Marion County schools outline expanded community engagement, communications push under Goal 5

Shawana Harris, executive director of K–12 Support for Marion County Public Schools, and district communications leaders on Jan. 23 presented Goal 5 of the district strategic plan, describing steps to increase family engagement, expand community partnerships and strengthen two‑way communication.

The presentation laid out specific tools and measures the district is using to reach families and community partners. "Goal 5 focuses on enhancing community engagement and communication by increasing stakeholder dialogue, partnerships, and collaboration to meet the needs and of our staff and celebrate success," Harris said.

Why it matters: The effort packages volunteer programs, nonprofit partnerships and digital outreach together with metrics intended to measure meaningful participation (survey returns, returning families and platform engagement) rather than raw counts alone.

District staff described a mix of continuing and new partnerships and communications channels. Kevin Christian, director of public relations, explained the district’s use of Peachjar, the e‑flyer program: "Peachjar is our e flyer program that basically replaces putting paper based flyers in backpacks..." He said the district distributed 239 internal Peachjar flyers and received 2,081 external flyers from outside entities in the prior year, and estimated the service helped avoid handling about 2,800,000 pieces of paper.

Christian gave metrics for the district’s direct messaging platform, Skyler: "This past year, we shared over 3,700,000 phone calls, 3,200,000 emails, and 502,000 text messages." He said the system’s average delivery success rate exceeded 93% and that last night’s message had a 94.1% success rate.

Megan Magable, executive director of the Public Education Foundation, described private funding for school programs and services. "By the end of this spring, we will have provided approximately $435,000 in support for Safe Schools efforts across the district," she said, citing partnerships with groups such as Mackenzie’s Moment. The foundation also reported support for career and technical education, literacy initiatives, scholarships and classroom supplies: among examples she cited were $75,000 from the World Equestrian Center for culinary programs, $60,000 from HCA Florida Healthcare for health‑career pathways, and more than $360,000 in scholarships through Take Stock in Children.

Communications manager Yamali Gonzales reviewed social media growth: "The district is active on Facebook, YouTube, and x to improve communication and strengthen engagement with families and the community." She reported a 428.6% overall engagement increase across platforms for the period she cited and said the district’s Facebook page reached roughly 10,000 followers and its YouTube channel approached 9,900 subscribers.

Board discussion focused on three themes: student safety and transportation implications for events and rezoning decisions; measuring internal communications (how district staff communicate with one another); and opportunities to expand philanthropic or sponsorship development. Several board members urged staff to measure internal employee communications and to return with survey‑style metrics; one board member suggested the creation of a dedicated position to pursue high‑capacity private partnerships.

The board praised the outreach work and thanked presenters; staff said follow‑up items would include continued measurement refinements and expanded community events.

Ending: District staff and the Public Education Foundation said they will continue the work of Goal 5 across the school year and provide further metrics at future briefings. Several board members asked staff to return with additional metrics about internal communications and with options for pursuing new partnership or sponsorship roles.