PEOPLE
2023 EDUCATION EDITION
Sarah Blakelock Conroe ISD’s director of communications
BY CASSANDRA JENKINS
Sarah Blakelock hit her 10-year anniversary as director of communications for Conroe ISD in July. Blakelock’s role includes supporting campus communication, working with the media, and monitoring the social media and website presence for the school district as well as printing and graphic services. This interview was conducted July 31 and has been edited for length and clarity.
WHAT DO YOU FIND SURPRISING ABOUT YOUR ROLE IN COMMUNICATIONS? The thing that I nd most surprising is how much joy that communication brings. We get to celebrate so much with our children and their successes and our families. That was an element that I had not considered to the degree that I get to experience it in this role. There are challenging days, but there are a lot of days that just ll me up with goodness. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES OF BEING IN CHARGE OF SCHOOL COMMUNI CATIONS RIGHT NOW? One of the most challenging aspects of this job is helping people understand how large our district is. We strive to provide context and updates from all six of our feeder zones through our various communication platforms to help with this. Another challenge is overcoming misinformation that circulates from time to time. We work to be transparent in all areas and direct community members to good sources of information. ARE THERE ANY NEW COMMUNICATION TOOLS OR RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO PARENTS AND THE COMMUNITY TO HELP THEM STAY ON TOP OF NEWS AND INFOR MATION THEY NEED? We are always looking for ways to make com- munication more e cient and streamlined for families. We know that everybody has a limited amount of bandwidth, and having too many platforms isn’t consistent. So, we are investigating an app that can help parents streamline some of
that school and district information. We anticipate sharing more this fall. WHAT WILL YOUR ROLE BE IN KEEPING STAKEHOLDERS INFORMED ABOUT TOPICS SUCH AS THE UPCOMING BOND REFERENDUM? I work very closely with communicating infor- mation about the bond. My role moving forward is, once the bond is called ... to make all voting members of our public understand what their community peers put together as a recommen- dation. We want our community to be involved. We all feel connected to education. Giving people the information that they want only builds that trust. We want to help people understand complex issues through individual conversation or public presentations. AS THE DISTRICT GROWS, WHAT CHAL LENGES DO YOU SEE FOR YOUR DEPART MENT IN THE COMING YEARS? As the district grows, one of the greatest challenges is maintaining that community feel. We pride ourselves on feeling like a small school district, and when you increase enrollment, one of the few ways to continue feeling like a small school district is through relationship building and communication. That means more engage- ment activities, more opportunities for people to learn about the district and to interact with one another. Our role will be to continue to nd ways to bring people together.
Sarah Blakelock manages communications, social media, graphics and printing in Conroe ISD.
COURTESY CONROE ISD
CREATING COMMUNICATIONS Sarah Blakelock, director of communications for Conroe ISD, is also in charge of social media and printing for the entire school district. Her role includes:
Working with the media
Maintaining the website and social media
Creating infographics
Printing yers, pamphlets and documents
Supporting campus communications
43
THE WOODLANDS EDITION • AUGUST 2023
Powered by FlippingBook