Connor (Director of Communications and Community Relations) presented results of a communications audit to the Olympia School District Board of Directors during a work session, saying the district "began our communications audit for the school district" after the school year started and collected about 650 survey responses and 11 stakeholder focus groups.

The audit, conducted through the National School Public Relations Association process, found parents and employees generally rated school communications positively while community respondents reported lower satisfaction. Connor said the audit’s immediate recommendations include drafting a three‑year communications plan, redesigning the district website or moving to a new content‑management system (CMS), and formalizing a crisis communications plan.

The audit report, Connor said, included a SWOT analysis and a breakdown of respondents: about 400 parents/guardians, roughly 195 employees and about 51 community members, producing estimated margins of error of approximately 5% (parents), 7% (staff) and 13% (community). Connor said two near‑term priorities the communications team will focus on are the three‑year communications plan and identifying a new CMS; possible vendors discussed during the meeting included ParentSquare SmartSites and Apogee.

Superintendent Patrick Murphy told the board the audit followed board direction to seek outside evaluation and framed the work as part of the district’s ongoing effort to boost transparency and public trust. "The board said loud and clear to the state again to fully fund public education," Murphy said while later offering a brief legislative update at the end of the session about state funding and levy authority.

Board members and the student representative raised questions and requests that staff incorporate into next steps. Director Doreka asked specifically about student representation in the survey: "If students haven't weren't included in this in this survey, I would be really interested in having them included in some way," and Connor said the audit used three separate survey links (parents, employees, community) and that students would have been counted only if they selected the community option.

Several board members urged the communications staff to prioritize trust‑building and plain‑language explanations of complex items such as the budget. Director Saino and others recommended small, achievable initiatives — for example a digest or short video recap after board meetings, clearer explanations of budget terms, and co‑messaging with employee bargaining units where appropriate. Director Flores emphasized language and disability access, noting federal Office for Civil Rights guidance: "For some information on the website, it's according to OCR, considered transitory," and urged the board to identify essential documents and translated materials.

Connor described recent and near‑term operational steps the communications team is already taking: launching ParentSquare community groups for board meeting reminders and recaps; building more than 20 ParentSquare templates for school and department newsletters; testing AI summarization of meeting transcripts (which he said performed poorly in trials); enabling ParentSquare forms/permission slips this summer; and planning to solicit RFPs for a new CMS, with the goal of implementing a new website for the 2026‑27 school year.

The board did not take a formal vote during the work session. Members gave staff direction to prioritize the three‑year plan and CMS evaluation, to formalize crisis communications and language/access practices, and to return with implementation steps and recommended metrics. Connor said the audit report and the full findings are posted on the district communications audit page and that staff will follow up with timelines and draft materials.

The meeting closed with a brief legislative update from Murphy noting some positive movement in the state budget for education but cautioning that final outcomes depend on bills being signed and that local levy authority remains a key variable for district finances.