Many issues that educational leaders face are complicated. Whether it is curriculum changes, district performance reports, school finance, professional development, or educational technology, superintendents, principals and other school district leaders deal with very complex subjects.

The challenge we have in discussing these items to our stakeholders is the language we use. Especially when we use acronyms, these topics can seem intimidating. Worse, we can sometimes look like we are hiding behind complexity.

Remember that if we do our jobs as communicators well we will improve the level of dialogue in our communities. To do this, we need to be overly transparent.

Use your district’s website to explain complex issues, with FAQs that share information about difficult-to-understand items, and always seek to over-communicate. Pay special attention to those items that tend to draw the most interest from parents and other community members and to emotional issues.

Remember that no school leader has ever been accused of being too transparent or trying to communicate too much.