New school communications coordinator looks to streamline process

  The school district’s new communications coordinator wants to streamline communications and improve connections between administrators, teachers, students and families.

  During its meeting last Tuesday, the School Committee met with Anne Bolthrunis, who started in the new position for the district last June. Bolthrunis has a master’s in professional writing from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where she was also a teaching assistant. She also worked as an adjunct writing professor at Salem State University and as a paraprofessional in the Swampscott Public Schools before coming to Revere.

  “One of my main goals is to streamline what we are doing,” said Bolthrunis. That process, she said, will include looking at the array of communications tools the school system already uses to see which ones can be optimized, and which ones might be redundant.

  In the past several months, Bolthrunis said, she has been working on updating the district’s website along with Paul Amato from the technology department and designing flyers to publicize events in the school system and for the hiring of new staff.

  “If you look at the school website, she has been working with Paul on that platform and it’s been completely revamped,” said Assistant Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lourenço Garcia. “They’ve done a good job putting something up there that is not an embarrassment for our district. She’s done a good job and she also was working on flyers and other means of communication. This is her first year, and there is much to be learned about the district, but I think she is on the right path to become a successful communications coordinator in the district.”

  Bolthrunis presented short- and long-term goals for communications in the district to the School Committee. “There are things that I want to do this year, and most of them will probably be done over the summer,” she said. “One is to develop a brand for Revere.”

  She said that could be accomplished with a more robust use of social media involving more staff and aiming more content at students.

  Among the longer term goals, Bolthrunis said, is creating welcome centers at each of the district schools complete with video kiosks and welcoming packets for students. She said she would also like to see better integration of the district’s communication system, and the possible renovation of the district’s Parent Information Center (PIC). “Renovating the PIC center is something that has been coming up in my working group for the [Equity] Advisory Board,” Bolthrunis said.