MARKETING & RECRUITMENT DURING COVID-19
Concurrent Session
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 @ 2:00PM ET
Recruiting for magnet schools can be hard even when we aren't in the middle of a pandemic. Students and families are drawn to magnet schools for their innovative approach to learning through a specific theme or area of academic focus, while promoting choice, equity, diversity, access, and excellence. Magnet students are exposed daily to a culturally and socio-economically diverse student population which challenges their world view.
How do you reach prospective students during the pandemic? Now, with a shift to hybrid learning models or 100% virtual learning environments, student experiences have drastically changed. Join Tamani Anderson Powell, Wake County Schools' Office of Magnet and Curriculum Enhancement Programs, and Jon Wren, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tennessee, to learn what their two districts have done and are doing to elevate their outreach to students and their parents.
Tamani Anderson Powell
Tamani Anderson Powell is an educator by training but a people person at heart. She enjoyed teaching in the middle school setting for 9 years before serving as an assistant principal for 2 years. In her position as the Director of Marketing and Communication for Wake County Schools’ Office of Magnet and Curriculum Enhancement Programs, she has combined her passion for people with her desire to see all students succeed. She welcomes the opportunity to assist families as they explore varied educational choices in WCPSS and models excellent customer service as one strategy to attract families to magnet schools. She works closely with the office of student assignment on selection priorities that allow WCPSS’s magnet schools to achieve the goal of integrated student populations; with the office of communications to ensure that the message about WCPSS’s magnets reaches the target market; and with the office of transportation to find solutions to the challenges of bringing students to magnet schools.
Tamani was raised to give back to her community and donates time and energy to better her local community through her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, and St. Ambrose Episcopal Church. She loves time spent with her husband, children, and extended family; the sound of the ocean as well as a great baseball game; and opportunities to see the world.
Jon Wren
Jon Wren serves as the Magnet Coordinator for Warner Arts Magnet Elementary, an MSAP Grant funded Elementary School with the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. As the Magnet Lead, he has launched a comprehensive initiative to successfully re-brand Warner as a magnet school while incorporating teacher and student efficacy models at the core of school culture and climate. During his time at Warner, the school has moved from level 1 to level 5 on the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) scale. In cooperation with a community non-profit, the school has adopted a non-traditional approach to address student discipline and suspension rates by incorporating mindfulness, breathing, and childhood yoga, which helped to decrease student discipline referrals by 80% and out-of-school suspensions by 90%. Warner has seen a steady increase in diversity thanks to creative and community partner-based outreach including the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Amazon, & Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Currently Warner is the subject of the 2nd season of the NPR Podcast “The Promise” highlighting the work of diversity and equity challenges in gentrified neighborhoods. Jon holds a B.S. from Kansas State and an M.A. from the University of Nottingham. He is a below average skier, has been bitten by a penguin, and once got a ticket for driving too slow.