Lexington One earns multiple school communications awards

June 3, 2015

LEXINGTON, SC — Lexington County School District One earned several 2015 Rewards for Excellence awards from the South Carolina Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association. The Rewards for Excellence Program recognizes outstanding communications and public relations efforts by schools and school districts.

The Lexington One Communications Office received 11 awards. The office won awards in the calendar, Golden Achievement, Golden Medallion, newsletter, photography, PowerPoint, special purpose publication and special purpose video categories.

Chief Communications Officer Mary Beth Hill won a Golden Medallion Award for the district’s InfoSnap Online Student Registration Rollout Communications Plan. The InfoSnap Online Student Registration Rollout Communications Plan was a comprehensive plan that included educating and informing staff and parents about the new online registration. The plan relied on several tools to effectively communicate the process including a timeline for communicating the rollout of the district’s new online student registration system and carefully defined and crafted consistent messages that communicated key ideas. Golden Medallion Awards recognize superior overall educational public relations and communications programs.

The Communications Office also received three Golden Achievement Awards. The first for a Schools of the Future—Now! communications plan that explains the district’s strategic direction including its vision of the 21st century graduate and the redesign of the system of learning. The other Golden Achievement Awards recognized the office’s exemplary efforts in the “Dream Big—Making Dreams Reality in Lexington One” video series and the 2013–2014 Retirees Banquet.

Seven Lexington One schools received awards for public relations efforts executed at the school-level. The school public relations correspondents and winning schools include: Media Specialist Jamey Crumpton from Gilbert Elementary, newsletter category; Computer Lab Instructor Belinda Finley from Lexington Elementary, special purpose video category; Director Bryan Hearn and Curriculum Specialist Anna Reeside from Lexington Technology Center, identity/image package category; Third-Grade Teacher Michelle Lutz from Meadow Glen Elementary, (two awards) photography category; Executive Secretary Tracy Shealy from Oak Grove Elementary, newsletter and special purpose publication categories; Media Specialist Debbie Jackson from Pelion High, calendar category; and Assistant Principal Janet Ricard and Technology Integration Specialist Lawton Swann from Saxe Gotha Elementary, newsletter category.