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Communications upgrades, website launch and fine‑arts awards highlight EMS ISD annual reports
Summary
District communications leaders reported a June 2025 website launch, high engagement on social channels and adoption of ParentSquare; fine‑arts leaders summarized widespread student success across music, band, choir, theater and dance, citing national attention and record participation.
District communications and fine‑arts leaders presented annual reports to the board on July 28 highlighting outreach changes and student achievements.
Communications: new website, two‑way tools, national reach Matthew LeBlanc, director of communications, told trustees the communications team emphasized “active listening” and two-way engagement this year, expanding tools such as ParentSquare while continuing Let’s Talk, which the district used for roughly 14,841 dialogues in the year and reported high customer experience (CX) scores.
LeBlanc noted the district launched a new website on June 24, 2025, after migrating nearly 10,000 pages, and said the site launch has been broadly smooth though there have been typical bumps. He described social-media successes: a librarian’s post of a signed book drew roughly 42,000 reactions and was picked up by NBC Nightly News; a story about a graduate presenting a diploma to a hospitalized student also received national pickup and more than 50,000 views across district channels. LeBlanc said the communications team is adding ParentSquare outreach to prepare families for code changes and other district messages.
Fine arts: participation and awards Mrs. Hardy (Fine Arts director) told the board the department serves roughly 100 teachers and more than 18,000 students across 62 campus programs. She highlighted that 69 of the district’s top‑10% graduates had fine‑arts participation and that five of the six valedictorians and salutatorians were fine‑arts students at graduation. The district also reported record numbers in All‑State band and choir selections, three world‑championship drum lines, regional color guard placements and multiple UIL sweepstakes and area marching contest qualifications.
Why it matters: Trustees and staff said the communications work supports transparency and family engagement while fine‑arts programming contributes to student CCMR (college, career and military readiness) indicators and community reputation; district leaders said the combination helps recruitment and community pride.
Board response: Trustees thanked the communications and fine‑arts teams for the work and asked staff to continue emphasizing outreach about discipline and policy changes in advance of school opening.
Ending: Staff said communications will continue targeted messaging over the summer and into the school year and that fine arts calendars and events will be posted on the new website and district social channels.
