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Board hears communications update as district reports higher engagement on app and newsletters
Summary
Ian Bellinger, director of MIS and goal lead for Goal 4, told the Highlands County School Board the district saw higher survey responses, rising guardian activation in the 'Rooms' app and a 67% open rate on district messaging; board members praised the outreach work.
Ian Bellinger, the district’s director of MIS and the lead for Goal 4, told the School Board of Highlands County about a suite of communications improvements, including survey results, a parent-teacher app and standardized newsletters.
“Our goal is to strengthen trust with stakeholders by building partnerships with family, staff, and the community through a culture of clear, timely, and effective communication at every level of the district,” Bellinger said, summarizing Goal 4.
Bellinger said the district completed annual parent, staff and student satisfaction surveys in December and drew one of its highest participation totals in recent years: “almost a thousand parents” completed the parent survey and “a little over 700 staff members” completed the staff survey, with generally positive results. He said historically the district’s surveys showed about 85% positive responses on the core questions.
On digital outreach, Bellinger pointed to steady use of the district’s parent–teacher communication app (identified in the presentation as “Rooms”), reporting roughly 71% staff activation among staff with student assignments and more than 12,000 device downloads. He said districtwide message campaigns register a roughly 67% open rate and that guardian activation on the app rose from about 56% in August to about 70% this school year; the vendor now sends a text message prompt when email addresses are missing, which Bellinger said helped raise engagement.
Bellinger also described a standardized, translated newsletter template rolled out to interested schools and a planned two-question customer-service survey (with QR codes) to gather quick front-desk feedback. He said the district is promoting a student-voice initiative at several high schools and participating in a statewide public-relations steering committee branded “Florida’s Future Powered by Public Schools.”
A board member praised the outreach: “I continue to be amazed at what you use technology,” the member said, adding that the district’s work helps parents better understand what is happening in schools. Board member Mrs. Howton also thanked Bellinger for the presentation and for his service on the statewide steering committee.
Bellinger said the district will continue to push training and rollout of the newsletter templates and the guardian-activation work ahead of the next school year. The board moved on to other agenda items after the presentation.
