OTHELLO — Ed Petersen has been hired as the new communications director for Othello School District. Petersen started work July 1.

It’s a new position for the district, although Petersen comes with experience. Previously he was communications director for Centralia School District, a job he held for seven years, he said.

Petersen said effective communication starts with transparency. “It’s about building trust,” he said.

It’s important to have open communication with parents, district patrons and other people with an interest in the school district, he said. Effective communication for a school district also is about addressing rumors and misinformation in a polite and positive way.

The communications director also should be able to let school officials know what district patrons are thinking. “It’s my goal to be an effective conduit of a two-way flow of information. Not just us to them,” he said.

The modern media environment provides a lot of ways to communicate with district patrons and people interested in Othello schools, he said, and he wants to try as many as possible. “We’re going to look at some interesting ways to connect with people,” he said.

His job as Centralia communications director was his first in education. “My background is in broadcast media,” working in radio and television in Washington, Nevada and Oregon, he said.

Most of his work in radio was on-air, and in television he was mostly involved in advertising. That has given him a perspective that people who have spent an entire career in education might not have, he said.

A friend from Centralia took a teaching job in Othello and saw the job opening for a communications director, he said. The friend knew Petersen was looking for a new opportunity.

Othello has provided that.

“It’s an opportunity to help build a new communications program,” Petersen said.

He likes working with smaller school districts that might not have as many tools available to them as larger districts, he said.