Marketing in Early Childhood Programs

Walden University CECS MP002                       May 14, 2014   

Attending Board Members:

Ms. Isabel P. Murdoch Dr. Mary Hsu Mr. Dennis Renteria Dr. Aaron L. Cannon Ms. Beth W. Ritzman

Meeting Notes:

Ms. Murdoch raised the issue that Green Hills spends a significant amount of its annual budget on administrative and facility costs. Board should look for ways to defray expenses.

Dr. Cannon suggested expanding the number of classes in order to reduce the cost per child of administrative and facility expenses, noting that Green Hills has sufficient space to accommodate additional students.

Board voted unanimously to expand the number of classrooms from six to seven. Overall enrollment at Green Hills will increase from 60 children to 70, effective next year.

Ms. Ritzman relayed some recent conversations she had with families of Green Hills children. This will be the first year that Green Hills will “graduate” a number of children that were 2 years old when they started at the center. Ms. Ritzman feels that these families, who have been with Green Hills for the first 4 years, are great ambassadors for the center. Green Hills should engage these families in helping to better promote the school.

Dr. Hsu noted that, in order to increase enrollment, Green Hills will need to update its promotional materials to attract new families. The board noted that the center’s current materials have not been recently updated and fail to leverage the benefits of digital media.

The board discussed the negative impact of a recent article about Green Hills in the Stoneriver Gazette. Many of the board members felt the article contained instances where Green Hills was misrepresented.

Action Item : The board would like the director of Green Hills to write an official response to clear up some of the misconceptions created by the Gazette article.

Mr. Renteria noted that Green Hills has very few relationships with other organizations within the Stoneriver community. He suggested that the director look to identify strategic partnerships with businesses and local community groups.