The Troy City School District, a proud community located in western Ohio about 20 miles north of Dayton, serves students in six elementary schools, one 6th grade building, one junior high and one high school. Educators in the district work each day to provide young people with a quality education using an innovative curriculum and support services designed to meet the learning needs of all students.

SUCCESS STORY

How a school district facing operational and fiscal challenges used communications to achieve engagement with internal staff and the entire community.

The opportunity

The Troy City School District is committed to serving its student population with innovative curriculum and supports for all learnings. However, without any dedicated communications or marketing staff, outreach and engagement to the Troy City Schools’ community, staff, parents, and students were sporadic and inconsistent. With a new superintendent on board, the district knew that effective and efficient communications and engagement would be critical to helping Troy City Schools achieve its vision and mission for the future.

The approach

During the 2018 – 2019 school year, Troy City Schools partnered with Approach Marketing to develop a strategic approach to communications for the school year, and build the capacity of internal communicators and spokespersons to effectively reach all stakeholders.

This was accomplished through:

• Branding and messaging

• Strategic planning focus groups, facilitation, and design

• Newsletter template design and implementation

• Professional development on:

  • Spokesperson training

  • Community engagement

  • Social media

• Social media audit, guidelines, and plan

• Communications audit and planning

The impact

Through professional development and training, Approach worked with the Troy City Schools administrative team to build their capacity for serving as spokespersons, engaging the community and effectively building support for district-wide initiatives.

A Strategic Plan was developed reflecting the voice of the Troy community, and a Foundational Communications Plan now gives Troy City Schools a vision and strategy for communications and outreach efforts to come.

Finally, Approach helped Troy City Schools bring a consistent look and feel to communications efforts through a new district brand, templates and collateral, as well as a social media audit and guidelines for using various social channels for keeping members of the community engaged in what’s happening with the district and schools.

By committing a school year to strategic planning, prioritizing branding and messaging, and developing consistent and coherent channels, Troy City Schools continue to improve the culture and engagement across all stakeholder groups.