Online marketing and advertising has become a central pillar of the West Sonoma County Union High School District’s approach to attracting prospective students
It will be interesting to see how successful the campaign will be in the face of the Santa Rosa ban on students transferring to other school districts. See Dale Dougherty's excellent series on Analy test scores and transferring difficulties in SoCo Times earlier this year.
If Route 26 ran in the morning to Sebastopol from Rohnert Park, I am almost certain there'd be a bunch of interdisteict transfers coming in. Currently going the other direction, there are two bus loads heading into Rohnert Park schools each morning. If only there were a strong advocate for such things on the Sonoma County Transit & Climate Authority Executive Board...
Nicely written article. And I applaud the transparency - most corporate campaigns are not this honest and clear and this is the way to get people interested in 2026. Do agree on the comment on stipends though! The band one seems back in but just in general, those should have priority
Interesting. I don’t know how long it will take to find out…but I do know that the stipends that Theater, band, and debate all lost the week before school started, add up to under $15k, and those programs brings students to Analy.
It was just announced at the board meeting tonight that those stipends (for dance instructor, band teacher, drama instructor, and intramural sports instructors) have been reinstated for this school year.
From my conversations with Albavera, it was clear that enrollment has increased this year, though it is impossible to know whether the advertisements/marketing contributed to that.
It will be interesting to see how successful the campaign will be in the face of the Santa Rosa ban on students transferring to other school districts. See Dale Dougherty's excellent series on Analy test scores and transferring difficulties in SoCo Times earlier this year.
If Route 26 ran in the morning to Sebastopol from Rohnert Park, I am almost certain there'd be a bunch of interdisteict transfers coming in. Currently going the other direction, there are two bus loads heading into Rohnert Park schools each morning. If only there were a strong advocate for such things on the Sonoma County Transit & Climate Authority Executive Board...
Nicely written article. And I applaud the transparency - most corporate campaigns are not this honest and clear and this is the way to get people interested in 2026. Do agree on the comment on stipends though! The band one seems back in but just in general, those should have priority
Interesting. I don’t know how long it will take to find out…but I do know that the stipends that Theater, band, and debate all lost the week before school started, add up to under $15k, and those programs brings students to Analy.
It was just announced at the board meeting tonight that those stipends (for dance instructor, band teacher, drama instructor, and intramural sports instructors) have been reinstated for this school year.
Super!!!
Is there any data on how attendance actually increased?
From my conversations with Albavera, it was clear that enrollment has increased this year, though it is impossible to know whether the advertisements/marketing contributed to that.
I'll look to see if I can find an updated enrollment number, but here are the "pre-enrollment" numbers from last April:(https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030891&MID=57502&Tab=Agenda&enIID=bhzNsDenDuRIcY5Xj0SyOQ%3D%3D): Total students for Analy:
25-26 school year: 1404
Projected enrollment for the 26-27 School Year as of 4/2/26: 1439
https://www.sebastopoltimes.com/p/the-ins-and-outs-of-interdistrict