About NSPRA
Become a Member
The Superintendents to Watch award recognizes up to 25 school district leaders each year who have fewer than five years of experience as a superintendent and who demonstrate dynamic, fast-paced leadership with strong communication at its core.
Craig Sosebee is still a green sprout of a superintendent, but the roots he has established have created a strong foundation for improvement at Oneonta City Schools. He has become a very visible face of Oneonta City Schools with a reputation for fairness, action, and honesty. He has partnered with city officials to create supportive and collaborative opportunities for our system, even inviting the mayor and city council to tour our schools. He has been transparent with stakeholders. He has addressed concerns quickly, honestly, and appropriately to build trust with parents. For example, if there is a potential threat, he notifies parents and clarifies details to assure them of their students' safety. He has championed improvements in every area of our district- from facilities to academics. Our school district has one of the state's lowest per pupil expenditures but still ranks in the top 20 in the state academically. He has established relationships with employees, legislators, students, and every type of stakeholder tied to our schools. He has worked with our legal team to create updated policies and is working with leadership teams to update procedures and handbooks to make certain expectations are clear and appropriate. He is supportive and encouraging. His high expectations are modeled in all he does and says. He makes others want to be a part of the district's commitment to excellence.
Mr. Sosebee quickly established a Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube account for Oneonta City Schools to have a consistent district voice, even when employees potentially change in the future. He also commissioned a company to interview present and past employees, students, and parents to create videos that show the best parts of our schools. He also established a PR committee to determine schedules and to meet the goal of telling our schools' positive stories and sharing important information with stakeholders. He meets with this committee regularly to discuss goals. He also purchased ParentSquare, a platform that allows two-way communication with parents. This is now the only communication platform used, rather than parents having to manage multiple platforms like Remind, Dojo, etc. Parents and stakeholders now have a clear, one-stop communication platform. The social media and Parent Square all tie together, as well as the website. Mr.Sosebee is also in the process of rolling out a new more user-friendly website, as well. Not only does he actively involved in establishing all of these communication efforts, but he also creates posts, videos, calls, texts, and responses to parents.
In 2022, Oneonta City Schools conducted a stakeholder survey and found that parents wanted more communication from the district. The next fall, Craig Sosebee took the reins as superintendent at Oneonta City Schools and vowed to change that. This fall, the same survey found less than 1% of parents are concerned about communication issues. Mr. Sosebee made these changes by making concerted efforts to create communication opportunities that allowed us all to be on the same page. In addition to establishing social media and consistent two-way communication with parents, he worked with stakeholder groups to address concerns. He also keeps stakeholders apprised of district efforts through a public State of the Schools address every fall. He has changed our district from one that had minimal communication to an open and transparent organization that partners with stakeholders.
Mr. Sosebee creates posts and videos for social media accounts and often responds to questions, as well. He is the voice and face of all district communication, making him quite recognizable in the community. He is proactive in sharing information with news channels and in sharing relevant information with parents. His efforts at honest transparency with parents has made him highly trusted and respected in the community. He is careful to present a positive and professional image in all that he does, setting an example and an expectation for all employees. He is the district's biggest cheerleader, as seen in everything from the intentional creation of videos that celebrate our district's successes and overall mission to the way he represents and discusses the schools in conversations.
B.A. - Mississippi State University; MPA - University of Georgia
I believe school PR/communications is what I was born to do! One of the biggest decisions a parent can make is where to send their child to school, and it’s an honor to share with our parents the engaging work that their children are doing under the guidance of world-class teachers and leaders. On any given day, in any given school, there are many stories to be told and I take that charge seriously. As school communicators played a key role in COVID-19 communications, storytelling was more important than ever – not only did I share information with parents about our protocols, but I also made over 80 visits to schools last year and told a variety of stories about how students were thriving with both in-person and distance learning options. I also worked with principals to determine best mitigation practices and helped make those pervasive, because positive action must be the foundation of what we are ultimately communicating. School public relations is incredibly complex and I love that each day brings a new challenge.
My greatest school PR success was completing 11 nationally-innovative school communication audits using a process of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation. I am now in phase two of this project and am attending school council meetings to garner feedback from parents about school-level communication and how I can better support the work of their schools. One of the most significant findings is that as students take more ownership of their learning, they also take more ownership in parent communication. Therefore, next steps are to better prepare parents for this transition and to also determine best practices from exemplar teachers and coaches at the secondary level so we can strike the right balance with parents feeling informed and fostering student independence.
My greatest school PR challenge is overcoming rigidity. Like many PR professionals, I am detail-oriented and a self-described perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse to see when something is one pixel off, but the greatest challenge I have faced in my 13 years in this field is to learn to be more flexible. I might have an aversion to Comic Sans or Curlz, but it’s not the end of the world if those are a font favorite elsewhere. What’s more important is the bigger picture – staff and parents feeling well-informed and students growing and learning in positive school cultures. Instead of telling someone their website isn’t formatted properly, I now make a 2-3 minute screencast if I think there’s a quick tutorial I can offer to provide ongoing professional learning. By being much more flexible, I have deepened relationships and become better at supporting the most important job that occurs in our school system: teaching.
My favorite part of my job is the relationships. I often say that there is no substitute for showing up, and that’s why I make so many school visits each year. From getting to hold a gorgeous monarch butterfly to watching a vibrant student musical to seeing 3-D printing in action from engineering students, I have witnessed countless unique opportunities, and these experiences are just a small piece of what our students get to take part in each and every day. If I didn’t take the time to form relationships, I wouldn’t know that what students value is knowing that the photos I take may show up in their yearbooks. I wouldn’t know the myriad of annual activities that teachers do across our schools because I wouldn’t have witnessed them firsthand. I wouldn’t know about the families of our principals or what they believe makes their school unique. All of that is invaluable because at the end of the day and at the end of this career, relationships are what will remain – both professionally and personally.
The communication tool I use the most is Canva! I would be a brand ambassador if they asked! I am not very mathematically-minded and it can be challenging for someone with an eye for good design – but not an eye for rulers and gridlines – to be a graphic designer. However, Canva has made it possible and I am able to create aesthetically-pleasing graphics with short turn-around times. I have trained communication ambassadors at our schools how to use it as well. Right after Canva, the tool I most use is iMovie. I am completely self-taught in videography and using iMovie and Canva together has made me someone who can add “videographer” to their list of expertise.