How Ramsey School District built a stronger connection with its community using Axios HQ

Ramsey School District transformed its communications to create a predictable, trusted connection point for families.

Serving roughly 2,400 students across five schools — with families spanning multiple grade levels and buildings — Ramsey School District recognized that clear, consistent, districtwide communication was essential for keeping the community informed and connected to everything happening across its schools.

👉 The challenge: Before Axios HQ, the Ramsey Review was shared through a variety of tools and channels. It lived in their Google site and was published on a flexible schedule with content and distribution methods varying every week. While families were receiving the important information, Ramsey saw an opportunity to bring more consistency and intent to how those stories were shared. 

Leaders wanted to ensure families could easily follow community news, celebrate student and staff successes, and feel connected to everything happening across all schools. Ramsey saw an opportunity to strengthen its district engagement by:

• Creating a predictable, trusted cadence: Families needed to know when district updates would arrive and where to find them, rather than tracking information across multiple channels.

• Making comms easier to absorb: With busy schedules and competing priorities, families needed communication that was concise, relevant, and respectful of their time.
• Strengthening districtwide connection: Families needed to feel informed about all schools, programs, and achievements, not just the building their child attends.

🏆 The solution: Ramsey partnered with Axios HQ to turn the Ramsey Review into a weekly community newsletter that serves as the district's single, reliable source of truth. 

• Consistent weekly cadence: Published every Wednesday at 7:30 am, the Ramsey Review gives families a consistent window into district life. Parents now describe it as part of their weekly routine — a quick, reliable way to stay connected to what their children are experiencing in school.
• Respecting readers’ time: Using Smart Brevity and Axios HQ, Ramsey delivers updates that are concise, engaging, and easy to read. Important district information is presented clearly, without overwhelming families who are juggling school, work, and more. 
• Stories that reflect Ramsey spirit: Each edition balances timely updates with storytelling — highlighting staff spotlight, athletics, arts, academics, student successes and a “1 fun thing” which often celebrates the district’s history. 

🛠️ How it works: When it came to the Ramsey Review, the team leaned into a repeatable communication practice built around collaboration, storytelling and trust.

• Small team, but mighty collaboration: Content is curated by the Superintendent, Communications Officer, and the Director of Human Resources with contributions from the school and district leaders. Their decisions are guided by Ramsey’s yearly strategic plan, ensuring newsletters reflect what the community values most. 
• Review before every send: Two days before publishing, the team reviews the upcoming edition together. This step helps ensure the stories feel cohesive, current, and meaningful to its entire community.
• A format the audience recognizes: The consistent Smart Brevity structure makes it easy for parents to scan quickly, while still discovering new stories from schools beyond their own children’s.
• A ripple effect across the community: The influence of Smart Brevity extends beyond the district newsletter. Principals, school teams, and even parent organizations have begun adopting the same concise style — creating clearer, more aligned communication throughout the Ramsey community.

📊 Key comms and community engagement results: According to Ramsey's Spring 2025 Family Survey, the results speak for themselves: 

• Strong satisfaction across the community: 85% of families say they are satisfied with communication from the district.
• Families see the bigger picture: 89% feel informed about district successes and achievements.
• Student achievements are landing: 81% say they feel informed about student successes across the district.
• Clear understanding of direction: 80% of families report understanding the district’s goals and plans.
  
• A foundation of trust: 82% say district communication feels open and transparent.

💭 Closing thoughts from Danielle Schwartz, Communications Officer at Ramsey School District on Axios HQ and Ramsey Reviews impact on their community:

• “By centering Ramsey Review on a foundation of storytelling, we’ve transformed district communications from a simple information share into a high-trust community asset. Our team uses a disciplined review process to ensure every story aligns with our goals, as part of our strategic plan.
• The real magic is in the efficiency of using the Smart Brevity format. It respects our stakeholders’ time while encouraging them to stay in the know, and discover stories from across all of our schools. Having this concise, clear style ripple out to our schools has created a unified voice for Ramsey, making our entire ecosystem feel connected and informed.”
  

Ramsey School District earned Axios HQ's 2026 Best-in-Class award for Community Engagement. See our other award winners: