EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 Board of Education spoke about family and community engagement at their work session on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.
Family and community engagement has been identified as Goal 4 in the district’s strategic plan. Mary Ann Mitchell, the district’s Public Relations and Communications Director, explained how District #7 has garnered engagement in the past year.
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“The goal of Goal 4 is that we will develop and strengthen genuine connections and partnerships that will produce positive outcomes with students, families, educators and the community,” Mitchell said.
The district launched its new website in December 2023. In the nine months since the website has been operating, it has averaged 18,777 users a month. Mitchell pointed out some of the website’s functions, including a translation tool that will translate the website into different languages for non-English speaking families.
“We wanted a website that had a modern and responsive design and was easy to navigate and also accessible on any device, including a mobile device,” she explained. “We wanted a website that would tell the District #7 story and align with our branding, anything from being able to share a variety of stories and photos of things that were going on in the district.”
Mitchell provided data to show which webpages are popular and how long visitors spend on each page. She noted that this information helps her design the website and determine which buttons and information to prioritize.
Communication alignment is another prong of the family and community engagement goal. To promote “more consistent messaging,” Mitchell said, all 13 schools in District #7 now send out a weekly newsletter at 5 p.m. on Sundays. They use Smore, a newsletter building app for educators, to format and send these newsletters.
“It allows for a consistent format while giving each school the flexibility to still tell its unique story,” Mitchell explained. “That was one thing that I really did not want to take away from them, because there are 13 unique schools that have their own story to tell and own things going on.”
Community engagement is another major part of Goal 4. To increase interactions with the community, District #7 has made a point to be visible at community events over the past several months. They have had booths at the Glen Carbon Homecoming, the Route 66 Festival, the Goshen Market and many other events, where they share information about the district with community members.
The district has also begun sending out “District 7 Digest,” an annual publication that is mailed to all households in District #7. They are currently promoting “District 7 E-News,” an online communication platform available to all parents, teachers, district residents and community stakeholders.
Mitchell emphasized the importance of engaging the community and communicating with district families and residents. As the district continues to work on Goal 4 of the strategic plan, she encourages families and community members to get involved and sign up for “District 7 E-News.”
For more information about Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7, visit their official website at ecusd7.org.
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