10 Districts Leading the Way in Video

#Technology

Lauren Gilchrist

by Lauren Gilchrist

Lauren Gilchrist Video Correspondent

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, video is priceless! Check out how these districts are amplifying their culture through video channels.

Schaumburg School District 54, Illinois

Schaumburg immediately treats visitors to a big helping of branding in the channel header image and the thumbnails of most of their videos. There’s a cohesive color and font family, and #WeAre54 appears on many of the thumbnails, indicating a series of introduction videos featuring people from all over the district.

The district offers a range of creative video options featuring people from all around the district (including parents!). Check out this video recapping summer activities:

A more recent look through the school's YouTube channel shows a strong commitment to branding even outside the school hashtag. The visual cue of hands, the mission tagline "Ensuring Student Success," and 54 offer a cohesive brand.

Little Falls School District, Minnesota

On the Little Falls channel, topics range from sports and banquets to concerts and school board meetings—there’s something for every viewer. The video production club is responsible for creating many of the videos, which is a fantastic way to keep students involved in telling the district’s story. Many of the recent video thumbnails feature logos and there’s just about always a little bit of purple in the preview, which lends a great cohesive feeling to the channel’s branding.

The long-form videos (saved from live-streams) make it easy for viewers to catch up with school events, even if they could not attend the event in-person. Scouts for university teams would have a field day on this channel. We’re not kidding—this live-stream capture is over six hours long!

Little Falls was broadcasting long-form sports recordings before COVID-19 made it cool. They've also added a great superintendent spotlight for sharing updates.

Abington School District, Pennsylvania

Every huge YouTube channel starts somewhere, and Abington is off to a fantastic start on their channel. The handful of messages they share cover deep topics, including cell phone overuse and gun violence in schools. In particular, the Rise Up, Abington video is a powerful showcase of students from all walks of life united for a common cause.

Abington School District has continued to grow their YouTube channel, adding winter concerts, tutorials for education technology, and the school logo to more thumbnails.

Deer Park Independent School District, Texas

Color runs, eclipses, and… crocodiles? Oh my! Deer Park ISD shares some fascinating content on their YouTube channel. Other masterful touches include the addition of district and school logos to differentiate videos, safety tips, and visits from local celebs (from athletes to meteorologists).

The production value really shines in the annual convocation videos. This video was the inspiration behind this article!

One of the most exciting parts of Deer Park's YouTube page is the throwback videos dating back over a decade. No wonder their channel is so polished when video traditions are so beloved. Check out the featured intro video near the start of the school year for a new Convocation spotlight.

Farmington Area Public Schools, Minnesota

Farmington offers another example of a student-driven YouTube channel—sure, there are the typical school board meetings, but they also offer at least three different series centered around student productions. Tiger News, Farmington 360, and WAKE UP Farmington all feature student content creators.

This episode even gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at producing a video.

A strong featured intro video leads into capturing sports moments, school board meetings, and yes, WAKE UP Farmington throwbacks. This school district also features related channels, like the Farmington Choir channel.

Oak Park School District, Michigan

OPSD TV promises content for all audiences, and they don’t disappoint. Their enriching content includes footage of plays, news segments, celebrations of Black History Month, graduations, board meetings, and award ceremonies. The “Story Time” series even features local leaders reading beloved children’s books. Here’s superintendent Dr. Wanda Cook-Robinson reading Chicken Sunday to a group of wiggly early learners.

The district provides a great example of an intro video, which outlines the types of content viewers will encounter on the YouTube channel and transparency to provide feedback.

North East ISD, Texas

North East ISD has a well-organized channel, which really helps showcase the different topics they feature in each series. If viewers dig a little deeper into all the options, they’ll find a wide range of voices throughout the district—from students to the superintendent.

Here’s superintendent Dr. Brian G. Gottardy on the new Career & Technical Education Center (CTEC), dedicated to offering students the opportunity to earn a medical certification during high school.

Videos focus on health, offer strong branding (note the "Discover" thumbnails), feature teachers throughout the district, and keep families informed with superintendent messages.

Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, Texas

Videos on the Lamar CISD channel will include some of our typical favorite topics like board meetings, but extra touches go a long way toward setting a district YouTube channel apart. Videos are separated into playlists for specific interests, and each update from superintendent Dr. Thomas Randle is branded as part of a series. The latest edition includes tons of data and stories about the status of the district community.

A superintendent message is the featured video, and not only is it a great introduction to the district, but the series is branded as 90 seconds with Nivens—this is perfect for viewers as it gives a time limit to expect. Another nice features is on on school building safety and response planning.

Lake Washington School District, Washington

Lake Washington School District boasts lots of unique offerings. First up, explore the series about lunch buddies— volunteers who are paired with students to help them build their social skills and self-confidence. Next, it was so impressive to see two versions of a video about the importance of kindergarten, one in English and one in Spanish, to better serve the community and showcase the dual language program.

There’s so much more content, from staff talking about their jobs to superintendent updates to information about international families to reasons to work for the district, but here are the two versions of the Kindergarten Counts video:

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This district offers a wide range of content, including tutorials, celebrations, and capturing fun moments to share with families.

St. Croix Central School District, Wisconsin

Along with the important business of keeping a district running smoothly and focused on teaching and learning, it’s important to have a little fun with video. We’ve seen our fair share of school lip dubs (always fun), but the opposite end of the spectrum of viral challenges can be just as entertaining. Last, but not least, check out the St. Croix mannequin challenge video (spoiler alert at 2:41):