How to Prepare Yourself for a Return to the Office
As our agency is beginning the transition of working back in the office, there are many different emotions each of us are feeling. While some people are itching to return to the office, many others are feeling anxious about it. Many are experiencing fear of coming back. Those returning to the workplace will also have to navigate a “new normal” in which people social distance, wear masks and follow health protocols. This adjustment will require enormous mental energy. Though the transition to work-from-home (WFH) may have proved challenging, the transition back to the workplace may be harder. This is, in [...]
Support Staff Showcase
Did you know?
Facts About ESD 112 Communications & Public Engagement
How many team members do you have?
Communications & Public Engagement has 10 team members (11 if you count our part-time communications manager, Casey):
- Monique Dugaw, Executive Director
- Heidi Barnes, Creative & Web Development Director
- Melissa Burt, Senior Graphic Designer & Content Strategist
- Laura Martin, WordPress Developer/Content Marketing Manager
- Nick Shanmac, Communications Manager
- Amelia Holmes, Communications Manager
- Julie Gaetze, Print Center Manager
- Mary Rentzel, TV ETC Coordinator
- Karl Parker, Playback Operator
- Allison Klump, Administrative Assistant
Who does your team serve?
Our team serves our internal programs across divisions and departments, grants requiring communications support, school districts and other education entities.
What type of services do you provide to ESD 112 staff or others?
- School funding campaign planning and execution
- Crisis communications and message development
- Creative services including graphic design, strategic brand development, web development and marketing
- Internal staff relations
- Writing and editing including press releases, news, blogs, reports and more!
- Social media training and management
- Communication and customer service training
- Community engagement
- Event planning
- News releases/media relations
- Presentation development and speech writing
- Communications audits & strategic planning
- Focus group facilitation/surveying
- Video production
- Printing
Accomplishments or goals for this year?
In addition to significantly increasing external client revenue for our department over the past year, our team led COVID communications and response for the region.
Over the course of one year, our team developed hundreds of tools for our local districts, including:
- 50+ letter templates and messaging samples, with translated versions in Russian and Spanish
- Dozens of graphic flow charts used by schools to determine exclusion from school/work.
- 25 different talking points documents about complex and changing COVID issues.
- Developed and implemented 15+ marketing campaigns, websites, social media and large-format projects including environmental graphics.
- A regional website portal for news and information on COVID-19 and schools
- Dozens of news articles about COVID-19 response in schools, adaptations and guidance changes
- Coordination and facilitation of hundreds of meetings with communications leads from across the region.
Fun Facts or Interesting Tidbits?
- We have over 150 years of combined experience on our team.
- Combined, our team members have more than 20 siblings.
- Laura is a twin! 😊
- Allison and Laura both see out of only one eye at a time, and therefore can’t watch 3D movies even with 3D glasses – we still see two separate images that are off-set.
- Almost half of our team are lefties. Melissa, Karl, Nick are lefties and Monique is ambidextrous.
- Most of the team has lived in 3 or more states in their lifetime. Our sole Washingtonian, Allison, has lived on the west (best!) side of WA her whole life except while attending college in Spokane.
- Heidi’s first and middle names mean the same thing.
- Monique has found over 50 four-leaf clovers in her life.
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Tips & Tricks:
Self-Care for the Mind, Body & Soul
Self-Care for the Mind, Body & Soul
Punctuate your day with a mini-meditation with one minute of awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations; one minute of focused attention on breathing; and one minute of awareness of the body as a whole.