The 2026 Annual NESPRA Conference is designed to get school communications professionals prepared and equipped for the continuous changes that impact our schools: From actions by the government locally, regionally, and federally to rapidly evolving technology to reputational crises, now is the time to ask yourself: What's in your toolkit to navigate and thrive in today's climate for school communicators?

The 2026 NESPRA Conference will feature numerous presenters who are experts in the field, along with skill-building table-top workshops and opportunities to network and learn about resources to support our work.

Morning Keynote:
Trust Over Trends: A Smarter Approach to School Social Media

Description: Keeping up with trends, algorithms, and “the next big thing” on social media can feel exhausting. But school communication isn’t about chasing what’s viral - it’s about building trust.

In this session, you’ll learn how to shift from pressure to purpose by focusing on authentic, everyday storytelling that highlights the incredible things already happening in your schools. No fancy production. No complicated strategies. Just simple systems that help you consistently celebrate students and staff while protecting your time and energy.

You’ll leave with practical ideas and the confidence to show up online without losing your sanity!

Bio: Andrea Gribble is on a mission to make every school’s story shine. As founder of #SocialSchool4EDU, she helps schools and districts celebrate students and staff while connecting with their communities through social media. She’s the author of Social Media for Schools: Proven Storytelling Strategies & Ideas for Celebrating Your Students & Staff – While Keeping Your Sanity and host of the weekly podcast Mastering Social Media for Schools. 

Afternoon Featured Speaker:
The Power of a Plan: Boosting Your PR Efforts to Drive Real Outcomes

Description: The world of school communication is changing; so must our approach. We're often stuck in a reactive cycle of press releases, urgent emails, and social media posts, measuring success with clicks and shares—but are we truly building trust? This session will make the case for shifting your communication from a task to a strategic tool deeply connected to your district’s mission. Learn how to apply The BOOST Framework to move beyond outputs and focus on tangible, outcomes-driven efforts that build lasting community support. Discover how to use insights from one year to inform the next, and ensure your communication is driving meaningful, long-term change.

Bio: Lesley Bruinton, APR, is the President and CEO of School Spirit PR. She isn’t just a consultant—she’s a passionate advocate for education. Growing up in a family of educators, she brings a mix of expertise, creativity, and a lively personality to her work in school PR. Starting as a TV journalist covering local schools, she later spent over a decade as a PR director for a school system. Even after 20 years, she finds joy in attending board meetings and seeing how policies shape schools.

Lesley’s respected among her peers and is a known expert in school PR. Her leadership at the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) drove significant growth. With award-winning PR work and national speaking gigs, she’s all about excellence.

She’s a three-time NSPRA Gold Medallion winner and received recognition from AASA, The School Superintendent’s Association, as a Women in School Leadership Award Winner. Lesley holds a Masters in Strategic Communication and earned the Accreditation in Public Relations, showing her expertise, dedication, and commitment to top-notch PR practices.

Connect with Lesley

When AI Becomes a Headline:
Preparing School Communicators for the Questions Ahead

Description: Artificial intelligence is not a future-facing topic. It’s shaping district decisions, state guidance, media coverage, and community trust. School communicators are often the first to field questions about AI tutors, notetaking tools, student data privacy, screen time concerns, and how districts are aligning with evolving state expectations.

This workshop moves beyond “tips and tricks” to position communicators as strategic thought partners in conversations about the responsible use of technology. Participants will examine predictable PR flashpoints and explore what they should be asking district leadership before issues escalate.

Attendees will leave with a practical AI communications “cheat sheet” outlining key governance, privacy, and policy considerations to raise internally and a set of essential questions every district should be prepared to answer.

Bio: Casey Daigle is the Digital Learning Manager for the Collaborative of Educational Services in Northampton, Massachusetts. She is a digital learning leader and curriculum designer with 15 years of experience co-creating with educators and educational technology. Casey partners with schools to demistify technology and connect the dots between tools and the vision they hold — making room for curiosity, creativity, and meaningful change. She works with educators across New England, guiding work that is human-centered, imaginative, and grounded in strong instructional design. 

Deepfakes, Disinformation, and School Reputation: What School PR Leaders Need to Know

Description: Artificial intelligence has made it possible to fabricate convincing images, audio, and video of students, teachers, and administrators. Across the country and here in New England, schools are already confronting incidents involving AI-generated images of students, fabricated audio clips of administrators, and manipulated videos designed to damage reputations or incite outrage.

For school leaders and communications professionals, these incidents create a new category of crisis: one where false content can spread rapidly before facts are verified, undermining trust in school leadership and causing real harm to students and staff.

