Sweet-talk school leaders, mention lows (8)

I believe the answer is:

schmooze

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'sweet-talk' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'school leaders mention lows' is the wordplay.
'school' becomes 'sch' (abbreviation).
'leaders' suggests taking the first letters.
'lows' becomes 'ooze' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letter of 'mention' is 'm'.
'sch'+'m'+'ooze'='SCHMOOZE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for schmooze that I've seen before include "Chat socially" , "Talk ingratiatingly to" , "circulate" , "chatter" , "Chat at a gathering" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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