Today's school administrators may find valuable lessons in the famous Abbott and Costello "Who's on First" slapstick shtick as they consider the significant legal, personnel, and public relations issues that may arise should they take serious action, such as the termination of a tenured employee. The key is to know where the players are…

Public relations issues arising from the University of Utah's controversial announcement of research claiming achievement of nuclear fusion at room temperature are discussed. They include problems occurring before and after the initial press conference, secrecy vs. openness, research ethics, and effects lasting past the original incident and…

Participants in Educorps, a network of retired superintendents, travel throughout New York State to dispense hard-won advice to fellow school executives. During Educorps's first 20 months, 200 consultants have helped 60 school systems tackle financial planning, curriculum development, and public-relations issues. Services are free, minus…

This article discusses the importance for technology transfer offices of sound media and government relations strategies. It reports the results of a nationwide electronic survey in the USA and interviews with technology transfer managers on how they handle public relations issues in their offices. Strengths and weaknesses of their communication …

Public art is placed in relation to its surroundings, conveying messages that are open to interpretation and thus proposing conversations between art/aesthetics, geography, histories and the subjectivity of the viewer. As such, it can engender possibilities to 'politicize our relations with place'. Embracing the vision of a multidisciplinary…

The interest to connect results of neuroscientific research to educational contexts has increasingly grown in recent years. Actors from neuroscience and education show the explicit intention to approach each other. Still, issues and debates exist in the relation between them. This paper aims to bring to the fore one such specific issue that is not…

Five case studies illustrate the value of strategic communications in school and college public relations (PR). Central issues include public scrutiny of a controversial faculty hiring policy; internal communication during retrenchment; a local education/job fair; animal rights activism; and winning public approval for a long-range campus plan.…

The original Fred Friendly Seminar was a Socratic dialog intended for expert debate on issues of ethics and public policy. I wanted to apply the format to inter-faculty learning on issues of international relations and foreign policy, so I proposed a type of hybrid scenario, combining the detail and self-reflection of a traditional seminar with…

An unprecedented increase in students' personal technology use presents a new area for study within the educational leadership and administration field. Cellular phones, video posting websites, and online social networking destinations empower students to create and distribute school-related images and stories. Student-developed media content can…

A school principal has been placed on administrative leave for allegedly having sexual relations on school property after hours with a member of the county sheriff's department. The principal denies the allegations but, in an effort to get his job back, the deputy confesses to the affair. The school district says that the case is under…

Contemporary campaigns for public education rest upon an assumption that public schools are fundamental to an equitable and inclusive society. In this paper, I reflect on this presumption by exploring the inherent tensions of the meaning and practice of 'public' education, especially when the 'public' in public schooling is linked to political…

Polarization in political culture and the decline of public education for civic engagement have become serious challenges to a healthy constitutional federal republic in the United States. Communication as a field of study in American universities is well-poised to address these challenges and contribute meaningfully to improving the civic…

We live in a time when the question of who is (or is not) depicted in public monuments is a topic of heated discussions across the nation. For example, the removal of Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, resulted in a violent protest in 2017. Such debates concerning the display and preservation of Civil War monuments center around…

The articles in this special issue include different perspectives on comparative policy studies with an aim to understand transnational education policies in relation to the logic of national educational systems and to grasp the ongoing reframing of teacher identity and teaching as a result of the policy activities of 'new' and coordinated…

This paper explores issues of social justice in relation to the practice of two principals from two Australian public schools. The stories of these principals are set against a policy backdrop in Australia that has seen renewed emphasis on school autonomy reform, on the one hand, and heightened external accountability and compliance, on the other.…