Longview ISD

▲ Longview ISD partnered with a local Spanish radio station to create an informative program for Spanish-speaking families.

Lobo Live keeps Spanish-speaking families informed

by James Golsan

Longview ISD

County: Gregg ESC region: 7 Superintendent: Dr. James Wilcox 2020 enrollment: 8,561 Number of schools: 14

It’s a complicated, challenging time for public education in America. As schools, districts and education professionals are finding their feet after a global pandemic that forced a fundamental reimagining of how education is delivered, they now find themselves at the center of hot-button political controversies such as mask mandates and a debate over diversity, equity and inclusion programs. With so many districts impacted by the tension around these issues, clear communication between school officials and their community has never been more important. In Texas, no one’s doing that better than Longview ISD and their innovative Lobo Live radio program. Like many districts in Texas, Hispanic students comprise the largest share of Longview ISD’s student body. That means there’s a heavy concentration of Spanish-speaking parents, some of whom speak limited or almost no English. Reaching that population was the challenge Francisco Rojas, Longview ISD’s public information officer, and his community outreach team were tasked with solving. “Our Hispanic student population is nearly 45% [of the total student body]. That means that a majority of those parents are Spanish speakers, and we wanted to come up with a way to communicate with them, and we wanted to do it in a unique way, not just sending letters or emails.” The search for a creative approach to reaching parents led to the genesis of Lobo Live.

▲ The Lobo Live radio program is designed to keep Spanish-speaking parents informed of goings-on in Longview ISD.

“The purpose of the show is to keep our families informed on school board decisions. It’s very easy for English-speaking parents to keep up with what’s going on with our school board, but it can be much harder for Spanishspeaking parents.”

“We thought that doing a radio show would be a great idea, so we started knocking on doors around town and eventually partnered with the local Spanish radio station [Radio Vida, 92.7 FM] here in Longview.” Rojas says the radio station was thrilled at the prospect of being able to help Longview ISD connect with their Hispanic constituents, and a partnership was formed. Longview ISD was given a noon time slot every Tuesday and Thursday for what would become Lobo Live, a timeslot that Rojas says is critical to reaching their audience. “Noon is lunch time, and there are a lot of Hispanic folks that listen to the radio during lunch, so it’s a great time to reach our audience.” Lobo Live is 45 minutes to an hour long, depending on how much content there is for a given episode, and is focused on keeping parents apprised of issues and current events in Longview ISD. “The purpose of the show is to keep our families informed on school board decisions. It’s very easy for English-speaking parents to keep up with what’s going on with our school board, but it can be much harder for Spanish-speaking parents. We use the radio show to communicate any decisions that the school board is making, any events or activities happening on campuses that they should be aware of, and any new community resources they should be aware of.” Rojas adds that the community resource piece has become a cornerstone of the show, with a dedicated segment every other Thursday reserved for local nonprofits to come on the air and

introduce themselves — along with the resources and services they offer — to Lobo Live listeners. Like any radio show or podcast, Lobo Live is always looking for ways to grow its audience. With the aim of reaching as high a percentage of Longview ISD’s Spanish-speaking parents as possible, Lobo Live has embraced a mixed media approach. “We go live on 92.7, but we also livestream on Longview ISD’s Facebook page. This gives us the opportunity to reach more people.” Rojas adds that one of the ways Lobo Live grows its audience in the livestream environment is by offering prize drawings for gifts donated by local businesses. “How we get more shares is that we tell parents that if they want to participate in the drawing, all they have to do is share the broadcast. That’s a big part of how we get more people listening to Lobo Live.” While the show is currently focused on keeping parents engaged with Longview ISD, Rojas says they might look into running some student-involved segments in the future. “It can be complicated to involve students because the radio show is at noon and they are in school. That said, we are exploring the possibility of bringing Hispanic students who have achieved a scholarship or some other recognition on air to share their successes, maybe within the next school year.” No matter how they decide to do it, growth opportunities abound for Lobo Live. The show recently gained its first official sponsor in Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, a well-known poultry institution across East and Central Texas. Rojas says the money from the Raising Cane’s sponsorship will be used to create the Raising Cane’s Lobo Live Scholarship, which will support a Spanishspeaking student from Longview’s high school as they pursue their college education. And sponsorship is not the only mark of Lobo Live’s success, per Rojas. “We are very proud to say that the radio show has been recognized nationally. We received an award [from the National School Public Relations Association] in the audio podcast category that several districts around the country applied for. So now in just our first year, we’re able to help a student go to college through our sponsorship from Raising Cane’s, and we’ve received national recognition as well.” To call Lobo Live a success for Longview ISD would be an understatement. Hispanic parents in the community now have an easy-to-access information source on happenings around their district, and in a little over a year on the air, the show, through a sponsorship and accompanying scholarship, has positioned itself to change the life of its students. In the coming years, Lobo Live is sure to grow and change more lives for the better. Now that’s worth bragging about.

JAMES GOLSAN is a writer and education professional based in Austin.

▲ Lobo Live is broadcast on FM 92.7 and posted on the district’s Facebook page.