Beare hopes to bring a ‘more digestible simplicity’ to how district operates
Published in the December 9 – 22, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Kimberly Beare
The Morgan Hill Unified School District spreads across 296 square miles in the South Valley and serves the diverse population of 8,700 students living in Morgan Hill, San Martin, a small portion of south San Jose and areas of Santa Clara County. To help keep students, parents, teachers and the general public better informed on school-related matters, the district recently hired Kimberly Beare to serve as communications coordinator.
Beare previously worked as the development officer at the United Way Silicon Valley office in San Jose. Morgan Hill Life asked her about her new job and how it will help the district better inform the various activities and programs in its 14 schools.
The communications coordinator position is a new one for MHUSD. Why was the role created and what do your duties entail?
School districts are massively complex, and it’s not always easy to follow what is happening or find answers to why a decision is made. This position will, in time, bring a more digestible simplicity to how the district operates. Every parent is passionate about their children’s education, and the district realizes that the more informed parents, are, and the community is at large, it can only be a benefit to the district.
My duties include standard public relations duties: writing press releases, standardizing the flow of communication across the district, social media and other activities. But it also has a community engagement aspect that I’m very excited about.
What is your education and career background and how do these help you with your new job position at MHUSD?
I’m a lawyer by education. During law school, I was recruited to work on a nationally targeted U.S. Senate race as a policy writer, which led to a six-year career in politics. After politics, I practiced law, representing children in the Child Protective Services system in Texas. Then on to nonprofit to advocate for children living in poverty to have access to a good education.
I’m a strategic and analytical thinker thanks to my legal education and my time in politics. And working in nonprofit has honed my passion for education and literacy. I believe all of these skills will come into play with this new position.
You just started, of course, but how do you see your job evolving in building communication between the district and the public?
I’m hoping this role evolves in such a way that more people in our community begin to pay attention. We are doing great things here in the district — our teachers and principals are making a tremendous impact on our community by molding our future leaders. Schools have a massive effect on housing prices, on crime rates in the community, on jobs — the list goes on. Whether you think the school district impacts you or not, it does, and I’m hoping to spread that message to get more parents, individuals, businesses involved in our schools.
How will you closely work with the individual schools to help them share with the public the innovative educational projects and interesting student activities?
Our strategic communications plan is still in the early stages, but my goal is to have a school-specific plan for each of our locations tailored to the each school’s population. It’s important to Superintendent Steve Betando, the board of trustees and myself that all of our families feel supported by the district. I will be adding a component to each plan that focuses specifically on our Spanish speaking families in each school.
I’m looking forward to working closely with our principals, teachers and parents to ensure we are putting the most efficient and effective plan in place to meet their needs.
How might you describe the working environment created by Betando and the staff at the district in its mission to serve the students at the MHUSD?
Incredible! It’s clear when you meet the staff that they love their jobs, are passionate about what they do and feel like they are supported. When I was offered the position, I was excited at the opportunity, but after talking to a few of our principals and staff, getting to know the district better I feel very honored and privileged to be chosen to be part of this amazing team. We are all on the same mission, striving for the same goals, and I think that speaks volumes about the how well the superintendent manages the district.
