Many of you have asked, and I am remiss that I am just now reporting that all is well with the state accreditation at Tioga ISD.
Last month, I wrote a lengthy column about the Texas Education Agency and Tioga ISD and the financial status there.
They had a hearing in early March at Austin, and all went well.
According to Tioga ISD superintendent Josh Ballinger, the hearing went as well as could be expected.
Tioga’s revoked accreditation status has been abated.
Commissioner Mike Morath told Ballinger and school board President Dallas Slay to go home and keep doing what they’re doing.
This is due in no small part to the feedback you all provided the TEA.
According to Slay, Commissioner Morath had a stack of letters with him from folks in the community and cited several of them personally.
This is proof positive that our voices matter and that folks in Austin actually listen.
To be honest, I was a bit surprised and encouraged.
Thank you to all who took the time.
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Election season is upon us.
Some local ballots are full while most local elections have been canceled due to lack of interest.
Nonetheless, though as if on cue, roadside election signs littered the easements and embankments faster than the Bluebonnets could sprout up in the spring.
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign” is the old song, and this year is no exception.
From a marketing perspective, I’m always curious just how much such signs actually affect election outcomes.
There’s probably no way to quantify, but to each of the local candidates out there: I’d love to visit about political advertising in the newspaper. I can quantify our reach.
Feel free to give me a call.
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While on the topic of local advertising, I should mention a post that came across the local community Facebook page last week.
A business owner discovered a bag full of their direct mail advertising circulars— intended to end up in your mailbox— actually ended up being thrown in Lake Texoma.
Someone found the litter and posted a picture to Facebook.
This invokes all kinds of questions about how the mailers got there and why they weren’t in mailboxes where they should’ve been.
The implications abound, and I’m not in the business of indulging that, but I am in the local marketing business.
To me, such mishaps are a great argument for advertising in your local community newspaper.
Unlike direct mail, the newspaper is audited both internally and externally each week.
Most importantly, we are audited by our readers.
It is very unlikely that a bag of newspapers intended for subscribers would ever end up in the trash or thrown in the lake.
If they did, we would hear about it from our subscribers.
When you advertise in a community newspaper, readers are inviting your marketing message into their house.
If they don’t receive your messaging, they complain.
When’s the last time somebody complained about not getting more junk mail?