CLIENT: DeKalb County School District (DCSD) aka DeKalb Schools

DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is Georgia’s third-largest school district. It has a diverse population with one hundred sixty languages spoken by stakeholders. DeKalb Schools has 92,000 students, 14,000 employees, and 137 schools. The district’s minority enrollment is 90%, and 51.1% of students are economically disadvantaged. In addition to schoolhouses, the district includes central office staff such as Human Resources, Finance, Operations, Public Safety, and Curriculum & Instruction.

The vision of DCSD is to inspire our community of learners to achieve educational excellence. The mission is to ensure student success, leading to higher education, work, and life-long learning. The motto of DCSD is to inspire, achieve, and excel. 

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PROBLEMS

• Low morale (multiple transitions and employee crises)
• Low teacher recruitment and retention
• Unstable brand identity due to many logos and themes
• Lack of diverse representation
• Low graduation rate

SOLUTIONS

• Redesign the DeKalb County Public Schools logo and create the DeKalb County School District logo.
• Create a marketing campaign to instill pride, trust, and celebrate good news. 
• Photograph positive images, including staff, families, and students celebrating student achievement and a healthy work environment.
• Conduct media planning for advertising.
• Develop I Love DeKalb Schools-branded swag and merchandise items to solidify brand identity for the upcoming E-store and Alumni site.
• Develop a social media calendar utilizing #ilovedcsd and graphics.
• Take photos with the #Ilovedcsd message in mind and use them across all communication platforms (web, social, outdoor, mobile, etc.)
• Develop a DCSD Style Standards Guide and logo story so that the same logo is used throughout the district.
• Develop an I Love DeKalb Schools legacy logo that speaks to culture and pride.

PROJECT

I Love DeKalb Schools campaign, including social, web, outdoor, print, video, and television advertising.

LEADERSHIP ROLE 

As Director of Communications, I directed the marketing communications and creative strategy. This entails hands-on work and driving a team and contractors to create assets for the campaign and roll out promotions.

MY APPROACH

• I researched diverse school districts and reviewed their data, such as social media insights. Due to mistrust of use of taxpaying dollars throughout the district, I wanted to ensure fiscal responsibility when considering the campaign and marketing spend. Running a high-quality campaign, including graphics, video, advertising, and merchandise, was key. While full advertising campaigns are standard in corporate, public education can often frown upon spending. I reviewed neighboring school districts’ websites and social media pages, such as Gwinnett County and Fulton County Public Schools – their images, copy, collateral, design, and merchandise. The goal was to ensure pictures and graphics displayed achievement, excitement, diversity, academic excellence, the future, and school district pride. The I Love DeKalb Schools campaign needed a comprehensive campaign that exemplified legacy. 
• My approach also involved empowering schoolhouses to tell their unique story and become good news ambassadors by using #ilovedcsd and tagging @dekalbschools district account on social.
•  While crafting the strategy, I asked myself:
•  Is the content diverse?
•  Where is my audience?
•  Will they be inspired?

RESULTS 

• Stakeholders have a brand and school district they can be proud of and want to support despite negative media and news.
• Human Resources have a brand that promotes recruitment and retention efforts.
• Old graphics and logos are disappearing, and staff have an employee hub to retrieve updated logos and graphics.
• Stakeholders are more educated on what diversity means, including people of color.
• Trust is being restored in the DCSD community. 
• DCSD Style Standards are now being adopted, and brand identity is more consistent and celebrated

• The name “disturbing the peace” made connecting external partners and sponsors challenging and caused fear and confusion, particularly with consumers.

SOLUTIONS

• Ludacris and his partners wanted to keep the Disturbing Tha Peace name.  Therefore, a new logo was needed so that partners would see DTP, the acronym, instead of Disturbing Tha Peace.
• The goal was to work with a graphic designer who would make the logo trendy and robust, with the letters DTP as the focus.

PROJECT

Create a new logo for business, branding, and partnerships. The first logo would be used for the Disturbing Tha Peace group. The new logo would be branded for business, advertising, collateral, album packaging, and video.  

LEADERSHIP ROLE

As Director of Marketing, I directed the marketing and creative strategy for albums and other brands associated with artists, including films. 

MY APPROACH

• I selected a graphic designer who wasn’t afraid to take risks and embrace hip-hop culture. Kevin “mr.soul” Harp created a cutting-edge logo that would take DTP in a new direction. 

