Camden County Educational Services Commission is First to Offer School Communication Services

When instructional leadership for superintendents has been surpassed by other organizational challenges such as safety and security, mental health or equity, the unintended consequence of these new priorities has imposed another challenge – public relations and communications. At all times, school district administrators must be prepared for high-quality, proactive and reactive information exchanges with their stakeholders.

The Camden County Educational Services Commission, a provider of shared services to school districts for nearly 40 years, is the first to introduce public relations and communications as a shared service offering to New Jersey’s public and private school districts as well as higher education institutions.

Lori Perlow of Cherry Hill (Camden County), a seasoned school communications professional and president of the New Jersey School Public Relations Association (NJSPRA), has been hired to lead this initiative.

Ms. Perlow has 20 years of marketing communications experience in the private, non-profit and public sectors. Most recently, she spent eight years in a New Jersey public school district where she was responsible for all district communications.

Ms. Perlow is one of four in the United States to receive the 2017-2018 Front-Runner Award from the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA). NSPRA Front-Runners are identified by the NSPRA Executive Board as emerging leaders who are doing outstanding work for their schools, their chapters, and for NSPRA. Ms. Perlow has won several NJSPRA School Communication Awards for her work in the areas of marketing/branding, social media and website design.

Ms. Perlow works directly with school districts and institutions of higher education to provide them with a wide range of offerings including crisis communications, media relations, website design, marketing/branding, recruitment, social media, community relations, establishing partnerships, internal communications and more. School administrators can now stay focused on student achievement, safety and security and place district communications in the hands of a trained professional.

“Public relations planning along with timely and effective communications are critical for school districts. However, staffing with this skill set is not practical. Our shared service will provide school leaders an opportunity to consult with an expert and execute a customized, cost-effective campaign,” says Daniel Del Vecchio, Superintendent of the Camden County Educational Services Commission.

While states such as California, New York and Pennsylvania have provided school communications services through a shared-service model for decades, New Jersey is now poised to follow suit.

For more information, contact Lori Perlow, manager of public relations and communications at the Camden County Educational Services Commission at LPerlow@CamdenESC.org or 856-784-2100 x121.

About the Camden County Educational Services Commission

Established in 1979 by the New Jersey State Department of Education, the Camden County Educational Services Commission provides New Jersey public and private schools with superior, cost-effective shared services. Services include transportation, special education services, school-to-work transition services, public relations and communications.