Communications and engagement designed to empower and inspire students, families, staff and the community in a large urban k-12 public school district.
As Chief Communications Officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), solid founder Tracy Russ led a team of 25 communications and production staff members responsible for internal and external communications in the nation’s 15th largest K-12 public school district with 150,000 students, 19,000 employees, 175 schools and a $1.5B annual budget.
Strategic communications and engagement strategies focused on building equity and increasing transparency. The Empower & Inspire strategy built capacity and access for students, families, staff and community in support of the district strategic plan and created stronger platforms for educational attainment.
A complete re-imagining and re-design of the CMS district brand and identity provided better access to information and stories that empower and inspire students, families, staff and the community within an area growing more diverse every day. Take a look at the new CMS Brand + Identity Book above.
Clear protocols for district communications ensured that important information, announcements and needed notices were shared in ways that equipped leaders and staff to respond to questions, gave students, families and staff knowledge they needed and avoided surprises, and created transparency across the community through social and traditional media outlets. A new CMS brand platform, Hello CMS, augmented traditional district community information with longer form narratives and digital discussions through a new magazine and podcast.
A new annual budget campaign, Our Kids Need Us, featured easy to understand budget descriptions, a dedicated website, infographics and community engagement sessions to provide people across the community opportunities to help prioritize district focus areas and allocate budget resources with community input.
Access to information in well-designed formats and across platforms empowers and inspires everyone’s aspirations for K-12 education. Simplified infographics and a magazine format available digitally and in hard copies conveyed CMS key information in new ways.
What Matters Most - the CMS strategic plan.
The CMS Way - the vision, mission, beliefs behind the CMS strategy.
They Are Ready - clear, grade-by-grade expected outcomes for CMS students.
Student enrollment and magnet/choice school outreach campaigns helped make sure students and families knew and could take advantage of opportunities in Career & Technical Education (CTE) and CMS magnet School Choice options across the district.