DCSD receives several Rewards for Excellence awards
Carol McKay, Audrey Childers and Chris McKagen with Superintendent Eddie Ingram and board chairman Jamie Morphis. Photo by Melissa Rollins
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Last month during their regular monthly meeting, the Darlington County Board of Education recognized the members of the district’s Office of Public Relations.
The three-person office, led by Public Information Officer Audrey Childers, recently received several awards for their work.
Childers spoke about the awards before recognizing Communications Specialist Chris McKagen and department secretary Carol McKay.
“I am very excited because I have the world’s best communications team, thanks to you guys allowing us to expand our communications office,” Childers said. “The Rewards for Excellence is a program put on by the South Carolina chapter of the National School Public Relations Association. It recognizes outstanding work in a variety of efforts and a variety of communication methods.”
The program recognizes communications and public relations efforts by South Carolina schools, school districts, and educational agencies.
Childers said that DCSD earned awards in several categories.
“This year, the Darlington County School District actually ended up winning six different awards so we are very, very excited about that,” Childers said.
McKagen won an Excellence in Writing Award for his press release about the Peach Jar paper flyer system, which has saved the district approximately 2 million sheets of paper since its implementation. He also won for releases about the Little Gents Club at Brunson-Dargan Elementary School and the district’s pre-judicial truancy council.
Since being hired in 2015, McKagen has found ways to provide relevant information to the community and the district staff, Childers said.
“If you were in the principals meeting several months ago, Chris put together an exceptional presentation on how to use your smart phone to take pictures that are journalistic quality,” Childers said. “We have actually had quite a bit of requests for him to repeat that for other organizations and groups.”
McKay received a Rewards for Excellence for Special Purpose Publication for the Darlington County School District Employee Directory.
“If you have seen Carol in her office from about the end of July on, you know that there is a great deal of work that goes in to this directory,” Childers said.
DCSD Superintendent Dr. Eddie Ingram said that aside from the individual awards, it was an honor for the entire Public Relations Department to receive an excellence award.
“The NSPRA awarded our entire Public Relations Department a Rewards for Excellence Medallion Award,” Ingram said before reading the plaque: ‘The South Carolina chapter of the National School Public Relations Association recognizes with pride the Darlington County School District’s 21st Century School District Initiative.”
The Golden Medallion Award recognizes superior overall educational public relations programs.
The latest news and releases from the district can be found at www.dcsdschools.org.