> Who would it be best to address the
> card to: the
> principal? Or to specific teachers, like fourth
> grade teachers (since Ohio
> history is usually taught in 4th grade)? 7th grade
> social studies teachers?
> American History teachers?...
> do you think I
> should send cards to schools which faithfully come
> to the Rankin House as
> well as ones who haven't, or just concentrate on
> schools that haven't
> visited?

This all depends on whether there is an admission
charge to your museum; you did not mention this in
your original post.

If there is an admission charge AND you can consider
offering a discount for group visits, you may want to
consider sending the postcard to the principal or even
to the school district superintendent.

Let me relate an experience at Pittsburgh's original
Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science in
the mid-1980s. Like many museums, Buhl Planetarium
experienced the traditional school field trip season
in the Spring [March, April, May].

However, operating a smaller facility these field
ttips would completely overwhelm our building during
this time period. Not only was it difficult for our
staff to handle the huge crowds during the Spring, but
the children did not receive the highest level of
attention due to all of the people that had to be
served at the same time.

Yet, our building was nowhere-near as full in the
Autumn, when the children would have received more
attention had the school field trip occurred in
September or October. In fact, I remember days in
September when few people visited--September is often
the "deadest" month of the year for museums.

So, one year we decided to try to offer an incentive
to bring more of the field trips to Buhl Planetarium
in the Autumn. We sent out publicity that year
offering teachers a discount if they booked their
field trip in September or October.

To our great disappointment, practically nothing
changed! The vast majority of field trips were still
scheduded in the Spring, with few scheduled in the
Autumn.

There are probably several reasons for the failure of
this experiment, including the preferences of the
teaachers and the lack of in-school attention by
children in the Spring.

However, I believe that one of the reasons the
experiment failed was because the discount offer was
made to the teachers. Teachers, for the most part, do
not have to worry about school budgets. Hence, the
discount offer was not really much of an incentive to
teachers.

Had this discount offer been mailed to school district
superintendents or principals, who do have to worry
about school budgets, the result may have been quite
different!

> Should I perhaps concentrate more on
> private or Christian schools
> as opposed to public schools? ( I observe that these
> schools often seem to
> be more flexible about field trips and more able to
> work them into their
> schedules.)

Flexibility is not so much the issue as whether they
can afford to come for the field trip in the first
place. Very small schools probably have the same size
field trip budget as your budget for school field trip
solicitation.

Public schools usually have a budget for field trips.
So, you definitely want to try to effectively compete
for inclusion in a public school's field trip
schedule.

gaw

--- kathryn Tate <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:34:12 -0700 
From:  "kathryn Tate" <[log in to unmask]> 
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] contacting schools 
To: [log in to unmask]

> I would be interested in hearing an answer...i am
> currently contacting schools for the Historic
> Carnton Plantaion in Tennessee and have drafted a
> letter...however i was going to try and contact the
> schools by e-mail...we have several counties that
> are involved...
>    
>   Kathryn Tate
>   Education 
>   
> 
> Susannah West <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>   With the new school year approaching, I'm planning
> on contacting schools and
> pointing out the value of a field trip to the Rankin
> House. Since my
> budget for this project is non-existent, I can't
> afford to send out an
> information packet to each school. So my thought was
> that I could send a
> postcard with a photograph of the Rankin House and a
> brief message to each
> school I target. Who would it be best to address the
> card to: the
> principal? Or to specific teachers, like fourth
> grade teachers (since Ohio
> history is usually taught in 4th grade)? 7th grade
> social studies teachers?
> American History teachers? The message would invite
> them to send for an
> information packet if they'd like more information.
> I will probably be
> sending out cards to schools in a three or four
> county area; do you think I
> should send cards to schools which faithfully come
> to the Rankin House as
> well as ones who haven't, or just concentrate on
> schools that haven't
> visited? Should I perhaps concentrate more on
> private or Christian schools
> as opposed to public schools? ( I observe that these
> schools often seem to
> be more flexible about field trips and more able to
> work them into their
> schedules.) I am sure this topic has been discussed
> in great detail in the
> past; perhaps you can point me to specific messages
> in the archives that I
> should read. Thanks so much.
> 
> Susannah West
> tour guide
> John Rankin House (home of abolitionist John Rankin,
> 1793-1886)
> Ripley, Ohio

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
NEWS - Astronomy, Space, Science:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.planetarium.cc > 
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: 
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer & Optician John A. Brashear: 
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com > 
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: 
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc > 
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.incline.cc >

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