Contact the Board

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 5603, Beaverton, Oregon, 97006
http://www.ospra.org
info@oregonschoolpra.org

Our Board

Past President: Emily Reverman, Salem-Keizer Public Schools
President: Natalie Hurd, Medford School District

Vice President: Steve Padilla, Reynolds School District
Treasurer: Nancy Raskauskas-Coons, Brookings-Harbor School District
Secretary: Rachel Danskey, Woodburn School District
At-Large (1): Gregg Koskela, Cascade School District
At-Large (2): Alandra Johnson, Bend-La Pine Schools
At-Large (3): Jillian Daley, Portland State University
At-Large (4): Joanna Williams, Reynolds School District

President Natalie Hurd, Communications and Community Engagement Director, Medford School District

Natalie has been in School PR since 2014, growing her department from a one-person-shop to a department of eight amazing humans working on communications, community & family engagement, and equity in the Medford School District.  She loves serving the students and families of Medford, where her own two children (Aria, 7 and Rafi, 3) attend school. Natalie is one of many School PR Pros who started her career as a broadcast journalist, and since transitioning to School PR, has never looked back!

Steve Padilla, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Partnerships for Reynolds School District

Steve has been in his current role since October 2020. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science - Public Service from U.C. Davis and his Master’s Degree in Public Relations from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Steve has extensive experience in creating and maintaining organization's social media pages, events and marketing campaigns. He has managed effective media relations and public information program for organizations. In addition to functioning as the primary media contact, Steve has advised top managers on issues of public and community relations, developed strategies to accomplish organizational objectives, and prepared executive level correspondence and reports.  He also coordinated and managed special projects and activities, made presentations to various community groups, and prepared press releases and media alerts.

Past President Emily Reverman, Public Relations Specialist for Salem-Keizer Public Schools

Emily has served on the OSPRA board since 2019. She first began her career and established a passion for school PR while completing her Bachelor’s Degree at Portland State University, working closely with the Communications team at the Beaverton School District. After a short hiatus telling the Oregon wine story in the Willamette Valley, Emily returned to school PR in 2018. At her core, Emily is a relationship-oriented person and always strives to lead with empathy, heart and integrity in her communications strategy and has the ultimate goal of supporting the well-being of students and her community. 

Nancy Raskauskas-Coons, Coordinator of Communications for Brookings-Harbor School District, southern Oregon Coast

Nancy's background includes previous work as a newspaper journalist, university marketing specialist, nonprofit/foundation communications manager, and independent contractor for schools, photography, and video clients. Nancy has attended OSPRA conferences and workshops since 2016 and is passionate about its amazing members who serve as mentors, confidants, teachers, and inspirational leaders, and who are always ready to be a support group in times of crisis in the K12 educational world.

Rachel Danskey, Communications and Community Outreach Coordinator, Woodburn School District

Rachel Danskey is a graduate of Western Oregon University who obtained her degree in Public Policy and Administration but also minored in Communications which is where her passion falls. She began her career in communications in February of 2022.  Before that, she served as a Human Resources Specialist for four different organizations, two of them in higher education, Chemeketa Community College and Western Oregon University. Rachel is new to the world of communications and hopes to learn from her peers in OSPRA.  She believes that public schools have countless success stories that she is thrilled to find because there are incredible people within our public schools doing special things.

At-Large member Joanna Williams, Administrative Communications Analyst for the Reynolds School District

Joanna has been in her role since November 2021 and joined Reynolds in January 2020 as the Volunteer & Community Engagement Coordinator. Prior to that, she was the Communications & Community Engagement Specialist at Gresham-Barlow School District. She joined school public relations and communications because she has worked with a wide array of communities in both the private and non-profit sectors and understands the importance of engaging all the communities we serve. Joanna has a drive for creating a more equitable and inclusive culture that fosters stronger relationships between students, parents, staff, partners, and our community. This year she is looking forward to more in-person events that allow our families and community to come together!

At-Large member Alandra Johnson, Assistant Director of Communications for Bend-La Pine Schools

Alandra has worked at Bend-La Pine for the past 8 years. She loves telling stories that amplify student voices, creating clear, strategic messages and the feeling that the work she does matters. She previously served as a board member and president of OSPRA, an experience that had a profound positive impact on nearly every aspect of her work and led her to believe that school communications people are her favorite kind of people. Prior to working in school communication, she spent 12 years working as a print journalist. She is looking forward to helping support OSPRA and the work of school communication professionals throughout the Northwest. Alandra is an Oregon native, who went to college in Boston. She is married to a brewer and they have an awesome 11-year-old. She has been told that her laugh is startlingly loud, but can also prove helpful when trying to locate her group in a crowd.

At-Large member Gregg Koskela, Director of Communications for Cascade School District just outside of Salem, Oregon

Prior to starting at Cascade in September of 2022, Gregg served in a variety of positions at Newberg School District, including Communications Coordinator, since August of 2017. After completing a bachelors in Sociology/Social Work from George Fox University, and a M.Div. with an emphasis in communications at Fuller Theological Seminary, Gregg served for several decades as pastor of several churches, most recently in Newberg. Needing a career change, he was drawn to the mission of public schools and the desire to support that mission by telling the good stories of what is happening in education. That desire has grown, and it is even more needed than ever before. He loves collaborative relationships, finding simple language that all can understand, and encouraging the hard-working staff of our K-12 schools.

Jillian Daley, Student Communications Manager, PSU Office of Student Success

Jillian Daley is an award-winning reporter with almost two decades of experience in journalism and communications. She recently returned to school to earn a Master of Public Administration in Nonprofit and Public Management at Portland State University (PSU) while also working as a Communications Specialist for the PSU College of Education. After working at North Marion School District for a year and a half, she began her current role at PSU.

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software