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Communications team reports high newsletter engagement, translation requests and site traffic
Summary
The district communications team told the board its newsletters average a >55% open rate, the website had about 656,000 visits last year, and staff handled 16,225 translation requests—mostly Spanish—while moving away from low-engagement platforms.
Toya Stewart Downey, executive director of strategic communications, equity and inclusion, presented the communications team’s annual report and highlighted the district’s regular publications, social media reach and accessibility work. She said the district distributes three primary newsletters—Direct Line (staff), Discover (families) and "We Are All In" (DEI)—and reported an average newsletter open rate above 55% compared with an industry benchmark of 37.7%.
Downey gave web and social metrics: about 656,000 website visits and 227,732 unique visitors in the year, an average site session of roughly 1 minute 13 seconds, and net social followers gained (281 between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024). She and Derek Williams described LinkedIn growth (313 new followers since mid‑year and nearly 30,000 people reached in recent posts) and said Facebook remains a primary engagement platform for the district.
On translation and accessibility, Lisa Vanderster and communications staff explained the district uses Weglot for page translations and AudioEye for ADA monitoring; they reported 16,225 translation requests (mostly Spanish), an accessibility score of about 95.88 after remediation, and a high number of translation requests tied to adult education and enrollment pages. The team said Peachjar distribution saved an estimated 6,500,000 sheets of paper (about 780 trees) by sending digital flyers to families.
Directors asked about digital access gaps and printed mailings; communications staff said technology services likely track home access and that printed mailings are cost‑limited (approximately $15,000 for mailed family newsletters), so the district balances digital and targeted print outreach.
"We want to be the authors of our story," Downey said, summarizing why the district invests in newsletters and web content to reach families and staff.
