LINCOLN- As the year draws to a close, the Nebraska State Board of Education received a progress report from Brian Maher, the state's education commissioner, as he begins his sixth month on the job. The board set several priorities for Maher to focus on after he was hired on July 1st, and Maher was able to give a report on these endeavors before his official board evaluation in the spring.

Several of Maher's goals had a December 1st deadline, such as evaluating the Department of Education's existing communication strategies involving the state board, the department, and the public. "When I sat and pondered on this, I thought: 'What the heck, how will I address this, knowing communication from our office is crucial to the effectiveness we have as a system?'" Maher told the board.

To address this, Maher said he conducted an audit of current communication strategies and gathered feedback from stakeholders, finding that there was a large gap in communication between outside education leaders and the department. To fix this, Maher reinstated the Superintendent Advisory Council, a group of educators in the field he can consult with regularly.

Maher also ensured the Board that Education Department employees are having twice-monthly meetings, and that he told office administrators to take an inventory of the department's website to make sure that only approved materials are online.

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