You might expect a communications office to be filled with former journalists or public relations professionals. Chesapeake flipped that script. Nearly every member of the team came from the classroom and many graduated from Chesapeake Public Schools.

“We didn’t even realize that was unique until we started going to national conferences,” Haywood said. “Most people we met came from newsrooms or agencies. We came from our schools.”

Director of Communications Jay Lewter spent twenty years as a principal before taking the role. Communications Supervisor Rachel Haywood taught journalism and broadcast media before joining the district office, blending her communications degree with years in the classroom. Webmaster Monica Agudelo was a science teacher with a degree in geology. Digital Media Specialist Leslie Darden came to communications through design, self taught and relentless, after years spent creating wellness program campaigns that taught her how to “sell something people don’t naturally want.”

Their mix of classroom experience, design instincts, and deep community roots built a team that understands both message and meaning.

“That gives us an edge,” Lewter said. Principals didn’t see a group of outsiders telling them what to do. They saw fellow educators helping them elevate their message.”

That trust proved crucial when the team began reigning in decades of independent school level habits. Chesapeake’s 48 schools, many older than the district itself, each had a strong sense of individual identity.

Convincing them to align under one district brand wasn’t easy. “Families here are fierce about their communities,” said Agudelo. “They don’t just say I’m in Chesapeake. They say I’m in Great Bridge or I’m in Western Branch. Those borough identities run deep.”

The Turning Point

For years, Chesapeake’s communications model was chaotic. Each school had its own voice, visuals, and technology. “We had an identity crisis,” Haywood said. “There was no way to tell that any of it belonged to Chesapeake Public Schools.”

The turning point came as the district prepared to modernize its communication tools into Apptegy’s one unified platform. The team saw the project as a chance not just to upgrade technology, but to rebuild a cohesive district identity.

“The website redesign gave us the leverage to say this is our opportunity to unify,” Haywood said. “We knew if we missed that moment, it might never come again.”

The team took time to plan, earn buy in, and create a sustainable system. When the new Apptegy powered websites launched, they weren’t just cleaner. They became symbols of a new, unified era.

What began as a design project quickly became something deeper: a fight for equity.

When Chesapeake’s team started auditing their old school websites, they saw more than outdated pages. They saw inequity staring back at them. “The more affluent communities had access to beautiful designs,” said Communications Supervisor Rachel Haywood. “They had PTAs that were more able to invest in branding help, new logos, and spirit wear. Meanwhile, schools in our economically disadvantaged areas were struggling with dated designs and clunky sites.”

The message was unintentional but unmistakable. “During a focus group with Spanish-speaking parents, one mom said, ‘You don’t care about us. Look at our website compared to the others,’” recalled Webmaster Monica Agudelo. “She wasn’t wrong. The websites were saying a lot, even silently.”

That comment became a catalyst. “We realized how we present our schools visually tells families what we value,” Agudelo said.

So the district set out to fix it. Every school—regardless of ZIP code or PTA funding—received a full suite of professionally designed assets: logos, color palettes, templates, email signatures, and high-resolution digital files. “It felt like Christmas morning,” Haywood said. “Every school got the same gift.”

That “gift” came wrapped in structure. To unite the district’s visual identity, Digital Media Specialist Leslie Darden and Haywood designed a circular logo framework that placed each school’s mascot inside a shared seal. “Same family, different personalities,” Darden said.

The rollout started with the schools most in need, but excitement spread fast. “They started calling us ‘Is it our turn yet?’” Darden said. “That’s when we knew we’d hit something special.”

The consistency even solved long-standing quirks. “There were three Great Bridge greens and four Hickory teals,” Agudelo said. “Now, everything matches shirts, banners, websites you name it.”

But the deeper result wasn’t just visual alignment. It was belonging. “Every school deserves to look like it’s part of the Chesapeake family,” Haywood said. Now, every school looks like it belongs and just as importantly, every family feels like it belongs.

That pride shows up everywhere on doors, gym floors, letterhead, and water bottles. “When I drive by a school and see one of our logos,” Darden points to her heart and said, “it hits me right here.”

If the schools represent Chesapeake’s many voices, the district logo represents their harmony.

The heron, a sleek blue bird poised beside a flame, anchors the district’s new identity. It’s modern, balanced, and distinctly Chesapeake.

That logo carries its own legacy. Superintendent Cotton challenged Haywood to replace the outdated mark, and the process became personal. Her father, a former art teacher who once student taught under the artist who drew Chesapeake’s original logo, sketched the heron by hand. Haywood digitized and then merged the city’s heron motif with the district’s traditional flame of knowledge.

When the logo debuted at a school board meeting, Haywood’s father sat in the audience. The heron took flight. Not just as a mark, but as a story about heritage, progress, and connection.

“It’s something people are proud to wear,” Lewter said. “That’s how you know you got it right.”

Structure and Discipline

A strong logo can’t stand alone. It needs a system to protect it. That’s where Chesapeake’s brand guide and Apptegy’s platform come together.

