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Waterford outlines enrollment campaign emphasizing new $30 million preschool and targeted outreach
Summary
Sarah Davis, the district’s director of communications, briefed the Board of Education on a multi-channel enrollment campaign that highlights Stepanski Early Childhood Center’s new $30 million facility, targets four audience groups and uses digital, print, billboard and community outreach.
At the board meeting, Sarah Davis, director of communications and community relations for Waterford School District, presented the "Today's Student, Tomorrow's Leader" enrollment campaign for the 2025–26 school year. She explained the district is a schools-of-choice district for preK, junior kindergarten, kindergarten and the STEM Academy; students in grades 1–12 must live within district boundaries to attend.
The campaign targets four audiences: (1) junior kindergarten and kindergarten (including schools-of-choice families), (2) the STEM Academy (applications open through April 4), (3) current in‑district students in grades 1–12 who may not be enrolled, and (4) preschool families for Stepanski Early Childhood Center. Davis said the district uses mainly its own students in imagery and emphasized bilingual outreach.
Davis presented early campaign performance data: about 16,000 digital ad impressions since the campaign began in February, a click-through rate of 0.32% (compared with a typical 0.1% benchmark) and 371 clicks from a targeted digital run; Google search ads produced about 304 clicks. She said the Spanish-language digital ad was the best-performing ad during the period reported.
Tactics include targeted digital placements via Metro Parent (zip-code and demographic targeting), Google search ads, district and principal newsletters (WSD Connect, audience ~10,000), Oakland Press placements including a recent high-impact website ad, postcards mailed in February to roughly 2,000 local parents of 3–5 year olds, social media paid campaigns targeting the four audiences, a billboard scheduled to run beginning about April 21 on M-59 near Exit 39, and community presence at family nights and summer events. Davis said the district produces 600 enrollment swag bags each season and will maintain advertising through the summer after identifying a web-traffic spike following July Fourth in prior years.
Board members asked about audience targeting; Davis confirmed digital and social ads include ZIP-code targeting and other demographic parameters. Trustees praised the use of district students in creative materials and the bilingual outreach.
The presentation was informational; no board action was required.
