The Austin ISD board of trustees approved a one-year, $350,000 marketing consultant contract to address maintaining enrollment at select schools during its meeting Dec. 14 with a 7-0-2 vote.

Austin-based firm Sanders/Wingo Advertising Inc. will develop a media plan that will retain and recruit students, change the perception of underperformance in East Austin schools, and communicating and engaging with all ethnic audiences, according to the contract.

Reyne Telles, executive director of communication for AISD, said there will be micromarketing in place, or a specific plan made for a specific school. For instance, advertising for a specific school may appear on a user's Pandora radio station, or inside a community newsletter.

Trustees talked about how charter and private schools are attracting students to their schools.

"We need to be more aggressive in our strategy for enrollment," trustee Paul Saldaña said, adding that charter schools are also using aggressive efforts.

Enrollment and the decreasing student population has been a focus of the district for years. The district has seen a decline of approximately 3,000-4,000 students during the past three to four years, Saldaña said.

Superintendent Paul Cruz said the marketing plan is just one of a four-part plan to address enrollment, and that marketing alone will not solve the problem.