Rockford — A new podcast is spreading the word and amplifying the message about what’s happening at Rockford Public Schools.
“Rams News and Views,” helmed by Superintendent Steve Matthews and launched in April, is a twice-monthly program highlighting the district’s students, staff and stories. So far, episodes have covered construction projects, the importance of literacy, student experiences and what music means to music teachers, among other topics.
Matthews said the idea for “Rams News and Views” came to him during a conference, where he heard about how useful and effective podcasts can be in spreading school district messaging.
“Podcasts seem to be a thing that people listen to and get information from,” Matthews said, “so I thought maybe that would be a way for us to continue to communicate about the district.”
The goal, he said, is simple: “It really is a way for people to hear the voices of people in our school district — both students and staff — and get a perspective on some of the things that are going on.”
The Right Platform
Matthews said podcasting lends itself to the district’s needs more than, say, social media platforms.
“With a podcast we can, hopefully, manage the message that we’re trying to get out there by identifying what we think are critical topics that we want to cover or talk about,” he said. “Oftentimes, the daily response through Facebook or Instagram or Twitter — that instant-message piece doesn’t really give you the big-picture perspective of what we’re trying to do.”
The program, Matthews said, offers an opportunity to talk in depth about issues of importance to the district.
“How we engage students, how we work with parents to create a great community, how our staff thinks about meaningful instruction in the classroom — these are some of the topics that we think deserve a longer form.”
Each episode is planned by Matthews, along with Michael Ramm, assistant superintendent of instruction, and Lisa Jacobs, executive director of community services. The three come up with topics and float ideas for sources, which Matthews then pursues.
Matthews records with guests using equipment from student-led media outlet Beyond the Rock at Rockford High School. Recordings are edited by BTR teacher Jason Springer, and released on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and other major podcast platforms on the 15th and 30th of each month.
‘It really is a way for people to hear the voices of people in our school district — both students and staff — and get a perspective on some of the things that are going on.’
— Rockford Superintendent Steve Matthews
Meaningful Conversations
The podcast has already yielded some valuable insights.
“I’ve had a couple of opportunities to talk to students and to get their feedback on their experiences at the high school has been pretty meaningful to me,” Matthews said, emphasizing the importance of hearing directly from students about how they handle stress and embrace support.
He said it was also enlightening to hear from band and choir teachers about how music education can enrich students’ lives.
“Those kinds of conversations are pretty meaningful to have, because the day-to-day life of a superintendent is often not about what’s really the true impact of education,” Matthews said. “It’s more about making sure the buses run on time, the lunches get served, our grading system is good and those kinds of things. You don’t often get to talk about the real impact of education. This podcast has really given us an opportunity to do that.”
Expect upcoming episodes to feature coaches and athletic directors, the soon-to-open Edgerton Trails Elementary and more.
“My hope is that this is a vehicle for us to talk about those great things that we do. And, at times, maybe we’ll wrestle with a topic or two, because there are things that we struggle with, just like every school district does,” Matthews said. “But hopefully this will give us an opportunity to talk about it in a way that adds insight and not fuel to the fire.”
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