Meet the New Wayzata School District Communications Director

Working in public education has been Amy Parnell's calling.

Parnell has been working in public relations throughout the Minnesota public education system for more than 15 years.

She first started working in Rochester and when her family moved to Minnetonka started working for the Minnetonka Public School District. Todays she is the new Wayzata School District Director of Communications and Community Engagement. She started working for Wayzata Schools Nov. 28.

Former Director of Communications Robert Noyed left and took the job of Communications Director for Eden Prairie School District. He was with Wayzata for six years.

As the Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Parnell said she is responsible for coordinating communication internally for district employees and externally for parents, students and the broader community.

"My job is to make sure we are doing a good job on communicating what we are doing in the district," she said. "We have some great technology tools to make sure staff know what's going on in all the buildings."

It's really important that all district employees know what's going on and feel informed, Parnell said.

"Our tools include our newly designed website, our newsletter the Communicator that every district resident gets five times a year and surveys like the one we had residents take this March," she said. "In that recent survey, we asked what resource was peoples' number one source of what's happening in the district and it was the Communicator."

She also pointed to social media resources including the district's Facebook page.

But despite all these resources, Parnell emphasizes that face-to-face or one-on-one meetings are a big focus of her work for the district.

"That's the engagement part of my job," she said. "We have great relationships built in this district and a high level of trust and I want to be part of deepening and strengthening that."

Parnell was born in Edina, but her family moved around a lot in the Midwest including Mason City, Ia., Albert Lea and Wichita, Kan. She graduated high school in Wilmar, Minn. and is a 1989 Gustavus Adolphus College graduate with a degree in speech and communications.

"I love all aspects of what I do," Parnell said. "I love the writing, producing communication pieces and social media, but I especially love the chance to get out there and get to know people in the community and listen to their perspectives and determine how we can find ways to work together and provide the kids in the district with best possible education."

Parnell said she is grateful to be part of the Wayzata School District community.

"I feel blessed to tell the stories here and there really are phenomenal things happening for kids in this district, which has been very obvious to me in my first weeks here."

Parnell has three school-age children who attend Minnetonka schools and all are members of .