When Communications Specialist Bridget Licata joined the district, she walked straight into turbulence. Three superintendents came and went in just three months. The district was still reeling from years of mixed messaging and community mistrust. Online forums buzzed with misinformation; social media comments turned sour.

Then came Superintendent Dr. Mathis Calvin, III who brought with him a simple but radical idea: transparency. He wanted Lockport’s families to understand their schools, to see what they were doing right, and to feel part of the story. He asked Licata to help craft a message that would unify people around something bigger than headlines and hearsay.

Licata went home that weekend and started thinking. By Monday morning, she had it: We All Belong.

“It was immediate,” she says. “It just stuck. It was simple enough for a kindergartner to understand, but big enough to define our culture.”

She tested it on her niece’s high school friends—her own makeshift focus group. Their reaction was instant: “We love that!” The phrase was adopted districtwide within days.

To visualize the message, Licata borrowed from Taylor Swift’s signature hand-heart gesture. At assemblies, games, and classrooms, she and Public Relations Specialist Denyel Beiter began capturing students, teachers, and staff flashing the hand-heart for photos and videos. Soon, they didn’t have to ask anymore. Kids saw the communications team coming and instinctively formed the heart with their hands.

“Three years later, they still do it,” Licata laughs. “They see us in the hallway, and without thinking, they make the heart. It’s theirs now.”

A Brand That Became Behavior

What makes We All Belong so powerful is that it isn’t confined to a campaign. It’s a living behavior woven into Lockport’s daily life. The message expanded beyond the schools, into community events, social media feeds, and even the city’s revitalized Main Street.

Lockport is a community that’s weathered hardship. About 65% of its families live at or below the poverty line, a reality that took hold after the local General Motors plant downsized fifteen years ago. “When GM left, the jobs left,” Beiter recalls. “It felt like Lockport was becoming a ghost town. But now, we’re coming back and the schools are part of that comeback.”

Today, the city is in renaissance mode. New businesses are opening downtown. Residents are coming together to reimagine their hometown.

“We wanted a message that worked for everyone,” says Beiter. “Not just our students, but our veterans, our families, our LGBTQ+ community, and our neighbors. It had to reflect the whole city.”

That spirit took tangible form through events like Unity Fest, a celebration of diversity and belonging held on the district’s varsity soccer field. The festival includes performances, cultural showcases, and a “Walk Around the World” featuring more than fifty community booths. Every detail—from food to music—reflects the community’s rich mix of cultures and stories.

“We wanted everyone to see themselves in it,” Beiter says. “And to learn from each other.”

At the heart of Unity Fest is the district’s participation in Rachel’s Challenge, a national kindness initiative. Throughout the year, students document acts of kindness by writing them on paper links that eventually stretch around the entire field—a literal chain of compassion that circles the community together.

Before Licata and Beiter arrived, Lockport didn’t even have a communications department. The district’s online presence consisted mostly of scattered social posts and a static website. The digital narrative belonged to whoever shouted loudest in the comments.

“There was no control over the story,” Licata recalls. “If you went online, you saw negativity and half-truths. We knew we had to change that.”

They started small posting consistently, sharing student achievements, and answering community questions. Soon, Lockport’s social channels became a mirror of its pride. Every post celebrated students, teachers, and families. Every video invited people into the life of the district. Within a year, engagement numbers rivaled those of districts three times Lockport’s size.

One of their most viral moments came from a simple idea: second graders chanting for the Buffalo Bills. The video hit 40,000 views in less than a month.

“We were like wait, this is really working,” Beiter says. “It proved that people wanted to celebrate our schools. They just needed a place to do it.”

Today, Lockport posts at least once a day across its platforms. Their Instagram Reels highlight student life, from pep rallies to robotics competitions. They even work with student content team called the Cyber Lions to help brainstorm and create new content.

“Students are our best storytellers,” Licata says. “They see things we miss, and they make it feel authentic.”

The result? A community that no longer looks to rumor threads for information, but to the district itself.

Turning Misinformation into Momentum

Like many districts, Lockport faces its share of online drama. Community Facebook groups often turn into arenas for speculation. But instead of ignoring the noise, the district engages it.

“We don’t hide,” Beiter explains. “If there’s misinformation, we reply as the district: kindly, clearly, and publicly. We drop links, offer answers, and invite people to DM us.”

