Lincoln Elementary Communication System

Public Schools in Colorado are underfunded. In practice, this often means lost opportunities for students, strain on teachers and staff, and basic needs, including communication, can suffer. In 2021, I began working with various partners at our local elementary school, beginning first to solve for the basics—a school calendar and flyers for school choice. By spring of 2022, we had renovated the school website, updated ratings on GreatSchools, and ensured the outside community could see what our community knew—this school was special. This work developed into a role as PTSA Communications Chair, developing a system for communicating with families that was able to be supported by the PTSA that includes scheduled emails, downloadable live calendars, an app, and teacher communications, as well as the school and PTSA websites. A graphic system was developed for standard events to make the task of advertising volunteer-run events simpler. We have helped to develop new merchandise. There have also been several special efforts run at the school, including a 2022-2025 Strategic Vision and an on-going Master Plan for Exterior Spaces, for which I have been the lead on visuals and communication.

This work has been integral to the health of our school. At a time of declining enrollment across all Denver schools, our school’s enrollment has increased for two years in a row and we have heard that effective communication has played a role. As this work moves forward, our efforts include an increased level of student engagement in planning for and communicating the direction of the school, and sharing our best practices and tools with surrounding schools.