Mary Marks, public information consultant for the Jericho School District, recently won seven awards from the 2002 National School Public Relations Contest honoring her dedication to the Jericho School District.

Marks received four Publication and Media Contest Awards for her work on the Budget Bulletin, Jericho School Calendar, Jericho School News monthly newsletter and Jericho High School Alumni Profile and three Golden Achievement Awards for her work on the Jericho Middle/High School Ribbon Cutting Ceremony; Planning for the Future, which is the elementary school facilities informational program and Success for Every Student, which is a program to outline the continuum of services available to all district students.

Award judges carefully sought outstanding achievement in the four steps of public relations programs, which are the analysis of need, planning to meet the need, execution and communication of the program and a formal evaluation.

"Mary is one of a select group of winners and we congratulate her and the leadership of her district for being a leader in school communication," said Richard D. Bagin, executive director.

Marks created Planning for the Future to provide timely and accurate information to the Jericho school community about alternatives to reduce overcrowding at the district's elementary schools. This information was very helpful to local residents and explained the many options available to address the overcrowding. Many parents and local residents felt Marks' summary sheets were so good they didn't find it was necessary to attend the many meetings that were held to discuss this subject.

Success for Every Student was helpful to many living in the Jericho School District. PTA presidents requested additional copies to distribute at PTA meetings and expressed gratitude for a publication that provided clean, concise, consistent and accurate information that answered many of the most frequently asked questions about student academic opportunities and support services. A survey will be distributed at the Educational Forum to evaluate both the special purpose publication and the evening educational forum.

The Board of Education, Central Administration and the district PTA Council all publicly expressed an overwhelmingly positive reaction to Marks' work on the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony information.

"Mary has effectively increased the communications between school and home and getting more people information in a clear and easy-to-read format than ever before," said Hilari Cohen, president of the board of education. "We just are so thrilled that she has been honored because we are so pleased with her work."

Marks was also recently elected to a two-year term as the Nassau County vice president of the Long Island School Public Relations Association (LISPRA), which was established in 1992 as a consolidation of associations of school public relations professionals that existed for a number of years in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. She has been a member of the organization for the past four years.

LISPRA provides a forum for public relations officials in the field of public education to share ideas and develop their professional skills. They are an organization of experienced, award-winning and highly skilled communications professionals and school administrators in public school districts in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

"Mary is such an integral part of the school district and has done an outstanding job," said Hank Grishman, Superintendent of the Jericho School District. "It is nice to see her continue to get recognition so she is not only appreciated for what she does locally, but on a state and national level as well. She puts out the highest quality of information. I have never seen a pubic information program that is the caliber that Mary puts out here. Also the pictures that she takes portray our kids and staff so well. She has an eye to see and highlight our kids in an incredible way."