SMJ Communications

09/01/2026

08/28/2026

Behind every launch is a plan.

This month our team led brand training with ASD, launched SCOA’s new brand alongside a webinar, landed op-eds with NAFCC, supported GSNC’s school quality cohort launch, and ran a full slate with EdLoC — from Martha’s Vineyard with IFE to Leading in the Age of AI to Power in Partnership applications going live. The proof: 62–66% open rates on EdLoC member communications in early August.

Good communications aren’t loud. They’re built. 🔗 in bio

08/25/2026

Back-to-school season is a reminder that sometimes, you just need a reset. And that doesn’t only apply to classrooms. 👀

Every organization can benefit from periodically stepping back and asking:
✨ Does our website still reflect who we are today?
✨ Is our social presence telling the story we actually want people to know?
✨ Is our messaging clear, consistent, and aligned across channels?
✨ If someone discovered us for the first time today, would they understand who we are, what we do, and why it matters?

A communications reset doesn’t mean reinventing your organization or starting from scratch. Sometimes, it simply means making sure your communications have caught up with your organization.

It’s a practice we encourage with our clients, and one we believe every organization should build into its communications rhythm.

So whether you’re a school welcoming students back, a nonprofit entering a new season, or an organization preparing for what’s next, use this moment to take a look at what you’re putting into the world.

Does it still tell the right story?

Tell us in the comments: What could use a fresh start in your organization’s communications right now?

08/18/2026

Reputation management starts long before a crisis does. It is the habit of telling your own story consistently, so if something ever does go sideways, your community already knows who you are. Proactive storytelling beats reactive damage control every time.

08/12/2026

There’s a lot of noise in education right now. This week, we wanted to pause and name the partners doing the steady work that actually moves the needle for students and the communicators behind them. Swipe through a few wins worth celebrating.

128+ Southern districts are still operating under federal desegregation orders. The Equity Assistance Center isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s the infrastructure holding civil rights compliance together for schools across the region. SEF is asking the Department of Education to keep it that way.

A name change rarely means the mission changed too. This one did the opposite: it sharpened it. Same commitment to opening doors for Southern students, now with language that says exactly what the work is.

For years, the access conversation started and ended with infrastructure. This new report across six districts and five states says the real barriers now live somewhere else: affordability, adoption, digital readiness. Worth a read for any communicator still framing “access” as a hardware problem.

Every school year is a new chance to tell your story on your own terms. ASD is giving district and school leaders the tools to lead their brand this year instead of reacting to someone else’s version of it.

Meet the newest GSNC Founders Fellow, Dr. Daena Adams. Building a school means building a voice for it too, and that’s exactly what this fellowship is helping her do from the ground up.

Meet the Innovation for Learning Fund grantees: changemakers advancing bold, community-rooted solutions for students. This is what it looks like when funding follows people who are already doing the work in their own communities.

This is the work. We’re grateful for the partners who keep showing up in the moments that matter, and we’ll keep showing up right alongside them.

08/11/2026

A full communications audit sounds like a month-long project. It isn’t. Start with three stops: your website homepage, your three most recent pinned posts, and the signature on the last email your school sent to families. Read them back to back. Do they sound like the same school? If they don’t, that’s not a crisis, it’s just your starting point for this month’s reset. Swipe through the three-stop check, then run it on your own school before Thursday. Screenshot this and check your own three stops this week.

08/06/2026

You do not need a rebrand to fix brand clarity. You need every place people find you to say the same true thing. Here is where most schools and nonprofits get it wrong, and where to start instead.

Send us a DM if you want a second set of eyes on yours.