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District explores Red Rover for hiring and substitute management; HR says platform offers modern features and lower net cost
Summary
District HR presented Red Rover as a possible replacement for Frontline for hiring and substitute/absence management, citing modern interviews, sub messaging, classroom coverage pages and customer responsiveness; district will vet cost and implementation before any contract.
ROUND LAKE, Ill. — Round Lake CUSD 116 administrators briefed the board on Feb. 3 on a potential move from Frontline to Red Rover for hiring and absence management, saying Red Rover offers newer features for video interviewing, substitute messaging and classroom coverage and that early pricing appeared comparable or slightly lower than the district’s current contract.
A staff presenter summarized the evaluation: Frontline’s product is “very antiquated,” the presenter said, and Frontline staff were not willing to deliver requested feature changes. Red Rover, the presenter said, has built-in on-demand video interviewing, an intuitive candidate board, an absence-management interface that supports text messaging to substitutes at scale, and a classroom coverage page that gives substitutes maps, schedules and contact points.
The presenter said district calls to peer districts using Red Rover returned strongly positive feedback; one district reportedly advised “run, don’t walk” to Red Rover. The presenter also noted that many Red Rover staff are former Frontline employees and that Red Rover releases feature updates frequently. A preliminary district cost comparison listed Red Rover as about $2,000 less per year than the current Frontline contract, with a one-time implementation fee customary for migration.
Board members asked operational questions — how the district would post jobs (k12 JobSpot is not supported by Red Rover), timeline for migration (current Frontline contract ends June 30, 2025; the HR presenter said a successful vendor selection and implementation could allow a July 1 switchover), and reporting on how many hires come from specific job boards. The presenter said the district would gather posting-source metrics and supply them to the board.
No contract vote was taken at the meeting. HR staff said they will continue vendor vetting, obtain peer-district references, and present a formal recommendation and implementation plan, including finance-committee review, before any contract award.
Ending: The district will return to the board with additional procurement analysis, a migration timeline and a vendor recommendation for final approval if warranted.
