District reports major gains in digital reach, launches parent resources and marketing campaigns under strategic plan pillar on communications

Sarasota County Schools communications leaders told the School Board on March 4 that the district has overhauled its digital presence, expanded two‑way multilingual communications and launched marketing campaigns the district says have driven increased interest in school choice and enrollment.

The presentation, led by the district communications director and introduced by Superintendent Conner, listed completed and in‑progress actions under Strategic Plan Pillar 5: revamped district and school websites launched in April 2024 with translation and search features; a new district mobile app; conversion of more than 300 policies to searchable HTML pages; and a two‑way translated classroom/guardian messaging app called Rooms.

The communications director said Rooms has supported more than 455,700 messages, more than 25,000 guardians logged in, roughly 33,000 app downloads and about 10,000 active classrooms (about 80% of classrooms), and that the platform has made it faster to retrieve communication records for public‑records or safety purposes. "It's been used almost in the first week, and it saved not only enormous amounts of time," a board member said during Q&A.

District statistics presented by the communications team included reported increases in web traffic and social engagement: the presentation cited website sessions of 12,000,388 in the current year (up from about 11,000,000), a social media engagement rate rising to 9.4% (above industry benchmarks), and large numbers of content interactions reported by the communications team. Staff described a targeted "geofence" marketing campaign and streaming ads that, according to the presentation, drove thousands of website visits and contributed to an uptick in open‑enrollment applications (staff reported 2,800 applications tied to the campaign as of the presentation).

The district described a strategic marketing push around a successful millage referendum that passed at 85% and said it distributed informational cards, held community forums and created digital toolkits for principals. Communications staff also noted other products and channels in use: a podcast series in multiple languages, a "Behind the Scenes" and "Teacher Tuesday" social campaign, a superintendent video series where the superintendent shadows district staff, and a new InTouch community newsletter and magazine.

Staff said they have translated 34 videos and plan to translate additional materials into five languages (Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Brazilian Portuguese and Haitian Creole) where relevant to departments such as nutrition and registration. The presentation also outlined internal communications work such as the administrator weekly newsletter (AWN) and a planned teacher weekly newsletter (TWN).

District communications staff said they have begun work on a parent resource center and are investigating AI‑based homework help tools and other digital family supports. The district also described steps taken to monetize district media (ad sales for the new magazine), to ensure contract language and policies for ad buyers and to track revenue inquiries via forms.

Board members commended the communications team for site usability and outreach, asked about monetization of platforms such as YouTube, and raised requests for parent‑facing resources (for example, guidance on assisting children with homework or decoding curriculum). District staff said a parent resource center is in development and that the district will vet external tools before linking to them.

No formal board action was taken during the workshop; staff said many of the projects are ongoing and that they will continue to report progress.