SLPS to launch FOCUS student system, new ParentSquare website and a parent technology fair

St. Louis Public Schools announced a phased rollout of a new student information system and a website and communications refresh, with a parent technology fair planned before the 2025–26 school year.

The district will migrate student records into FOCUS SIS at the end of May and open the parent portal and training in the summer, officials said. Chief Technology Officer Natasha Mitchell said the FOCUS enrollment application went live March 12 and that the district plans to finish data migration and go live with the system on May 27. She said parent-portal communications will begin July 28 and district stakeholder training will start in August.

The district is also replacing its public-facing website vendor. Communications staff selected ParentSquare to refresh SLPS’s website and communication tools; the district’s current vendor will be decommissioned at the end of the academic year and the ParentSquare contract will begin July 1. Carl, a communications team staffer who led the vendor discussions, told the board the district invited several vendors and chose ParentSquare after testing options with cabinet members.

Mitchell said the district will use summer programming to test the new systems, and she described a large, embedded technology component at the district’s back-to-school fair. She said the technology fair on August 5 will include hands-on sessions for parents on registering students in FOCUS, navigating the parent portal, using ParentSquare for communications and working with transportation tracking tools. Mitchell said district and vendor staff will be on-site to help families in real time.

“FOCUS SIS provides a uniform platform that will streamline enrollment, attendance, grading, and communication workflows across schools,” Mitchell said during the presentation. She added that summer sessions for site leaders and teachers will prioritize readiness and that the district will run targeted training for secretaries, bookkeepers, summer leaders and families.

Chief communications staff said the website refresh will include a content strategy, search-engine optimization and improved security and scalability so the district can update content more frequently. The team also said the new communications platform will allow families to choose how they receive notices (text, call, or digest) instead of receiving multiple automated calls.

District leaders said they will design the rollout to be mobile friendly alongside web access and that Zoom (the vendor used for live transportation updates) will attend the technology fair to demonstrate live tracking features.

Officials said the goal is to make the digital tools accessible to families before school starts so the systems are tested and used in time for the 2025–26 year.

Looking ahead, the district will bring a full implementation plan and training schedule to the board for approval and asked that principals, school staff and families plan for phased communications and verification windows this summer.