” 

Pine View School

[SCOOP ]  "Dreams of Dali" VR Experience

The Dalí Museum has partnered with Inception, a leading provider of 360° and VR entertainment content, to make their award winning Dreams of Dalí virtual reality (VR) experience accessible on Inception’s app for audiences around the world. The mesmerizing Dreams of Dalí experience allows users to go inside and beyond Dalí’s 1935 painting Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s “Angelus” and explore the world of the Surrealist master like never before. Viewers can enter into the majestic towers, peer from them to distant lands and discover surprises around every corner. The interactive version of Dreams of Dalí is now available for both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive with the linear (360° video) version available for Gear VR, Daydream, Cardboard and more. The Dreams of Dalí interactive experience is available as an in-app purchase for $2.99 on the Inception platform.

 

  

The Dali Museum

[SCOOP]  FST Improv Kicks Off Fall Season

As the summer starts to cool off, Florida Studio Theatre Improv is just heating up. Kicking off the Fall Improv Season is the classic improvised show of theatrical games and foolery, Out of Bounds where two teams duke it out on stage for the most laughs. If giggles and ghouls are more your flavor, don’t miss the never-before-seen improvised horror movie, We’re Doomed. This fully improvised Halloween special of funny and fright runs in Bowne’s Lab on October 20 and 27 at 7:30pm. Out of Bounds will run through December 23. Tickets are $15 and a full menu and bar are available for all performances. Doors open one hour prior to the show. 

Florida Studio Theatre

[SCOOP]  Sarasota Ballet's The Principal Film Series

The Sarasota Ballet’s 2017 – 2018 The Principal Film Series, invites audiences to explore the world of dance through cinema and gain a special insight into the history of ballet. The four films featured during the Season are Nancy Buirski’s Afternoon of a Faun – Tanaquil Le Clerq; performance highlights of Kate Honea, Principal Dancer of The Sarasota Ballet; the National Gallery of Art presentation of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes narrated by Tilda Swinton and a feature on famed French Choreographer Roland Petit.“There is an incredibly rich tapestry of history and artistic endeavor that lives behind the scenes of every ballet, and by presenting this film series we give our audiences a fascinating and important look at the art form as a whole” explains Iain Webb, Director of The Sarasota Ballet. 

The Sarasota Ballet

[SCOOP ]  Willis A. Smith Opens Its Doors During Hurricane Irma

Willis A. Smith Construction has always been proud of their Lakewood Ranch headquarters, but never more so than when Hurricane Irma gave it a challenge. The building built to withstand a category 4 hurricane, housed 44 people, 12 dogs, two cats and a parrot named, Bamboo. Inflatable beds, pillows, blankets, board and video games, lots of food, plenty of water and the occasional adult beverage made this facility more than just an office. Anxiety and exhaustion gave way to relief, rest and laughter as the storm passed giving those who took shelter a unique and memorable experience that will last well after Irma. 

Willis A. Smith Construction

SRQ Media Group

SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email

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