At the Texas School Public Relations Association’s (TSPRA) 60th Annual Conference held this week, Victoria ISD’s Ashley Scott, executive director of Communications and Public Relations, won the association’s Rookie of the Year award.
Each year, the TSPRA Professional Awards Committee honors its members, persons in the media and public education supporters. The Rookie of the Year award is given to a TSPRA member in good standing who has been employed in school public relations up to 36 months by the nomination deadline. The recipient of this award demonstrates a creative, dedicated and professional approach to school communications.
Scott is in her second year of school public relations and communications, all of which she’s spent at VISD.
“Ashley has catapulted the Victoria Independent School District forward in so many ways it almost seems mind-boggling she has been here for just two years,” said Superintendent Quintin Shepherd. “Entering during the midst of a pandemic would be difficult for anyone in communications and she has been exceptional. I am so glad she was awarded Rookie of the Year.”
Following Finding 3.1 in VISD’s District Strategic Plan, Scott has been dedicated to achieving effective, two-way communication between the District and its community. She has followed the directions outlined in this Finding to create radical transparency while improving existing communications using feedback from the community.
In Scott’s first year with VISD, she led and carried out many new additions to create multiple avenues for communication with the Victoria community. Scott,
established bonds with local media outlets in order to share important VISD news to the community, including VISD’s “School Matters” column featured biweekly in the Victoria Advocate;
led the transition and launch of a new user-friendly district and campus website and;
spearheaded the creation of VISD’s first-ever mobile app where the community can view everything they would on the website, on their phones;
created more accessibility for the community to stay informed by having additional cameras put in the VISD Board Room with the ability to live-stream board meetings;
formed a partnership with the City of Victoria to stream board meetings on local television channels.
Along with her team, Scott also grew District social media channels at a remarkable rate. From August 2020 to July 2021, Facebook saw a 10% increase in followers and 311% increase in engagement, Instagram saw a 13% increase in followers and 381% increase in engagement, Twitter saw a 32% increase in followers and 41% increase in engagement, LinkedIn saw a 14% increase in followers and 330% increase in engagement, and YouTube saw a 542% increase in followers and 55.47% increase in engagement.
Under Scott, written communication produced by VISD increased as well. Press releases and statements published by the district increased 197% from August 2020 to July 2021.
Most recently, Scott and her department began producing the first-ever districtwide e-newsletter at the beginning of November 2021. To date, the weekly e-newsletter has reached over 260 subscribers with an average open rate of 72% and an average click rate of 13%, 41% above the industry average.
In October 2021, Scott also presented the first-ever Communications Review to the Victoria ISD Board of Trustees. The Communications Annual Review will be presented annually each October, providing trustees, parents/guardians, and stakeholders an overview of current communication strategies and the progress of the departments’ efforts.
Victoria ISD would like to offer Mrs. Scott a huge congratulations on this achievement.