When COVID hit , it made it harder to communicate with parents and students , especially since so many different communication programs were being used at the time . That ’ s why Superintendent Dr . Keri Hampton and the Director of Federal and Special Programs Rita Gray came together to find one communication tool that they could use to fix that problem .
After some searching , they found ParentSquare . They concluded that it would be a great way to get in contact with parents , students , and teachers .
ParentSquare has won several awards in innovation and education . According to a ParentSquare news article , the company now serves over 4 million users across 44 states .
How does the BISD community feel about it ?
“ It has been a lifesaver ,” Gray said . “ As a parent , it ’ s great to have access to teachers . They ’ re quick to respond and the app allows us to streamline everything . It ’ s user-friendly , easy , and we think parents enjoy it . My favorite part is pages can be set up in Spanish . So , if Dr . Hampton were to post something it would be automatically translated to Spanish . It ’ s good for parents who don ’ t get all the information .”
The program serves as a way to communicate with everyone , like a text message , but it can do so much more .
“ It can RSVP to events , pay for things online , and a lot more features we haven ’ t had before ,” said Dr . Hampton . “ We also thought that parents would be familiar with the Facebook format it has .”
So far , ParentSquare has been a very reliable resource . Instead of using a bunch of different apps to communicate , just using one has made things much easier . There ’ s been a lot of reduced stress when it comes to talking with parents and teachers .
“ Now , you can personalize notifications ,” Gray said . “ When lots of notifications were being sent out using different formats they were confusing . Teachers love to communicate with parents , and this has made it so much easier .”
With the roll out of ParentSquare , the district moved away from programs like Remind to connect with parents . Having all connections come from one program allows everyone to be in better communication .
“ I like it . It ’ s easy to use ,” high school teacher Amy Wright said . “ I ’ ve been able to communicate easily using my phone and while I was out with covid it made it easy since I didn ’ t have to get my laptop ”.
She said it has taken away quite a lot of stress when talking to parents now that she can “ easily send messages to an entire class or individual .”
She encourages more teachers to use it due to how helpful and easy it is to get through to parents and students alike .
ParentSquare has made a great impact on the way the district communicates . The connection between students , parents , and teachers is a great accomplishment that not all school systems have achieved .
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