RESULTS 

• DTP became a multi-million dollar company with strong partnerships.
• Customer service became easier, particularly with cold-calling partners and agencies and using the name DTP Records as opposed to Disturbing Tha Peace Records.
• The new logo was embraced by fans and the music industry.

CLIENT: DeKalb County School District (DCSD) aka DeKalb Schools 

DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is Georgia’s third-largest school district. It has a diverse population with one hundred sixty languages spoken by stakeholders. DeKalb Schools has 92,000 students, 14,000 employees, and 137 schools. The district’s minority enrollment is 90%, and 51.1% of students are economically disadvantaged. In addition to schoolhouses, the district includes central office staff such as Human Resources, Finance, Operations, Public Safety, and Curriculum & Instruction. 

The vision of DCSD is to inspire our community of learners to achieve educational excellence. The mission is to ensure student success, leading to higher education, work, and life-long learning. The motto of DCSD is to inspire, achieve, and excel. 

PROBLEM

• Cyberbullying in schoolhouses.
• Students are unaware of the short and long-term consequences of cyberbullying.

SOLUTIONS

• Develop a cyberbullying campaign, including video, collateral, and social media.
• Develop social media guidelines for students.

PROJECT

Develop a Just Post It Safely campaign for schoolhouses to be celebrated on Cyber Safety Day that all students can participate in.

LEADERSHIP ROLE

As Director of Communications, I crafted and implemented this campaign’s marketing and creative strategy. I worked closely with my graphic design, online content, and video production team to bring the campaign to life and impact student achievement. 

MY APPROACH

• Identify a name/slogan that connects with students.
• Create a fashionable logo students find relevant and want to wear.
• Develop Post It Safely graphics, swag, and collateral to be used district-wide.
• Write a commercial to run on channel 24 and select talent.
• Work closely with a student advisory focus group to ensure the logo is well-received.
• Test out creative on different backgrounds and video.
• Develop student social media guidelines to support students with online etiquette.

RESULTS 

• DCSD students are more aware of online etiquette and how to stay safe on the internet.
• Cyberbullying incidents are down 10% in DCSD.
• Students enjoy our swag with a strong message.

–CLIENT: DeKalb County School District (DCSD) aka DeKalb Schools 

DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is Georgia’s third-largest school district. It has a diverse population with one hundred sixty languages spoken by stakeholders. DeKalb Schools has 92,000 students, 14,000 employees, and 137 schools. The district’s minority enrollment is 90%, and 51.1% of students are economically disadvantaged. In addition to schoolhouses, the district includes central office staff such as Human Resources, Finance, Operations, Public Safety, and Curriculum & Instruction. 

The vision of DCSD is to inspire our community of learners to achieve educational excellence. The mission is to ensure student success, leading to higher education, work, and life-long learning. The motto of DCSD is to inspire, achieve, and excel. 

PROBLEM

• DeKalb County School District teachers and schoolhouse staff rely on the district communications department to tell their good news. All 137 schoolhouses are unique with a story to tell and need to get out their good news. The district communications team is too small to tell the story of the entire district.
• Stakeholders complain that the good news is not getting out about the district.

SOLUTIONS

• Create an infographic and poster to empower district staff to share their good news.
• Write a good news television program that captures good news throughout the district.

PROJECT

Develop a Good News Ambassador program and empower the district to tell their story.

LEADERSHIP ROLE

As Director of Communications, I was responsible for ensuring that the campaign objectives, goals, and strategies were all in line with our overall organizational mission. My team and I worked tirelessly to create compelling visuals, content, and video pieces that accurately conveyed the message of the campaign. Additionally, we consistently monitored performance indicators such as engagement rate on social media platforms, web traffic analytics, and school district data to ensure that our plans were delivering the desired results. 

MY APPROACH

• Send an e-blast identifying good news ambassadors.
• Identify how to share the good news
• Work with a graphic designer to make the graphic visually appealing.
• Post in the teacher break lounge in a high trafficked area so that teachers get comfortable with sharing the good news.
• Send out a videographer to schools who are in low income areas and need the support.

RESULTS 

• DCSD teachers and school staff are more aware of how to share the good news.
• DCSD good news has increased by 10%.