Communications and Community Relations provides information to a variety of stakeholders, including students, staff, families, news media and community members.
We communicate accurate and timely news about schools, programs, achievements of students and staff, opportunities for input, decisions and district policies, programs, procedures, achievements, decisions, critical education issues and emergency/weather information.
Media Relations:
Reporters can contact Dana Smith, Assistant Director of Communications, via email or at 360-676-6520.
Family Handbook and Calendar
An annual publication of Bellingham Public Schools sent in the summer mailing ahead of the start of school every school year.
InsideSchools:
InsideSchools is our community newsletter. It is mailed to homes and businesses three to four times per year. See the latest editions below.
Recent Awards:
The following Communications projects received recognition from state and national communications organizations, shining light on the great people and work of Bellingham Public Schools:
Writing
- (WSPRA, 2023)
- (WSPRA, 2023)
- (WSPRA, 2023)
- We see you, which is a message we sent to staff and families after the horrific violence against Asian-Americans in March 2021. (WSPRA, 2022)
- (WSPRA, 2022)
- (WSPRA, 2022)
Video
- : highlighting stories about annual staff and volunteer recognition program honorees. (WSPRA, 2023)
- : catching up with students we first started following through video when they were the first cohort to be in full-time kindergarten in Bellingham Public Schools. In this video, we caught up with them in their first year of high school, which happened during the pandemic. (WSPRA, 2022)
Special publication
- to share information about the fiscal year budget. (WSPRA, 2023)
- Bellingham Public Schools playground flyer to reflect our ongoing work to install inclusive playgrounds across our elementary schools. (WSPRA, 2022)
Branding
- , highlighting a rebrand effort to coincide with the opening of the new school facility. (WSPRA, 2023)
Communications/PR/Marketing
- 2022 bond information to share information about the 2022 school facilities bond. The bond passed at 60.6 percent in February 2022. (WSPRA, 2023)
Social Media
- “” for photo coverage and sharing of 2022 graduation ceremonies for Bellingham, Options, Sehome and Squalicum high schools (SocialSchool4EDU, 2023)
- “Fantastic Facilities Campaign Award” for the bond fact sheet, social media posts and videos (, and ) produced ahead of the February 2022 election. (SocialSchool4EDU, 2022)
- A campaign spotlighting both graduating seniors of the class of 2021 and staff retirements from the 2020-21 school year all on social media. You can see an and (WSPRA, 2022)
Print Newsletter or Mailer
- (WSPRA, 2023)