The Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local School District is excited to announce that it will be moving to ParentSquare beginning in the 2025-26 school year to replace the Remind notification app.
ParentSquare will be the primary information-sharing apparatus for the district in sending alerts, and messages from the district, as well as individual school building administration and teachers. With ParentSquare, parents can enjoy photos posted by teachers, fill out forms and permission slips, sign up for parent-teacher conferences and much more. School staff and parents can engage in both one-to-one and group messaging with real-time language translation.
ParentSquare, thanks to its purchase of Remind last year, became the most used communication platform by schools across the country, serving more than 38,000 districts.
While this is a change and thus people can be apprehensive about it, make no mistake, this is a HUGE step up to a robust platform that not only works well behind the scenes on our end, but is an enormous improvement on the parent end. It is currently being used by Beavercreek, Centerville, Greeneview, Yellow Springs and many more throughout the Dayton area.
To answer a few questions:
WHY?: Remind actually was purchased by ParentSquare, so a change was forthcoming either way. But we also know we can always be better with the way we communicate, and this is a big step up in what we can send to you and how it looks, not to mention functionality on your end.
WHY NOW?: We are announcing it now so there is plenty of time to know about it. We are working on it on our end every day so when we officially roll it out (you’ll have plenty of notice) we won’t have too many bumps in the road.
WHO WILL USE IT?: Once trained, everyone in our district will be expected to use the app for messaging. There are tons of ways to communicate through the app and still keep everyone’s privacy intact.
DO I HAVE TO USE THE APP?: Nope. While the App is easily the best and most accessible and convenient choice for most, you can still elect to get messages through text or email.
DO I HAVE TO HAVE BOTH APPS?: Nope. Parent Square is going to be tested by some select teams during the spring, and they will be notified individually. Remind will no longer be used by the district in any way as of the start of next year, but still might be used through part of the early summer. We will announce a specific launch date when we are closer.
WHO CHOSE THIS?: Our Communications Coordinator studied the best options as far as parent experience and presented it to the Technology Department, the Data Assessment Coordinator and the Superintendent. It was sent internally through our Tech Review Committee to determine if the technology would work on our end and whether it would protect our student data appropriately. When everyone signed off and saw it was the best choice, and through more than a year’s worth of conversations with ParentSquare, the district signed the paperwork and we got the ball rolling.
WHAT ABOUT TRAINING?: Of course, our staff will be trained, but we also will have opportunities for you to learn how to use the app and get a little bit of help. Keep an eye on our social media in the future and we will still send messages through Remind so you’ll know when that’s coming. In truth, the app is VERY user-friendly, so we think you’ll be able to pick it up without a problem.