Board of Education Seeks Contract for Two-Way Communication Platform; Committee Questions Start Date, Privacy and Access

The Board of Education asked the Finance Committee to recommend a contract with a vendor identified in meeting materials as Actigi Incorporated to provide a district-wide two-way communication platform and website. Presenters described the product in their packet and testimony using the name "Apigee" and said the platform would consolidate the district's website, newsletters, directories and social-media tools into a single service.

Viviana Carmart Scholl (presenting for the schools) said the district's vendor-selection process included principals, assistant superintendents, parent liaisons, webmasters, students and other stakeholders. The committee was shown vendor demonstrations and community input gathered at a tech fair and via an online thought-exchange survey; translation and privacy rose to the top of community concerns, she said. Presenters said the platform supports two-way messaging, archives communications for legal/security reasons and provides analytics for usage and outreach; they said the platform supports more than 40 to 50 languages for real-time translation.

On cost, staff presented two purchase options: a single-year contract figure shown as $36,826 for year one with a 5% annual increase; and a three-year contract priced in materials at $123,887 per year. Presenters said switching to the proposed single vendor would reduce total annual district communications costs compared to the current mix (staff cited a current baseline of $145,388.18 for FY26 as the comparator), producing projected savings of about $13,539 per year and $40,617 over three years as presented. Presenters said the proposal would reallocate existing communication funds rather than request additional recurring dollars.

Committee members raised practical questions: how the district will serve families without phones or computers (staff said the district will continue to mail notices to households without digital access); whether parents must register (staff said yes, parents must register but the district will assist at orientations); which department receives analytics (staff said the IT department would hold usage data, and the IT office could share charts with stakeholders); and training and rollout (staff said the vendor's price includes rollout and professional development for staff, parents and students). An Alder asked whether the district had already started service; presenters acknowledged a clerical error in the contract date (listed as April 8, 2025), said the vendor has not started work and agreed to amend the contract start date if the board approves the procurement.

No public speakers testified on the item during the hearing. The committee agreed to list the item for discharge to the next full-board meeting and to request corrected contract language and a finalized start date; no final vote on the contract was recorded at the workshop.