Lockport school PR staff working to get voters to the polls

Benjamin Joe, Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
·2 min read

May 17—School board election and budget votes are coming up Tuesday and an effort to get out the vote in the Lockport City School District is underway.

Denyel Beiter and Bridget Licata, of the district's public relations team, said that the drive to promote the election this year was largely inspired by the strategic plan released in February.

While the district has advertised online and homeowners have been mailed a hard copy "budget newsletter," Beiter and Licata said that the district, and specifically their department, is trying to get the word out to residents in a distinct way.

"It is a sub-set of the strategic plan. We're really trying to bring the community in. Community engagement. Transparency. All that stuff. This is our budget. This is what you're looking at. We want to keep it as simplistic as possible and put it out there so you know what you're voting for," Licata said.

Among the things the department has been doing, is to create a Facebook event as part of a social media campaign.

"We're not just posting it once," Beiter said. "We're actively keeping at the top of what we're talking about on social media platforms."

Parents are also being notified via email. One of these emails is a monthly district-wide newsletter, called Lion Bytes, which features a lot of feel-good news and student profiles, and also where polling places can be found and what time they're open for voting. It is emailed each month to anyone who has signed up for email alerts.

"We do send a lot of email communication and we do have a portion of our emails that go out to community members," Licata said, but also noted she'd like to see more people sign up to learn what is happening at the schools. Currently, she estimates there are 400 to 500 email addresses on the list that she sends notifications to.

Beiter said that wherever people get their information, she seeks to put this election front and center, adding that some people like to look at social media and others prefer email, but the same information that is being posted is also being sent through the notification system.

"We're really trying to reach as many people at as many platforms as possible," she said.

To sign up for notifications, either through phone, text or email, interested members of the community can go to https://www.lockportschools.org/Page/10506.