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District communications, volunteer program and community ed draw praise as staff outline engagement work
Summary
District communications and community education leaders reported increased social-media reach, high open rates for newsletters, volunteer-program metrics and ADA digital-access work during a Feb. 17 update to the board.
District communications and community education staff briefed the River Falls Board of Education on Feb. 17 about outreach, volunteer coordination and community-education programming.
Jenny (last name not specified in the transcript), who leads communications and community education, said the district’s Facebook reach for September–December totaled about 96,000 with 5,700 lifetime followers and an account growth of 16 followers in that period. The district’s e-newsletter average open rate was 63.2 percent, well above the industry average she cited of 40 percent. The district is collecting subscriptions but staff said community subscriptions remain modest and they are planning outreach via community events, the Chamber and a QR-code signup strategy.
Jenny outlined digital-access work to meet ADA standards: adding alt text to graphics, captioning video content, offering transcripts for multimedia, ensuring color contrast and keyboard navigation, and working with the website vendor for compliance. She said the district is not fully compliant yet but has the work on its radar.
The volunteer program processed 719 volunteer applications (through December), recorded 88 activities, 1,203 filled spots and 735 logged volunteer hours in the documented window; staff noted those hour counts underrepresent total community contribution because they exclude activities not tracked centrally (such as field trips and mystery readers).
Community education offerings were described as robust: 98 catalog offerings, 753 enrollments so far, and popular programs including a cardboard-boat race and a jigsaw-puzzle competition with a wait list. Staff also noted that the district received two awards from the Wisconsin School Public Relations Association: an Award of Excellence for referendum communications and an Award of Merit for the website overhaul.
Board members suggested partnering with the Chamber, service clubs and events to drive newsletter subscriptions and discussed outreach strategies such as recruiting signups during concerts, sporting events and community meetings.
Staff said they will continue cross-posting on Facebook and Instagram, create reels for teacher recruitment and community branding, and pursue ADA improvements and wider newsletter subscriptions.