This session will examine real-world deepfake and AI-generated misinformation incidents that have affected school communities, including cases where manipulated media targeted students, educators, and administrators. Participants will learn how these incidents unfold, practical response strategies, and why traditional crisis-response approaches may not be enough.

Bio: T.J. Winick is Principal at Essex Strategies, a Boston-based strategic communications, public relations, and crisis and issues management firm. For the two decades before his career in PR, TJ was a local news reporter, including at WBZ-TV in Boston and then was an ABC News Correspondent from 2007-2013. He is the author of the 2022 award-winning book "Reputation Capital: How to Navigate Crises and Protect Your Greatest Asset."

Friend or Foe? When to Lean in or Push Back with the Media

Description: It’s only a matter of time until a media inquiry hits your district’s inbox and you’ll want to be prepared when others might panic. If you recently transitioned into a school district or pivoted your career to public relations, we invite you to join us (Sujata and Chris) for an exciting interactive hour as we dive into the rapidly changing world of media–the good, the bad, the ugly. As the current Communications leadership team in Boston Public Schools (MA), we bring more than 30 years of media and public relations experience from small, medium, and major markets.

In our session, we'll touch on:

• Media Relations Foundation: Media lingo and basic strategies to help you navigate the next media inquiry you receive.

• Crisis Communications with the Media: We'll share our best practices for navigating through serious incidents that media outlets learn about.

• Landing a Positive Pitch: We'll discuss what reporters and producers need and want in a story to convince their boss it's work covering so you can successfully land positive news coverage.

Bios: Chris McKinnon is the Chief of Communications for Boston Public Schools (MA) and is responsible for driving the district's overall strategy of connecting with and informing students, staff, families and the community. He is passionate about making a difference in the lives of BPS students and families, and looks forward to sharing the important work being done each day inside the district's classrooms. Chris overees the Communications team for the district and serves as the lead senior advisor on communications strategy to the Superintendent, is the spokesperson for the district and is the lead liaison to the Mayor of Boston's Communications team. Chris joined BPS after serving as spokesperson for Eversource Energy. Before than, he spent more than a decade as a morning television news anchor and reporter in his hometown of Boston (WBZ-TV), as well as Oklahoma City and Colorado.

Sujata Wycoff is the Deputy Chief of Communications and Press Secretary for Boston Public Schools. She previously held communications leadership roles for Cambridge Public Schools (MA) and Waterbury Public Schools (CT). Sujata was previously an investigative reporter, most recently in Connecticut, covering education, crime, and politics. She is deeply passionate about empowering families with meaningful information that is language-accessible so that they can make informed decisions about their child’s learning.

Description: Accessibility in physical spaces is something most of us are familiar with. Most newer buildings have ramps for wheelchair access, braille text embossed on signs, and accessible bathroom stalls. Digital accessibility can be less obvious. This session will cover the basics of digital accessibility, why it matters, and practical steps you can take to make your digital content accessible and compliant with federal guidelines. Learn tips for structuring your webpages and documents, alt text, descriptive links, and more – plus a live demo of screen reader technology accessing digital content, before and after it’s made accessible.

Please note that in addition to this session, staff from the Massachusetts Office on Disability and the Mass. Accessibility Center for Consulting, Education and Support Services (ACCESS)  will be available to speak with attendees at a "table talk" session and will provide resources at a vendor table.

Presenters: 

• Adam Gojanovich, Accessibility Training Coordinator, Accessibility Center for Consulting, Education and Support Services (ACCESS): Adam is an accessibility specialist who has developed content and facilitated training for over 15 years. His background includes delivering training, developing accessible documents, videos, motion graphics, and web pages. His passion is the intersection of education and technology, and he believes that is the key to an accessible world.

• Melinda “Mindy” Johnson, Documents & Communications Accessibility Coordinator, Accessibility Center for Consulting, Education and Support Services (ACCESS): Mindy has supported the creation and publication of accessible documents and communications for over two decades. She is a former special education teacher and education-focused communications professional. She was responsible for the accessibility of web content, documents, social media posts, newsletters, multimedia, and more while maintaining engaging communications at a rapid pace.

• Rob Dias, Assistive Technology Information Specialist, Massachusetts Office on Disability (MOD): Rob has worked at MOD in a variety of capacities, beginning as a volunteer in 2008 and later as a member of MOD’s Disability Rights Unit (DRU). Since 2021, Rob has served as MOD’s Assistive Technology Information specialist. As an experienced screen reader user himself, Rob advises Executive Branch agencies and governmental officials who are assessing the level of accessibility with their current and future digital offerings, helping to ensure an equitable experience for all.

