Update for June 25, 2024 from NESPRA President Dan O'Brien:

Dear NESPRA Members,

Happy summer! It’s my honor to send you my first communication as the new President of the New England School Public Relations Association (NESPRA). We’re 126 members strong, representing school communications professionals from all six New England states. 

We hope you had a wonderful time full of learning at networking at our 2024 conference in May in Springfield, Massachusetts! Please check out some photos we received courtesy of Lifetouch.

The 2024-2026 Executive Board held its first meeting on June 14. About two minutes before our meeting began, we were notified that NESPRA received the 2024 Mark of Distinction from NSPRA for the second year in a row! We were cited for our growth in membership and offerings of professional development year-round.

We also learned Friday that numerous NESPRA members received NSPRA’s Golden Achievement and Digital Excellence Awards. Congratulations to everyone who is being recognized!

Are you interested in volunteering to serve on the NESPRA Executive Board? 

We currently have three open positions: 

• Treasurer

• Massachusetts Representative

• Maine Representative

Because the Treasurer role is essential to our operations as a chapter and our annual membership renewal process, we intend to hold a special election online to fill this seat as soon as possible. Ideally, we would hold a special election for all three positions at one time, assuming we have at least one person interested in each role. 

If you are interested in running for any of these positions, please review the role descriptions and express your intent to run via Google Form no later than Tuesday, July 9. Email Dan if you have questions.

We owe sincere debts of gratitude to our current Treasurer, Lisa Steimer, and MA Rep., Rochelle Santos, who were founding members of NESPRA. Our chapter would not be where it is today without their passion, dedication, and commitment. Lisa will continue to be a NESPRA member and will support the next Treasurer.

Please note: NESPRA is operated 100% by volunteers who have full-time jobs and families. If you are interested in serving, please understand you are committing to assisting us with membership growth, and cultivating professional development and networking opportunities. All of this collective work, in turn,  grows the profession, our skills, and our connections with one another. 

NESPRA’s annual $50 membership renewal typically occurs in the summer months. We will soon have a separate update on the membership renewal process with finalized dates. 

We are holding the NESPRA Reads Summer Book Club.

The book for this summer is "Why Should the Boss Listen to You?" by James E. Lukaszewski.

Please email Julia Mitchell, NESPRA Vice President, if you are interested in participating.

The NESPRA Executive Board is in the process of working on:

• Membership feedback survey

• Annual calendar of events

• Reviving working groups to include all voices and increase membership involvement year-round! 

We are always looking to increase involvement of our members. Please email any of us with questions!

Stay cool,

Dan O'Brien
President, NESPRA
Chief Communications Officer, Worcester, MA Public Schools