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Tempe board approves districtwide adoption of ParentSquare after positive pilot
Summary
Following a spring pilot at two schools, the Tempe School District governing board approved districtwide use of ParentSquare for two-way and mass-notification communication, citing translation features, records access, and alignment with board policy.
The Tempe School District Governing Board voted to adopt ParentSquare as the district's two-way communication and mass-notification platform after a spring pilot at two schools showed increased teacher-family exchanges and broad acceptance.
Britney (district staff) and Monica Allred, the district's director of communications, presented pilot results from Curry Elementary and McKamey (McKamey/McKamey was the school name used in the pilot). Monica said Curry staff made 92 posts, shared 31 calendar events and exchanged 966 direct messages with parents and guardians during the pilot. McKamey staff made 55 posts and exchanged 879 direct messages. The district also used ParentSquare for mass-notification functions (daily attendance calls, critical emails and crisis alerts) during the pilot.
Monica said ParentSquare translates messages into more than 100 languages and identifies families' home languages; the pilot included translations into Arabic, Kazakh, Spanish, Shona, Urdu and Vietnamese. The district surveyed staff and families: Monica said about 20'odd staff responses and roughly 40 parent responses were received. "No parent or guardians felt that using Parent Square would make school to home communication worse," she said, and roughly 85% of families believed communication would improve if used for a full year.
Board members asked about customization, message volume, translation formats, records access and cost. Presenters said parents can customize notification settings on the app and ParentSquare can translate texts, posts and messages (but not images such as JPEG files). The district said it would retain the ability to override parent notification settings for districtwide emergency communications.
Monica estimated the recurring cost at about $40,000 for districtwide implementation. District staff noted that current expenditures on multiple platforms (some schools using free versions without district access) complicate records requests and oversight; ParentSquare provides district access to communications, addressing public-records compliance.
Board members emphasized training and launch supports. Presenters said ParentSquare provides an extensive launch kit (videos, one-pagers, QR-code posters) and the district plans staff and family training at schools, including meet-the-teacher events and printed QR-code materials. The board discussed a potential improvement requested during the pilot: an easier way for parents to notify schools of absences via the app; presenters said ParentSquare is developing refinements and the district would request features where practical.
The motion to approve the agreement with ParentSquare passed on a voice vote. District staff will finalize vendor contracts and begin rollout planning ahead of the next school year.
