When a crisis flares up, many school districts turn to overpriced public relations consultants to spin the school system’s point of view to the public. Some school systems follow the Lexington Public Schools model by hiring an independent consultant that works for lots of different schools every time there is an embarrassing situation. In Lexington, they pay their public relations consultant an initial retainer charge of $5,000 for 20 hours of work. Then starting with the 21st hour of work, Lexington pays the consultant $300 per hour.
Lexington Public Schools in the past hired a public relations consultant at the above pay rate several years ago when some parents complained about the school system using and promoting a book on same sex families. Last fall she was hired to speak to the public about a calming time-out room that was written about in a newspaper. Now they are back at it again hiring the same consultant to defend the school system’s handling of a controversial athletic director who was placed on unpaid leave. Again the $177,000+ salaried Superintendent and the $150,000 Assistant Superintendents are “too busy” to include communicating with the public as a part of their job description. Tune in tomorrow for entirely different way these money-wasting public relations leeches are bleeding the school systems dry of your children’s tax dollars.