T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Director of Communications Abby Koch, right, discusses the prospect of hiring an additional staff member in her department while school board members Leah Stanley, Maria Morales and Karina Hernandez look on during Monday night’s meeting.

After spending about 10 minutes presenting a social media update for the district and highlighting the growth in her two plus years in the position, Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Director of Communications Abby Koch asked the school board to consider adding a team member to the communications staff during Monday night’s meeting.

During the first presentation, Koch noted that the MCSD primarily utilizes Facebook and Instagram and has recently surpassed 10,000 followers on the former and 600 on the latter. The Facebook page only had about 7,000 followers when she started, and the Instagram account was launched just a year and a half ago.

She also showed the board some specific examples of videos they’ve made incorporating pop culture touchstones like “Spongebob Squarepants” and the Van Halen song “Jump” and also discussed her appearance on a national podcast popular among communications professionals.

The next agenda item, which Board Member Zach Wahl jumped into a bit early with a question pertaining to it during the first presentation, resulted in a longer conversation as Koch and Superintendent Theron Schutte explained the impetus for the desire to create a communications specialist position and hire an individual intended to assist Koch in carrying out her duties.

During Schutte’s nine years leading the MCSD, communications has always been a one-person department, which he described as “a burnout job.”

The district does contract out some of the work to companies like the Donovan Group, Austin Chadderdon with Soul or System Photography and even classes at the high school. Reflecting on his speech during Sunday’s commencement ceremony, Schutte praised the Class of 2025 for re-instilling a sense of “Bobcat Pride” and felt Koch’s efforts had played a major role in doing so.

“We need to sustain that, and we need to build on that. But it’s gonna be difficult to build on that in a significant way without some support, in my opinion,” he said.

Board member Karina Hernandez told Koch she loved checking social media to see the positive content being shared on behalf of the MCSD, and she joked that took great pride in being called “Camera Girl” and “Social Media Girl” by elementary students. While she acknowledged the ephemeral nature of the platforms the district posts on, Koch touted the content they produce as not just a source of Bobcat Pride but also a recruiting tool for families as they decide where to send their children.

She then dove into a more detailed rundown of what the communications department does and why she felt the additional team member was necessary.

“Our job is to share the positive stories so loudly that the negative becomes almost impossible to hear,” Koch said.

Some of the key initiatives in the last few years, she added, have included work surrounding the Reimagine Miller bond issue, the renewal of the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) and the “Embrace the Lead” video series. Koch has also worked closely with the Marshalltown Education Partnership (MEP), Leadership Marshalltown and the Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation, among others.

According to Koch, the MCSD is among the largest districts in the state with a single communications professional on staff, and she has found herself in situations where she has had to choose between multiple compelling stories to tell on a given day.

“It’s becoming more and more competitive as school districts go forward in the current climate,” she said.

While the new position, which would be hourly for 250 days a year and land in a salary range between $45,000 and $50,000, would ultimately add to the district’s overall budget, Koch and Schutte did see an opportunity to offset at least some of that cost through a reduction in contracted services.

“That would really cut down on what we’re spending, or better yet, translating it to we have a person onsite who has those abilities and talents to design something, take video, edit, going forward with it so, really, turning that cost into a person that has the connection with our schools. They know what our story is. They know our brand. They know how to put ourselves forward. That’s really going to make a key difference,” Koch said.

Wahl returned to his original question of whether peer districts had more than one person on the communications staff, and she replied that it’s being “considered” more and more. The most comparable district with a two-man staff currently is Ames, while larger districts have bigger teams.

He also asked about the potential cost savings, and Schutte predicted that about half of what is currently being spent on outside contractors could be completed in-house. Even when they are utilized, Schutte noted, Koch generally works closely to coordinate and explain the project and the district’s wants and needs.

“I’ve always been very guarded and stringent about adding staffing. I mean, every communications director that we’ve had since I’ve been here has wanted to grow it, and I wanted to make sure that before we did grow it, that we were maximizing our potential of what we had, not just with that person but with building out to other staff members,” Schutte said. “Abby would be the first to say it takes a village with this sort of thing in getting the word out. One person can’t do it. Two people aren’t gonna be able to do it. We’ve gotta be able to continue to build out at the building level, department level, ambassador level and eventually student level… I think we all realize the challenges that Marshalltown’s always had to try to convince our residents that we’re the best show in the county, and that’s not gonna change. If anything, it’s become more competitive. I think we have done a great job at changing the trajectory of that as it relates to open enrollment particularly, but we can’t take our foot off the pedal with it either. So I think the time is right.”

In response to another question about cost, Koch said the district spends over $2,000 a month with one vendor, and she hoped that whoever would potentially fill the position would play a complementary role and bring their own unique set of strengths to the district. Schutte reiterated that while the job would still cost the district more than it is currently spending, between ¼ and ⅔ of it could be offset with work being done in house.

“I just think the time is right for us to make this move if we want to move this work forward from where it’s at because I think there’s more that we can do to help support it throughout the district, but I don’t think I can ask more of what Abby’s been doing at this current time,” Schutte said.

Koch added that in situations where she has to put other projects on hold and deal with a public relations emergency, the second staffer could jump in and carry on that work in the meantime. Director of Business and Operations Randy Denham couldn’t provide a long-term analysis on how the position would affect the financial picture, but Schutte did say it would likely be one of the first on the chopping block if reductions became necessary in the future as it is the furthest from impacting students in the classroom.

Ultimately, the board did not take any action but agreed to revisit the matter at a future meeting. Denham also requested more information that would help him provide a more accurate financial outlook.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed by a 5-0 vote with Elizabeth Wise absent and Sara Faltys abstaining.

• Heard a presentation on the Bobcat Ready program from CPDL Jenny Allen, High School Principal Justin Boliver and College and Career Readiness Counselor Adam Van Arkel.

• Heard an update on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) from SEL/CPDL Lead Valerie Corson.

• Approved the K-6 science curriculum for the next five years at a total cost of $509,386.57.

• Approved the 2025-2026 student handbooks for transportation, preschool, elementary, Lenihan, Miller Middle School, MHS and the Marshalltown Learning Academy.

• Approved the 2025-2026 MCSD employee handbook and appendices as presented.

• Approved Mylie Dougall, Nyemade Harmon and Audrey Miller-Phifer as the 2025-2026 student school board representatives.

• Approved the RTI quote proposal for the new Cisco Webex Cloud Calling licensing in the amount of $49,087.26.

• Approved the purchase of the property at 108 S. 12th St. for $160,000 as part of the Reimagine Miller project.

• Approved a resolution for the plans, specifications, form of contract and estimated cost for the MHS parking lot project.

• Approved the 2025-2026 Central Rivers AEA contracted services agreements as presented.

• Approved a motion to establish a 28E agreement to participate in the statewide Storm Protection Fund for school districts at a cost of $130,966.

• Approved the regular meeting dates for the 2025-2026 school year as presented.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.