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Meeting Date:
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Category:
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School and Community Relations |
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Type:
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Subject:
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Media Relations Quarterly Report: April-June 2023 |
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ACPS 2025 Strategic Plan Goal:
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Goal 1: Systemic Alignment ACPS will build a culture of continuous improvement and design equitable systems for school and instructional improvement. Goal 2: Instructional Excellence ACPS will ensure that all students have access to and engagement with high-quality instruction. Goal 3: Student Accessibility and Support ACPS will ensure students have equitable access to and engagement with programs and supports that reduce barriers to learning. Goal 5: Family and Community Engagement ACPS will ensure that all families and community members feel welcomed, respected, and valued.
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Funding Source or Fiscal Impact (where applicable):
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File Attachment:
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Agenda Item Summary:
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The Office of Communications prepared a quarterly report summarizing earned media coverage for the division from April 1, 2023 through June 15, 2023. The report contains the number of media inquiries that the Office of Communications received and addressed during this time period, main topics related to ACPS in the news, the number of mentions of ACPS leadership, national coverage, positive stories pitched by the Office of Communications and successfully covered by news media, as well as how ACPS’ media coverage compares to nearby school divisions and more. By submitting this report for the final quarter of the academic year, the Office of Communications has produced a media relations report for every quarter of the 2022-23 school year. The final overall media relations report for the 2022-23 school year will be shared in August 2023 |
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Background:
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The 2021-25 ACPS Strategic Communications & Community Engagement Plan identifies media and public outreach as a core opportunity to engage with the community on division-wide issues that are important for all students and the future of the school division. This report shows the work our media relations team has done with a broad range of news outlets to effectively reach the Alexandria community and stakeholders, as well as some national audiences, on the important issues and activities of our school division.
Starting in the 2022-23 school year, new data has been collected on a quarterly basis and is being shared with the superintendent and School Board to further the understanding of the narrative surrounding the school division among various audiences, including the ACPS community of students, staff and families, residents of the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan region and others in the educational and national arena.
In the fourth quarter of the 2022-23 school year, ACPS received 66 media requests between April 1 and June 15, 2023, and had 1,900 mentions in news coverage. The top topics in this quarter include: the selection of Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt as the permanent superintendent of ACPS, the Alexandria City High School Class of 2023 graduation, safety and security, school staffing and recruitment, substance abuse prevention, pandemic learning recovery, the topping-off ceremony for the new Minnie Howard campus, recognition of the ACPS principal of the year and teacher of the year, plus good stories from our schools. These include a backpack donation program with United Way at Francis C. Hammond Middle School, the SEAL program at William Ramsay Elementary School, the promotion ceremony at Patrick Henry K-8 school and learning recovery at Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology, among others. |
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Recommendation
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The superintendent recommends that the School Board review this presentation to become familiar with the work of the communications team and some key metrics, such as the number of media inquiries that are received by ACPS, the stories pitched to reporters and their media outlets, how often the division appears in the news and the type of earned media coverage that affects public opinion of the school division. |
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Approvals:
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Recommended By: |
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Signed By: |
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Julia Burgos - Chief of School and Community Relations |
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Signed By: |
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Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt - Interim Superintendent |
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