By LOUISE PLATTER-Variety Writer
The “Proud to be CCSD” campaign works to establish a positive view of the Clarke County School District among those in the community.
When the Clarke County School District Director of Public Relations and Communications Anisa Sullivan-Jimenez first moved to Athens eight years ago, people in the community were concerned about the educational opportunities for her future CCSD child.
“When I first moved here people said, ‘When you get ready to buy a house you need to move to another county or look into private school,’ but my husband was a teacher at Clarke Central and he said, ‘I don’t think you’re hearing the whole story,’” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
The community shows its support for the “Proud to be CCSD” billboard campaign through their donations.
According to Sullivan-Jimenez, it has been difficult to spread awareness about the positives of the school district with misinformation circulating.
“I think for years there has been a lack of recognition in the community of the achievement of (CCSD) students,” CCHS Principal Dr. Robbie P. Hooker said.
Although the CCSD’s graduation rate has steadily improved over the past eight years from 50 percent to more than 70 percent, many people in the county are still wary of public schools.
“For a while the newspaper didn’t have anything positive to say. We do have some challenges within our school district, but we also have some great things; so could you please talk about that?” Hooker said.
As a small promotion for the 2012 AthHalf Marathon, Sullivan-Jimenez distributed seventy free shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Proud to be CCSD” in hopes of inspiring school district pride among the runners.
“It was so rewarding to see people yelling, ‘Proud to be CCSD!’ as these runners went by,” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
From there the campaign began to expand. Sullivan-Jimenez featured the tagline “Proud to be CCSD” on billboards around Athens, online and in Move Magazine, accompanied by photos of CCSD graduates and their accomplishments.
The advertisements each feature one Clarke Central High School graduate and one Cedar Shoals High School graduate. Each advertisement has a specific theme, such as academics or arts.
A feature to the “Proud to be CCSD” program is the success stories and the testimonials of CCSD alumni.
“It was really important to me that we recognize two from Cedar, two from Clarke Central, two girls, two boys, and we have an African American student, White, Asian and Hispanic,” Sullivan-Jimenez said. “The message from that is all of our students can achieve and they represent a variety of socio-economic classes. I think that that really celebrates the diversity of our school district.”
According to Sullivan-Jimenez, former graduates of the school district have had an immensely positive reaction to the campaign and it has inspired many of them to come forward and express their pride in the CCSD.
“I’ve received countless emails and phone calls of people saying, ‘I’m a graduate, and I’m proud to be a graduate.’ I think that it’s given people a way to step forward because we do have so many great things happening in our school district,” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
Sullivan-Jimenez believes that CCSD pride is beneficial to current students and can influence new parents to enroll their children in public schools.
“We want everyone to feel really good about where they go to school. We want to give (our students) the assurance that when you’re a student in the Clarke County School District you can receive no better education anywhere,” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
The “Proud to be CCSD” campaign has been supported by a variety of local establishments. Sullivan-Jimenez relies on donors in order to fund the campaign due to district policy that school district funds cannot be used to pay for billboards.
Clarke County School District Director of Public Relations and Communications Anisa Sullivan-Jimenez brandishes one of the t-shirts that was distributed at the annual AthHalf Marathon. “We had seventy free t-shirts that we were able to give to students, parents and teachers,” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
“I think that because we had businesses willing to donate thousands of dollars that shows the level of support that our community has for our schools,” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
Businesses such as Georgia Power, St. Mary’s Hospital, and Georgia Credit Union have all contributed to the campaign and their input has gone into the creation of the advertisements.
“I work with them and say, ‘Is there something really specific that you’d like to promote?’ For example, Georgia Power really wanted the community to know that we’re a model technology district, and so we focused a board on that,” Sullivan-Jimenez said.
Georgia Power has had a strong relationship with school districts around the state, including the CCSD, for years.
“I’ve been here for six years in Athens and we were already supporting them when I came,” External Affairs Manager for Georgia Power in Athens, Ga., Christy Terrell said. “If you can support your education and have students coming out extremely educated then you’ve got students that are ready to be an employee of your company. “
Georgia Power’s support of the CCSD, and other educational initiatives throughout the state, goes deeper than recruiting employees for their work force.
“Stronger public schools equates to stronger communities. And Georgia Power really believes in that,” Terrell said.
The goal of the campaign is to show people in the community that their suspicion about public schools is no longer valid. While the campaign puts a dent in this perception, many people still cling to these beliefs.
“There are people that when you say you work at Clarke Central they say, ‘Oh God bless you!’ Like you’ve been sent to work at a terrible place and I laugh and say, ‘No, it’s a great place to work,’” Hooker said.
Despite these setbacks, Sullivan-Jimenez believes that this campaign has helped the school district rebuild its reputation in the county.
“I think the tide is turning. People are going out and saying, ‘Good things are going on.’ Close to sixteen people came from private schools to our open house to look at (CCHS) for their student. They hear about good things and think, ‘Should I send my child here?’” Hooker said.
Sullivan-Jimenez has experienced the campaign expanding to include more than just advertisements. Although the root of the campaign is the ads, Sullivan-Jimenez believes that it has become a platform for people to express pride in their district that they otherwise would have kept to themselves.
“It’s about people choosing to send their children here,” Sullivan-Jimenez said. “It’s about people saying, I’m proud to be a part of this school district, and it’s much more than billboards and print ads, it’s about making a decision that says, ‘I support the CCSD, and I’m proud of it.’”
