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New PCPS communications team reports social‑media growth, airport ad and crisis plan work
Summary
The district’s newly reconstituted communications department reviewed outreach work since March — including an airport digital ad, social‑media growth and plans for a communications audit, crisis communications plan and digital flyer system — and answered board questions about FOIA tools and external ad costs.
Petersburg City Public Schools’ new communications team briefed the board July 16 on branding, social media growth and a series of planned projects, including a communications audit and a crisis communications plan aligned with incident management practices.
Chief Communications Officer Chelsea Von Geeran, communications specialists Frank Akins and Jacory Coleman said the department has refreshed the district website, produced marketing for Westview preschool and the immunization campaign, and launched social accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, BlueSky and TikTok. “Since March on Facebook, we've gone from 9,865 followers to 10,543,” the team reported; TikTok followers increased by more than 1,000.
The team described a paid digital ad that ran on Richmond International Airport baggage‑claim screens and said it is exploring other paid media, including highway and interstate digital signage. Board members cautioned that single‑owner digital boards are costly; one board member said an exclusive board cost could exceed $10,000 while rotation advertising might be available for several hundred dollars per month.
Communications reported it has been proactive with the media and credited its work with generating coverage for student competitions, a Vernon Johns medical classroom ribbon cutting and athletic‑department expansion. The team also described new internal processes, a workflow tool to replace an older Google Form for communications requests, and a plan to create a communications request system to track projects division‑wide.
Board members asked about public access to FOIA request logs after the district discontinued use of a third‑party “Next Request” portal. Communications said the district now publishes FOIA requests through a PCPS FOIA email and will research restoring public‑facing transparency tools; staff said the Next Request contract had been costly. The team said it will provide cost information for returning to a public FOIA‑tracking service.
Planned work includes a three‑year communications plan, a digital flyer distribution system, social‑media guidelines, a crisis communications plan tied to emergency management, media training for administrators and an upcoming communications audit. The board had no action items tied directly to the communications report but welcomed further cost and process details.
