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You have probably had this experience. Eating at a restaurant you found dried pieces of food on the silverware or lipstick on the water glass. Doesn’t it make you wonder just how clean the restaurant is in the places you don’t see? Of course it does! That’s only natural. Well, parents have the same natural thoughts when they approach your school. They may think, “If these people can’t keep the entrance to the school clean, how can they possibly care for my child?”
Your school’s image and its reputation for quality begin at curbside. The curbside is a Critical Customer Contact Point. Your curbside image is the impression given when the visitor first pulls into your school’s parking lot. Potential customers are forming impressions long before they enter the front door. Some parents will never enter your front door if they get the impression from the outside that you are a poor housekeeper of your school. They make the “quantum leap” that you are also a poor housekeeper of children.
Look critically at your school’s curbside image and ask yourself the following questions:
Is the lawn, if you have one, mowed and well manicured?
Is the parking lot clean and free of debris?
Are the windows clean (void of dried-up tape)?
Are the grounds and sidewalks free of weeds, cigarette butts, and scattered trash?
Is the front door clean (void of children’s fingerprints, freshly painted)?
Are the items hanging in the windows current with the season/holiday?
Are the items posted current, taped on all four corners and free of tearing?
Are the gutters in good condition?
Are the drapes/blinds neat and organized-looking?
Are the flowerbeds free of weeds?
Tip: Assign someone to inspect and clean your school’s curbside weekly, or better yet, daily. That someone could be student’s doing Community Service. How about a Curbside Image club that could also be responsible for season/holiday decorations?
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Sandy Houston is a cofounder and past board member of the Arizona Charter Schools Association, as well as founder of the Arizona Montessori Charter Schools Consortium. She has owned and operated charter schools over a career spanning 40 years, and has opened nine private Montessori schools and four charter schools. She was trained in the Montessori method by Mario Montessori, the son of the famed Montessori founder, Dr. Maria Montessori. She serves as the international Montessori Council chair for charter schools. You can reach her at shouston@resolutions-esp.com
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