That transparency has paid off. Other residents now step in to correct misinformation before the district even has to. Lockport’s ambassadors are organic—neighbors who simply believe in the schools again.

“It’s not about fighting back,” Licata says. “It’s about showing people that the truth is easy to find.”

Lockport’s diverse population means families communicate in very different ways. Some rely on Facebook, others on text messages or phone calls. Some have reliable internet; others do not. For the district, that means one-size-fits-all communication simply doesn’t work.

“Our biggest challenge is reaching everyone, in every way they need,” Licata says. “What works for one parent won’t work for the next.”

The team leans on Apptegy’s platform to streamline those channels, publishing once and customizing messages for the website, app, or social platforms. They use Apptegy’s two-way teacher-family communication tool, to connect teachers directly with parents. What surprised them most? The families most active weren’t the ones teachers expected.

“It wasn’t the parents who were already super involved,” Beiter says. “It was the hard-to-reach ones. That’s when we realized this tool really worked.”

By unifying communication into one branded system, with Lockport’s colors, logo, and tone intact, the district made it easier for families to trust the message, no matter how they received it.

Both Licata and Beiter are Lockport graduates, homeowners, and parents. Between them, they represent four generations of Lockport pride.

“We’re not just telling the story,” Beiter says. “We are the story.”

That personal investment drives everything they do. They know the teachers, the kids, the parents, and the shop owners on Main Street. When something good happens, the community sends them photos before they even ask.

We’re not lucky. We’re enrolling,” Licata says with a smirk. “People know us, trust us, and want to be part of it.”

Their work hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2024, Lockport was named a SchoolCEO Communicator of the Year finalist, placing them among the top four districts in the nation for innovative communication. The judges cited the We All Belong campaign and the team’s community-driven events as standouts.

One of those events, Women Who ROAR (Recognizing Outstanding Achievements and Resilience), celebrates Women’s History Month with an annual luncheon and awards ceremony. The event honors both community members and students whose character embodies strength and compassion.

“We weren’t looking for the top athlete or the valedictorian,” Licata says. “We were looking for kids who make people’s lives better. The ones who might never get recognized otherwise.”

Attendance grew from 125 at the first luncheon to more than 400 at this year’s ceremony. Like Unity Fest, Women Who ROAR has become a Lockport institution.

More Than Metrics

For Licata and Beiter, success isn’t just about analytics, although theirs are impressive. Their social media reach rivals much larger districts. Their engagement rates are some of the highest in Western New York. But the real win, they say, is in the relationships.

“When a student stops me in the hallway to say, ‘Hi, Mrs. Licata!’ that means more than any metric,” Licata says. “It means they feel seen.”

Inside the schools, teachers now send photos and stories to the communications team unprompted. Principals collaborate on social campaigns. Even community partners contribute content for the district’s monthly online newsletter, Lion Bytes.

“We’re an office of two,” Beiter adds. “We couldn’t do this if people didn’t believe in what we’re doing. It’s about relationships first, content second.”

Lockport’s story isn’t just about a campaign. It’s about how a small district learned to think like a brand—and act like a community movement. Their approach shows what happens when communication stops being a task list and becomes a culture.

The lesson? People bond to brands that reflect who they already are.

As Licata says: “We don’t just want people to brand to us. We want them to bond to us.”

By embracing transparency, celebrating belonging, and unifying their voice across every platform, Lockport didn’t just rebuild its image, it rebuilt its relationship with its people.

Today, when someone in Lockport says, We All Belong, it isn’t just about the schools. It’s about the city. It’s about pride. It’s about coming home.

1. Lead with humanity, not hierarchy.

Lockport’s brand began with a simple truth: people want to feel seen. The district’s communications team didn’t invent a message—they revealed one already in the community.

2. Let students tell and be seen in your story.

From Instagram reels to the Cyber Lions, Lockport proves that authenticity drives engagement. Students aren’t just subjects, they’re co-creators who make the message believable. Stock photos and videos aren’t an option, they are a shortcut. Lockport’s communications team is going the extra mile to ensure that real students, staff, and families are the subject for every photo, every video, every post.

3. Be transparent in the places people actually are.

When misinformation spreads online, Lockport doesn’t hide behind press releases. They step into the conversation, respond with kindness, and redirect to official sources. It’s courage in communication and it works.

As Lockport proves, the most powerful communications strategy isn’t about telling your community what to believe. It’s about reminding them who they already are.