By HOLLY GASKILL
In her first six months in the new role, Communications Specialist Jessica Bricker has tackled several major projects to increase communication and visibility for the Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan School district.
This has included helping the district transition to a new text alert platform, updating the schools’ websites, launching a podcast and increasing social media activity. On Monday, Bricker presented the school board with these new features and data.
One of the initial components of adding the position was to increase the schools’ communication through social media. In doing so, Bricker reported that social media engagement for the school has increased by 165 percent on Facebook and 508 percent on Instagram. This engagement includes post views, likes, comments, shares and account followers.
Bricker said growth has since plateaued slightly and suspects the district has maximized its engagement with the audience that was previously missing. Currently, Bricker organizes posts to highlight daily events and news at least once daily on each of the school’s social media accounts.
In the next part of the communication update, the district will transition to a new website platform on Dec. 22.
Bricker and Scott Ribich, director of technology, worked together on the website using Finalsite. The primary goal of this update has been to increase the website’s utility and ease of use.
The final product will include a tab for district press releases and news, a staff directory, and school board information. Updates and additions will continue to roll out over the coming months.
Bricker hopes the new website will also help the district transition to its new communications system, ParentSquare. The district will no longer be using its previous system, SchoolMessenger, beginning in January.
One of the immediate benefits Bricker has seen from ParentSquare is that it allows guardians to receive notifications in their native language. For a recent fog delay and closure, Bricker said the text was received in five different languages.
Lastly, Bricker has been working on a monthly edition of a podcast called the “Roar Report.” These episodes have featured short snippets breaking down information from the district, getting to know different departments and roles, and highlighting recent events.
The podcast is available as a traditional audio-only podcast on most platforms and YouTube with audio and video.
In other news, BHMSD received a $63,714.39 grant from the Indiana Department of Education for teacher appreciation. As is required in the grant, stipends will be distributed to district teachers based on their previous year’s education rating as evaluated by the state as effective or highly effective.
These stipends are expected to be between $460 and $575 and will be distributed on Dec. 23.
The board also completed the following business:
• Updates to the middle school are projected to finish in June 2023.
• The board adopted an information security policy. The policy is required by the district’s new credit card system provider, Clover.
• The resignation of Chelsea Woosley, elementary school special education instruction assistant, was accepted.
• The board approved the employment recommendations for Madison Brinneman as custodian, Erin Blair as part-time for elementary food service, Tawnya McVicker as a long-term substitute, Tyson Brooks as fall eSports head coach, Kurth Smith and Jonathan Morgan as fall eSports assistant coaches. Additionally, they approved Erica Bittner and Hunter Cunningham as high school cheer sponsors, with Cheyanne Penrod and Sara Runyon each receiving 10 percent of the sponsor stipend for their dedication to the program. Several volunteer coaching positions were also approved.
• The board approved the intent to employ an elementary education intense intervention instructional assistant.
• Several donations were accepted — $700 from Park Community Church to help with school lunch accounts, Subway lunches for elementary staff from Tony and LuAnn Garton, stuffed tigers for elementary school student awards from Jennifer Meadows, $500 for elementary and $500 for middle school negative lunch account balances from Charles and Marie Frauhiger, and $500 for middle school students in need from an anonymous donor.
• Several policies were amended in part of the board’s ongoing review of its existing policies. As the board reviews and updates their policies, policies regarding standardized testing programs, BHMSD testing programs, ethical testing and admission of homeschool students on a part-time basis were accepted on their first reading with their changes. No changes were recommended for policies regarding student engagement and attendance for virtual or remote learning and entrance ages. These policies are available for review on the district website.
• The next board meeting will take place on Jan. 9, when the board will reorganize and evaluate finances. The board plans to meet on the following dates in 2023: Jan. 9, Jan. 23, Feb. 13, March 13, April 17, May 15, June 12, July 17, Aug. 14, Sept. 18, Oct. 9, Oct. 23, Nov. 20 and Dec. 18.
holly@news-banner.com
