Engaging the community – Episode 19

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Rooted in a love for their school, Jimmy and Amanda Jones wanted to help build a positive school culture. The two developed a social media campaign and, with administration’s consent, went to work on executing it.

With a branded strategy they used hashtags (#THISisEastRiver and #wERise) to increase followers and enhance engagement. In the past year, they’ve increased their followers more than 10-fold.

Listen to this episode to learn more about getting the “biggest bang for their buck.” Plus, Jimmy and Amanda share some easily adaptable tips.

Check out their social platforms to see how they are staying connected even now when we cannot be together.

Watch this video to see how their changes affected the culture.

ABOUT THE GUESTS – (This episode was recorded Oct. 30, 2019)

Amanda Jones is East River High School’s ESE Staffing Specialist and a member of the school leadership team. She’s been at the school since it opened in 2009. She’s a proud product of OCPS. She attended Columbia ES, Discovery MS and University HS – where she graduated in 2000. Amanda began her career with OCPS in 2001 at Timber Creek HS as a paraprofessional. She worked at Camelot ES 2006-7 as and ESE teacher and then returned to TCHS 2007-9 as an ESE teacher. She was ERHS Teacher of the Year (2011) and OCPS Staffing Specialist of the Year (2014). Amanda graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in Exceptional Student Education, a Master’s degree in ESE (2010) and her Master’s in Educational Leadership (2019).

Jimmy Jones is a Digital Media instructor, CTE Internships Coordinator, Brand Manager, Nerd Birds Technical Support Manager and a member of the school leadership team at East River HS. He started at ERHS in 2015. After graduating from Cypress Creek HS (1997), Jimmy began a career with the Walt Disney Company. He received a BA degree in Technical Education and Industry Training from the University of Central Florida (2004) and a Master’s degree in Career and Technical Education (2020). He plans to begin a second Master’s degree in Educational Leadership this summer.