As reported in the Garrett County Board of Education’s Oct. 13 public meeting, here’s the news.
The Garrett County Board of Education on Tuesday, Oct. 13, approved a one-year, $118,800 contract with AMSA Creative Marketing, LLC to run a marketing and communications campaign for Garrett County Public Schools. No board member voted against it. Superintendent Dr. Nicole Miller told the board the campaign grows out of one of her top priorities: keeping students in GCPS and bringing more in.
The goal, she said, is for GCPS to be a school system families actively choose because they understand what’s available to their children. The campaign will put special emphasis on secondary programs and pathways, including dual enrollment, career and technical education (CTE) and Advanced Placement.
Miller said stakeholder input over the last several months showed many families don’t know what those programs are or how students can get into them. She also noted that a number of students who are homeschooling or choosing other options are at the secondary level. GCPS put out its request for proposals on Sept. 17, and five firms responded.
A review committee narrowed the field to AMSA and M2 Digital Solutions, LLC, and interviewed both on Oct. 7 before recommending AMSA. According to the board memo, AMSA has ten years of marketing experience, six of them working with public school systems. Miller said she checked with Howard County Public Schools, which used AMSA for a teacher recruitment campaign. That campaign drew 338 applicants and at least 30 hires, she said. AMSA’s proposal lays out four focus areas, all of which will be fine-tuned after the firm meets with staff and community members:
- A countywide “Garrett Promise” campaign
- A parent toolkit explaining dual enrollment, CTE and AP pathways
- A pride campaign spotlighting Northern and Southern Garrett high schools
- A CTE showcase with student and employer testimonial videos
Proposed pieces include a monthly good-news newsletter, an annual state of the schools report, social media templates, short videos and a commemorative history booklet. Don’t expect to see much right away. The firm works on a 30-60-90 day plan, starting with on-site discovery, then building a full marketing plan, then early production. Miller told the board visible results likely won’t show up until after Christmas, and video production probably won’t wrap up until spring, so it can be filmed outside of winter weather and used for years. The proposal doesn’t include paid advertising.
Miller said that in a small rural county, partnerships with local businesses, word of mouth and local channels are a better way to reach the families GCPS wants to reach, and the school system already has contact information for homeschooling families. Asked whether there was a target for how many students the campaign should bring back, Miller said no specific number was set, and that success would be tracked in part through social media reach. To pay for the contract, the board approved a separate budget transfer moving $95,000 into the research, evaluation and information line.
The money comes from $25,000 in driver’s education, which the memo attributes to an overage from grant funding, and $70,000 from academic intervention tied to a transition away from i-Ready Math. Miller said AMSA will come before the board to present its plans.
The board’s next meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Dennett Road Educational Complex in Oakland. Agenda and documents from the Oct. 13 meeting are posted on the board’s website, and the meeting video is on the GCPS YouTube channel.
