The Vernon Board of Education has again been honored by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) with two Bonnie B. Carney Award for Excellence in Educational Communications.
Each year the board takes multiple steps to engage parents and the community about what is happening in the Vernon Public Schools to keep to keep parents and taxpayers informed.
The board have been honored seven times since 2022 for its communication efforts.
“Communications is an essential component of district operations,” Vernon Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph P. Macary said. “Keeping our residents and parents informed about what is happening in our schools benefits everyone by increasing trust and accountability and ultimately student outcomes. We want our community to know what is happening in our schools, to see what students are doing and to be proud of what our students achieve.”
This year, the board received Carney awards in two categories: social media and websites, and for special project. The board also received honorable mentions for its district billboard campaign, and for its annual end-of-year survey.
“Communication with families and the community is a top priority of the Board of Education,” Board of Education Chairman Paul Grabowski said. “We want to make sure folks see the great work being done in our schools, and we also want to encourage feedback so we can keep making vital improvements. Our community makes a big investment in the school system, and it is essential that the public know what is happening and have a voice. We are grateful for CABE’s recognition and are committed to keeping the public informed and involved.”
For social media and website, the board was honored for its use of the “Live Feed” feature on the new district website, public service announcements distributed via the website, social media and email, and posts to Facebook and the social media site X. The new website enables district and school staff to post news about students, programs and special activities to each school’s website, the district website and social media, thereby increasing public awareness of school activities and community engagement. The school district and individual school website are updated several times a week. Those updates are then shared to social media sites Facebook and X.
The board handbook award become a model board handbook across Connecticut. The handbook gives board members the background information they need to be active and engaged board members. It provides guidelines for board members, background information about the board’s role, policies, acronyms, Robert’s Rules of Order, and procedures. Multiple districts have request copies of Vernon’s board handbook in order to emulate it, Dr. Macary said.
The honorable mentions are for the district billboard campaign, which each month highlights district news and achievements. The end of year survey provides the board and other district leaders with data from parents, faculty, staff, students and the community about their views of the Vernon Public Schools. The annual survey provides data from a cross section of the community that can be used to improve schools.