Evidence indicates that the results of folklorists' studies have had a positive effect on the relationship among ethnic groups as well as on college-community relationships in Hays, Kansas. Research based on 64 interviews of members of the community and the college shows that members of the German-Russian ethnic group have a notably increased…

Findings of a study that examined the effect of school board administrative change strategies on the degree of community opposition to school closing decisions are presented in this paper. The study is based on Kotter and Schlesinger's (1974) conceptual model that identifies six effective change strategies: education and communication,…

Pericles' Funeral Oration, delivered at a mass funeral for a number of Athenian soldiers who had died during an attack against their rival Sparta's allies, is an example of a form of rhetoric, epideictic, that functioned as a means of developing a sense of community. In order to make the mourners at the funeral believe the soldiers had died good,…

Attaining good public relations may be the most important and most difficult job facing a school board. To meet this problem, a communications expert should be hired at the assistant superintendent level to develop and implement a communications plan. This expert should hold strong credentials and be recruited and hired directly by the…

Small communities require the services of professionals such as doctors and teachers, but most professionals are trained in metropolitan areas. Urban-trained professionals are seldom prepared for the social and cultural differences that confront them when they move to rural communities. Such newcomers frequently experience culture shock--the…

This dissertation, which won the Dissertation of the Year Award, examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down…

The phenomenon of negative geography--the assertion that any location is better than the one selected--is discussed and ways in which this approach differs from traditional geography methodology are analyzed. Case studies of two citizens' groups which protested the relocation of a city mission and halfway house in their neighborhoods illustrate…

The report evaluates a project to stimulate dialog between staff and inmates of a Federal penitentiary and members of a nearby community. The purpose was to bring prison and community people together to begin discussion of crime, punishment, rehabilitation, and recidivism in an atmosphere of informed, reflective thought. Nearly 500 people…

This paper explores the relationship between community stability and school conflict in a small rural Texas school district. Data included school district records; newspaper archives; and interviews with school district officials, community members, and officials of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Texas County (a pseudonym)…

This paper addresses the issue of community relations through a presentation given by the four members of the school board and administration of a medium-sized school district in Salem, Oregon. Community relations is defined as two-way communications between a school district and the public. Public feedback is necessary for improvement of…