Easton, Redding, and Region 9 schools have incorporated a new communication platform that allows parents, teachers, administrators and the districts’ central office to communicate quickly and easily using one platform. It even allows for back-and-forth communication, making it easier for parents to keep in touch with school administrators, teachers and staff.
The new platform, ParentSquare, is specifically designed for K-12 schools to facilitate communication in numerous ways. It provides tools for mass notifications, two-way messaging, scheduling, forms and parent-teacher conference sign-ups. Teachers can share multimedia content such as videos, images and documents, allowing the schools to make connections more dynamic and engaging.
In May 2023, ER9 reached out to parents about ways to improve communication. While the majority of parents agreed that school and district communication was effective, there was room for improvement. ER9 used the parental feedback to find a new communication platform.
After the family survey, Sara Scrofani, then-director of operations, finance, and technology who is now an assistant superintendent, researched different platforms and found that ParentSquare fit the school’s needs and met budget requirements.
Parents requested different methods depending on what was being shared. They wanted some information to be posted on the schools’ websites, some sent by email, and some made by phone, particularly when communicating with teachers and Superintendent Dr. Jason McKinnon. Some parents thought that social media was effective, and many wanted to receive emergency alerts and weather delays by text. Now, these will all be distributed through ParentSquare.
“This platform allows us to streamline our communication efforts and engage better with families,” Scrofani said.
Some of the benefits provided by ParentSquare include a unified platform for all communications needs. It provides real-time updates and notifications via multiple channels (email, text, and app). It allows for two-way communication to foster better parent-teacher interaction. The platform allows for integrated forms, permission slips, and sign-ups, reducing paperwork. It offers a centralized hub for events, announcements, and newsletters. Teachers can even share multimedia content such as videos and images, enhancing engagement.
“One of the key advantages of ParentSquare is the way it brings everything into one place,” Scrofani said. “It not only simplifies communication for parents but also gives our teachers more tools to create dynamic and engaging interactions with families.”
Devon Wible, a member of the Easton Board of Education, praised the new platform. “The new ER9 communication system, Parent Square, simplifies communication for families and makes it more efficient for school teams to send information,” she said. “The smartphone app makes it much easier for parents to keep track of emails and to organize communications from different schools. Thank you to the central office administration for adding this important communication tool.”
Jill Madeo, president of the Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) at Samuel Staples Elementary School also had positive things to say about it.
“The rollout of ParentSquare as SSES’ centralized communication system has been a great way to improve communication between the administration and parents,” Madeo said. “The consolidation of communications through the user-friendly app keeps parents’ email inboxes more organized and at less risk for missing time-sensitive emails specific to their child.
“That has been a great bonus for parents with students with special education needs who are communicating not only with their child’s teacher but often with a number of service providers and IEP team members,” Madeo said.
ParentSquare also integrates with PowerSchool. Along with the communication platform, ParentSquare offers SmartSites, a custom web design service ER9 used to create more modern, accessible, and mobile-friendly websites.
“The redesign allows us to align our communication across platforms and improve the overall navigation experience for users,” said Scrofani. “We want to implement responsive methods that match the purpose of our communications and the preferences indicated by the school community.”
Each school has a designated point person responsible for updating the website. Over the summer, Scrofani worked with these leads and ER9 staff to implement the redesign. SmartSites uses customizable templates provided by ParentSquare. This ensures consistency and simplifies navigation. The prior sites used a different web design platform. The new sites offer improved user experience, more efficient navigation, and communication integration into one unified platform.”
Teachers, administrators and parents should now find it easier to share information and communicate. It will provide more options for sharing school and parent information and replaces multiple platforms. Communication will no longer need to be distributed through multiple programs, making it more effective for two-way communication.
