The Daily Chronicle reports today that DeKalb School District is considering hiring a Communications Director (translation: PR person).

DeKALB – It’s hard to imagine a multimillion-dollar corporation without a communications director.

But that’s just what the DeKalb School District is, said Northern Illinois University professor of communications Steve Ralston.

On Tuesday, Ralston talked to the school board about creating a communications plan for the district. District officials have said the district wants to provide more information to the public about the school district, and the best way to do it is to hire a person to oversee that on a daily basis. The board has debated hiring an individual or a public relations firm.

So, they want to hire an expert to say nice things about the schools and pay him/her $100,000 per year.

Here’s what the Northern Star had to say about our high school recently:

While racial tension at DeKalb High School has been a hot conversation topic, DHS students find the school’s cleanliness is the real issue.

Last fall, a survey conducted by the Stearnes Group showed students felt the need for more respect for certain groups, including racial and sexual orientation groups. ..Respect problems aside, [DHS principal Lindsey] Hall said the survey showed the high school has a bigger issue.

“The item that came out as the biggest problem is that the school is not clean,” Hall said.

Think about how bad it’s got to be if the teenagers are noticing it–and “not clean” may be an understatement. A DHS student who lives in my neighborhood has told me about mold in the band room and rickety stairs. Seems to me that if they can cough up $100k for more personnel, it should go toward maintenance staff and repairs.