Board discusses switching from Bloomz to ParentSquare; staff cite athletics rostering, secure documents and two‑way texting as drivers

District technology and communications staff presented a proposal to replace the district’s mass‑communication platform, Bloomz, with ParentSquare and asked the board for input on timing.

Communications and technology staff said Bloomz was adopted after the district moved away from Remind and that Bloomz provided some useful features but has limitations the district now finds difficult to overcome. Staff described one persistent problem for athletics: because Bloomz assigns each account to a currently enrolled building through the district’s rostering (Clever), an eighth‑grade athlete cannot access a high‑school athletics group until the rostering rolls over in mid‑August; Bloomz’s nightly updates then remove and reassign students automatically. That rostering behavior, staff said, forced manual workarounds for coaches and technology staff.

Staff recommended ParentSquare because it supports manual group membership (which avoids the eighth‑to‑ninth grade rostering problem), provides a virtual phone feature for masked teacher calls, has secure document delivery for sensitive records, supports digital permission‑slip signing and offers two‑way texting that parents can use from their phones. Staff said ParentSquare purchased Remind and reported strong peer-district experience. They also said ParentSquare’s annual cost was about $1,000 less than Bloomz according to their last estimate.

Staff outlined a possible rapid transition timeline: a two‑week turnaround if the board authorized immediate action, with the district’s contract with Bloomz ending June 30. Staff warned that a quick move could mean a brief period without mass-communication service (for example during the July 4 week) and that the athletics rostering issue is the most labor‑intensive piece if the district remains on Bloomz another year.

Board members generally expressed support for ParentSquare’s features — including digital permission slips and secure documents — but raised concerns about the timing of a transition during reconfiguration and the staff workload required to onboard teachers and families. Several board members said they would prefer committing to a platform for multiple years rather than switching annually.

Ending: Staff said they would not move forward without the board’s guidance and offered options: switch immediately, buy extra months from Bloomz, or continue with Bloomz for one more year while surveying staff and parents and preparing a staged transition.