THE “CHOOSE SUCCESS! CHOOSE GGUSD!” campaign was present at the Strawberry Festival in Garden Grove in May (GGUSD photo).

Which is the best public school district in Orange County? If you ask the folks at the Garden Grove Unified School District the answer is easy: the Garden Grove Unified School District.

The GGUSD, third-largest school system in the OC, has embarked on a campaign to let the public know that it provides a top-flight education for its 45,000-plus pupils.

What makes the district tops?

“GGUSD was the first and only school district in Orange County to be named a 2018 Exemplary District, a prestigious recognition awarded to only 22 school districts across the state by the California Department of Education,” according to Abby Milone, the district’s public information officer.

“The award celebrates districts that have implemented model practices resulting in positive student outcomes.”
Also, in 2004, the Broad Award was given to the GGUSD as the best urban school district in the nation and was a finalist two other times.

The campaign expresses itself in online ads, social media ads, direct mail, banners, refrigerator magnets and more. Parents are urged to “Choose Success! Choose GGUSD!”

In an era of declining school enrollment, and “school choice” policies which allow parents to place their children at campuses which may not be near their homes, many school systems are seeking to market themselves as “destinations” for families shopping for the best education.

So how is the “Choose” campaign going?

“While it’s too early to provide enrollment numbers, the work has resulted in more than 150 inbound calls, 113 online inquiries and we are on pace to hit 10,750,000 impressions,” according to Milone. “It’s also fostered an increase in GGUSD pride among staff and parents.”

WHAT DO YOU READ, TRULY?

One of the advantages of online journalistic outlets is that we can monitor closely what sort of articles the public finds the most interesting. Our guess would have been crime and violence, but there’s more to your, uh, appetites for news than we thought.

Here are the top 10 most-viewed articles in the Tribune for 2018 through today (Aug. 8).

1. “In-n-Out coming to Beach Boulevard.”
2. “Shepherd’s Grove moves to Irvine.”
3. “Potential tragedy averted, suspect held.”
4. “New code enforcement sheriff in town.”
5. “Vigil held at site of four deaths.”
6. “Planners mull revived Village Center.”
7. “In-N-Out application is pulled out.”
8. “Four hurt in Brookhurst Street crash.”
9. “New Village Center gets final OK”
10. “Violent crime rises in GG, H. Beach.”

Usually Reliable Sources appears on alternate Wednesdays, usually.