Two overarching tasks face school public relations directors. These tasks are gaining public support for education and fostering understanding and acceptance of the professions of school public relations. Both are difficult. Schools today suffer from a lack of public confidence. School public relations suffers from a lack of understanding by the public. This lack of understanding may be partially because those who promote school public relations are called by at least eleven different names, from information specialists to directors of public relations. To begin to solve these problems, it is important to remember that public relations directors are more than just communicators; they are societal technicians applying knowledge of the social sciences to bring about high level adjustments between the public and public school education. This can be called the "engineering of consent" and can be accomplished by concentrating on eight areas: (1) defining immediate, intermediate, and long-range goals, (2) researching the publics with whom adjustments are being made, (3) reorienting goals if necessary, (4) deciding on strategies, including how to use the "four Ms"--mind power, manpower, mechanics, and money, (5) determining appropriate themes and appeals for the publics involved, (6) getting organized, (7) timing and planning tactics, and (8) making a budget. (Author/JM)