• Lilia Melikechi, Communications and Training Manager, Massachusetts Office on Disability (MOD): Lilia is a communications professional who has worked in disability and legal services for over a decade. She works closely with MOD’s experts to create and share plain language, accessible information about disability rights and accessibility.

Description: Superintendents and communications leaders play a critical role in shaping trust, transparency, and strategic direction for school districts. In this session, we’ll explore how strong superintendent–communications partnerships elevate leadership, strengthen community engagement, and help districts navigate both opportunity and crisis. Attendees will gain practical insights into aligning leadership voice, message strategy, and organizational communication to build confidence with staff, families, and the broader community.

Presenters:  Matt Miller is the Director of Education Leadership at Finalsite, where he leads the Superintendent Collaborative and supports district leaders nationwide on leadership, communication, innovation, and the future of education. A former nationally acclaimed superintendent with more than 30 years in education, Matt is a trusted voice on AI, school leadership, and community engagement in K-12 education.

Max Eisl is the Director of Sales at Finalsite. He has spent over 20 years in EdTech helping schools rethink how they attract, engage, and retain families. He partners with districts to modernize their marketing through inbound strategies, website personalization, and smarter communication tools. A former school leader, Max brings a practical, no-nonsense perspective—focused on the strategies that build trust and drive measurable results in today’s digital-first environment.

Finalsite is the Platinum-Level NESPRA Corporate Partner for 2026. 

Description: As AI transforms school communications, districts must move from informal use to intentional governance. This session helps superintendents and communications leaders establish clear policies, ensure human oversight, and protect public trust. Learn practical frameworks, real-world scenarios, and a 90-day plan to lead AI use responsibly, transparently, and with confidence.

Presenters:  Matt Miller is the Director of Education Leadership at Finalsite, where he leads the Superintendent Collaborative and supports district leaders nationwide on leadership, communication, innovation, and the future of education. A former nationally acclaimed superintendent with more than 30 years in education, Matt is a trusted voice on AI, school leadership, and community engagement in K-12 education.

Max Eisl is the Director of Sales at Finalsite. He has spent over 20 years in EdTech helping schools rethink how they attract, engage, and retain families. He partners with districts to modernize their marketing through inbound strategies, website personalization, and smarter communication tools. A former school leader, Max brings a practical, no-nonsense perspective—focused on the strategies that build trust and drive measurable results in today’s digital-first environment.

Finalsite is the Platinum-Level NESPRA Corporate Partner for 2026. 

Description: SchoolCEO’s newest research uncovers how AI is reshaping the roles of school leaders. Join us to explore how artificial intelligence can free you from administrative overwhelm—automating routine tasks, crafting personalized communications, and giving you back precious time for the work that truly matters: supporting students and staff. But transformation requires wisdom. We'll navigate the real challenges together: safeguarding data privacy, ensuring security, and building a culture where every team member feels confident with new tools. You'll leave equipped to champion AI adoption that empowers your people, cut through the hype, and bring even the skeptics on board. This isn't about chasing technology—it's about reclaiming your time and amplifying your impact.

Presenter: Caitlyn Carroll is a Business Development Representative at Apptegy. Caitlyn helps K-12 leaders, connecting districts with tools that make communication clear, consistent, and on brand. She loves partnering with educators to amplify the stories that bring families closer to their schools. Caitlyn grew up in Conway, Arkansas and earned her master's in Education and ESL from the University of Arkansas. She taught first and second grade and later supported multilingual learners as an ESL specialist before joining Apptegy as a Client Success Manager.

Apptegy is a Gold-Level  NESPRA Corporate Partner for 2026

Northeast Region Vice President, NSPRA

Monica Lester, APR, is passionate about strategic communications and public education. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing and a Master of Science in journalism, she worked as a newspaper reporter in Boston, Mass., for several years. When she moved to upstate New York in 2006, she began working in school public relations as a communications specialist at Capital Region BOCES—a state K-12 public education services agency. First as a specialist, and now as a program manager who hires, supervises, and mentors staff, she has worked in many New York public schools, serving clients from rural to suburban to urban.

Monica earned her Accreditation of Public Relations in July 2020. In addition, Monica has devoted time to supporting her state chapter of NSPRA (New York), where she worked as NYSPRA’s contest/communications coordinator for 10 years. She actively promotes and furthers the APR by volunteering for the NSPRA Accreditation Committee and the Public Relations Society of America's APR Marketing Committee. Throughout her career, she has worked to build relationships, which she sees as key to engaging communities, solidifying trust between both public schools and their audiences and among colleagues, and passionately promoting strategic communications work and public education.

Connect with Monica