Design standards only work when they’re easy to follow. With Apptegy, the district baked those rules into the system itself. Fonts, colors, and layouts are built into web templates, ensuring every page follows Chesapeake’s look automatically. Schools can personalize content inside clear boundaries. Upload photos, write posts, add news. No off brand drift.

“It’s not about control,” Haywood said. “It’s about clarity. The platform gives us built-in consistency, so schools don’t have to guess what’s right.”

Departments that once freelanced their own looks now operate under one digital roof. The HR department doesn’t need its own logo, and Special Education doesn’t have to build its own site. Each group lives within the Chesapeake framework. Their unique voice within the district’s identity.

When updates roll out, like refined color palettes or accessibility changes, they cascade across every school site automatically. “We can make one change and know it applies everywhere,” Agudelo said. “That kind of update used to take weeks. Now it takes minutes.”

Many districts protect their brand by locking it down. Chesapeake protects it by giving it away. Safely, through Apptegy.

Each school has its own digital brand library. Principals and staff download approved logos, letterhead, and templates directly, knowing they’re current and correct.

“You can’t protect the brand by hoarding it,” Darden said. “You protect it by giving everyone the right tools.”

This approach turned enforcement into empowerment. Schools no longer reinvent flyers or newsletters. They grab a template, personalize it, and publish. “We’ve made the right thing the easy thing,” Lewter said.

Apptegy’s role based permissions keep the structure tight. The communications team maintains oversight, schools retain flexibility, and the whole system stays aligned. “That’s the real value,” Haywood said. “We don’t have to chase compliance. The platform enforces it for us.”

Communication as an Equity Engine

One of the team’s most powerful insights didn’t come from design. It came from speed.

A few years back, the district ran a free summer STEM camp with only 30 spots. Within hours, every seat was taken by students from the district’s most affluent schools. The reason was simple: one principal hit the send button faster than the others.

“That’s when it hit us,” Agudelo said. “The speed of communication is an equity issue.”

Now, any districtwide opportunity or message that applies to more than one school goes through the communications office and through Apptegy’s unified platform. From one dashboard, the team posts once and pushes updates everywhere. The district site, school sites, the mobile app, and newsletters. Translation happens automatically. Accessibility stays consistent. Every family receives the same message at the same time.

“It changed everything,” said Haywood. “We’re not relying on who hits the send button first anymore. Every parent gets the same message at the same moment.”

“Equity isn’t just about curriculum or resources,” Lewter added. “It’s about communication. Who gets the message first determines who gets the opportunity. And now, that’s everyone.”

Protecting the Brand by Sharing It

Many districts try to protect their brand by locking it down. Chesapeake did the opposite.

Each school now has its own digital brand library: high-resolution logos, templates, and design guides. “If you make it easy for people to do it right,” Darden said, “they won’t do it wrong.”

Her team still reviews everything before it’s printed, but the goal isn’t control. It's consistency. “Sometimes what comes in looks nothing like what goes out,” she said. “We send back a proof that’s 100 times better, and no one complains.”

From banners and yard signs to wrapped vending machines and even benches etched by CTE students, Chesapeake’s visual identity shows up everywhere. “When people see that heron, they know it’s us,” Lewter said.

Chesapeake isn’t done evolving. The district will soon open a new elementary school and welcome a new superintendent. Both changes will lean on the systems they’ve built. This team is ready.

“Every department in our district has big goals,” Haywood said. “Our challenge is to help them align with the strategic plan and tell their story through the Chesapeake lens.”

That even includes facilities. The planning department now consults the communications office for approved paint colors that feel like Chesapeake. “Pantone doesn’t always translate to walls,” Darden said. “But the feeling does.”

Even as the district grows, the communications philosophy stays simple. Clarity, consistency, and community pride. “We’re always asking how do we make this easier, cleaner, more unified,” Darden said. “That’s the work.”

Pride in Place

In Chesapeake, brand building isn’t about polish. It’s about pride. “People used to say, ‘Oh you’re from Chesapeake,’ like it was just a suburb,” Agudelo said. “Now we have an identity people can point to. Something that feels like us.”

That pride shows up everywhere. Yard signs. Banners. Vending machines. Uniforms. And in the print shop, where Darden fine tunes designs late into the afternoon, it’s personal. “I still get excited when I drive by a school and see one of our logos,” she said. “It’s like seeing your work come to life.”

For a team that once worked out of a closet, that view isn’t just better. It’s proof that when a brand takes flight, it can lift an entire community with it.

Use technology transitions as leverage. Big system changes create natural opportunities to reset culture and identity.

Treat design as equity work. How a school looks tells families who you value.

Protect by sharing. Give people easy access to the right tools and they’ll stop reinventing the wrong ones.

Anchor storytelling in your strategic plan. It keeps every message purposeful.

Celebrate local identity within a unified framework. Chesapeake didn’t erase pride. It amplified it.

Hire communicators who understand classrooms. Teaching experience breeds empathy and credibility.