- February 26, 2025
Should Flagler Schools continue to advertise on the radio?
Flagler County School Board member Janie Ruddy doesn’t think so. At the board’s Feb. 25 business meeting, Ruddy questioned December vendor payments to Flagler Broadcasting.
“I am curious as to what the advertising or promotional materials that Flagler Broadcasting is doing for us that we felt we're not getting enough coverage through our outreach,” Ruddy said.
Superintendent LaShakia Moore said the ads on WNZF provide a range of information to the broader public including school activities and upcoming meetings.
“We don’t feel like our website, the phone calls, the Remind app is enough for that?” Ruddy asked.
Moore said in survey questions about communication the district continuously hears that individuals are not aware of what’s happening in the school district.
“We think about our radio advertising as an opportunity to reach specifically to our community … who may not be getting Remind or may not be following us on our social media outlets,” Moore said.
Board member Derek Barrs and Chair Will Furry agreed that radio is a good method to communicate to the community at large.
“If it does come to the point where we have to tighten our belts, which I believe we’re probably going to end up having to do,” Barrs said, “then we’ll need to readdress this going forward. But at this point I think it is a way for us to communicate with our families above and beyond what we’re able to do with our own social media.”
Ruddy asked if the ads were targeted to a specific demographic. Moore said they were usually aired on Mondays, but she wasn’t sure what times during the day. WNZF is a news station.
“I just feel we have our own in-house communications team,” Ruddy said, which offers “a plethora of lower cost or free options.”
Furry said he agreed that the board needs to watch its spending but added that the previous board had been tasked with improving communication not just to parents and students.
“Some of the tools we have in house are more focused and the audience tends to be parents and those associated with education in Flagler County, where the radio has a broader reach. It reaches the entire community, telling the community what’s happening at Flagler Schools, because they're also stakeholders,” Furry said. “So that is where there is value in these type of broader broadcasting messages, in my opinion.”
Ruddy asked if there was a plan to evaluate the outcome of the ads or to resurvey.
Furry noted that the payments have already been made and the board could discuss the question in a future workshop.
But Ruddy said the ads are just one of the expenditures, big or small, that the board should look at further.
“What I’m saying is that I would like to take a look at some of these things that maybe are not the essentials when we already know that there are some big changes regarding our student population and we’re going to need to think about what’s essential and what’s not,” Ruddy said.
“I just want to add,” Moore said, “that especially as we go into budget season and we make whatever changes we need in order for this board to set the budget … it is then my responsibility to use those dollars appropriately.”
Because Ruddy had pulled the radio payments off the consent agenda, the item was put up for an individual vote. The payments were approved 4-1 with Ruddy opposing.
