School Communicators Day School Communicators Day for District Leaders

What is a School Communicator?

While communication touches every aspect of a school system, it can be common for communities—and sometimes even district leadership—to not fully understand the role and value of school communicators. 

Schools involve two of the most important resources for a community: its children and its tax dollars. That’s why most school systems invest in their ability to communicate with local stakeholders. Beyond the tactical duties of drafting newsletters, distributing media releases and coordinating events, school communicators serve as a critical conduit between school systems and community members on the topics they care about most. 

Highly effective school communicators are strategic thinkers who assess stakeholder needs and school situations to better engage in a two-way exchange of information that: 

• Builds trust between a school system and its employees, families and wider community. 

• Increases employee morale, job satisfaction and retention. 

• Increases family and community members’ engagement in their local schools. 

What Does a School Communicator Do?

Among the most common responsibilities for school communication professionals are crisis communications (58 percent), external communications (52 percent), social media (48 percent), community relations and public engagement (44 percent), media relations (43 percent), website management (39 percent) and internal communications (36 percent), according to a 2022 representative survey of members of the NSPRA. These are the day-to-day types of responsibilities for a communications professional. 

But the ultimate impact of a school communicator is seen in building positive relationships and helping increase understanding between a school system and its stakeholders, including students and their families, school employees, residential taxpayers, local business owners, elected officials and more.  

These communicators may often share positive stories about local schools, but they also gather stakeholder feedback and coordinate listening efforts that inform district and school leaders’ decisions. During a crisis or other challenging situations, they ascertain the facts, offer guidance and ensure accurate, timely and appropriately transparent information is shared with those affected by the situation as well as with the media. They can provide training, tools and resources for other school employees to help them communicate more clearly, accurately and engagingly with families, fellow employees and the public. The majority of school communicators are members of their school system’s cabinet or leadership team, and in that role, offer advice about communications on school initiatives that will strengthen relationships and understanding. 

Public Recognition Tools

Record a Short Appreciation Video

To help NSPRA celebrate school communicators, we're asking superintendents and district leaders to record a short video thanking the communication professionals on your team for all they do. Not a video wiz? Don't worry! We're just looking for a quick message of thanks that can be recorded on your smartphone or mobile device. Examples include:

• "Thank you to our amazing communication team in [NAME] District for all you do!"
• "On behalf of the [NAME] District, I want to thank our school communication professionals for always telling our story."
• "Happy School Communicators Day from all of us at [NAME] District. We're so happy to recognize you for the incredible work you do to keep our students, staff, families and communities informed."

NSPRA will feature the videos on our website, in messaging to school communicators, at our National Seminar, on social media and more. You can email the recording directly to editorial@nspra.org or drop in the shared folder below. Be sure to say your name in the video or include your name as part of the video file name (e.g., schoolcomday-Jane-Smith.mp4).

Upload Video

Staff Emails and Social Media Shoutouts

Use sample messaging to give shout-out to your district communication professional or team on School Communicators Day in an all-staff email. Click here for sample messaging.

And don't forget to recognize them on social media. Download sample messaging, graphics and more below to create a meaningful social media post on School Communicators Day. Use the hashtag #SchoolCommunicatorsDay and tag @NSPRA in your social media posts! 

Use a Template to Recognize a School Communicator on Social Media

Access Template

Sample Messaging

Download Ready-to-Go Graphic for Social Media 

Download

Sample Messaging