2024 Communications Audit

In order to take a comprehensive look at our overall communications efforts, we partnered with National School Public Relations Association on an independent review. NSPRA has conducted communications audits in hundreds of school districts nationwide, and their perspective and expertise will help us improve our communications practices district-wide.

The full report and our brief overview summary are available below.

Overview

We partnered with NSPRA last winter and spring on a comprehensive, independent district-wide communications audit which included:

• A review of print and digital materials, tools and tactics
• Quantitative research through a district-wide survey open to parents and guardians, employees and community members
• Qualitative research through 14 focus groups as well as meeting with the superintendent and Communications Department staff

Key strengths

• The Communications Department features a well-qualified staff who bring a wide array of knowledge, skills and abilities to the program
• The district successfully implements multiple communications strategies across the organization for internal and external groups
• The district demonstrates consistent branding across all channels, with recognizable design, colors and images
• Our social media presence is strong, with higher-than-average engagement
• With our presence in the state capital, the Communications team assists with government relations activities at a variety of levels and with a range of entities

Key challenges

• The district lacks a shared philosophy of the importance of communication and the vital role played by all employees
• The district’s current Communication Plan, while including important features, lacks some best- practice components
• Insufficient practices and protocols to guide communication by district employees, which leads to confusion and inconsistency
• A perception across groups that the district is not interested in, or responsive to, feedback
• Families report feeling overwhelmed at times by the use of multiple communication platforms across the district and schools
• Communicating and engaging with our growing population of ENL students and families

Recommendations

The auditors have provided seven recommendations to help improve and strengthen the district’s overall communication program. They have suggested an implementation over multiple years, addressing 2-3 recommendations annually.

1. Promote a district-wide culture of communication
2. Emphasize customer service to improve responsiveness across campuses and departments
3. Enhance and refocus the district’s Communications Plan to increase its ability to guide the district’s communication program
4. Streamline family communication processes across schools, departments and the district
5. Increase opportunities to share the district’s story and value
6. Promote and expand opportunities for the Albany community to engage with the district and our schools
7. Expand methods to effectively reach non-English speakers

2024-25 implementation goals

Led by the Communications Department team and Superintendent Joseph Hochreiter, the district plans to work toward the following implementation goals during the 2024-25 school year:

• Successfully onboard and support a new communications specialist for Albany High School and the Athletics Department (Recommendations 1, 5, 7)
• Partner with the superintendent, Cabinet and administrators to identify effective internal processes for communicating with all employees  (Recommendation 1)
• Revise/expand Communications Plan and establish a Communications Guidebook (Recommendations 1, 3, 4)
• Provide customer service guidelines for all employees, develop relevant PD opportunities for support staff (Recommendation 2)
• Research and evaluate all current digital communication platforms in use district-wide (Recommendation 4)
• Focus on additional video content across social media platforms, research new social media platforms, with a particular focus on platforms with high student engagement (Recommendations 5, 6)

• Partner with Albany High leadership to offer guided tours of our new and expanding high school campus (Recommendations 5, 6)

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