Janesville staff select TalkingPoints for family messaging; contract not yet finalized
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Summary
The Policy & Curriculum Committee heard that district staff have chosen TalkingPoints as the preferred family messaging platform but have not yet signed a contract.
The Policy & Curriculum Committee received a presentation on the district’s selection of TalkingPoints as its preferred family messaging platform. Staff said they have not signed a contract and are negotiating terms.
Chris Benoit (presenter) said the district narrowed vendors with input from student services, elementary and activities staff, and selected TalkingPoints for its classroom-style texting interface and education‑focused translation technology. Benoit said TalkingPoints can translate messages into 131 languages and uses education‑specific translation models to better handle school terminology (for example, the meaning of “substitute” in schools). Staff said messages and the full message history would be accessible to the district for seven years.
Benoit said messages can appear as texts without parents needing an app, or both sides can use the app. The system provides teacher-set “office hours” and an automatic out-of-hours response. Staff said the district currently uses Google Voice and other tools that TalkingPoints may replace. Infinite Campus, the student information system, “does not” have the same capability, Benoit said.
Committee members asked about piloting before contract signing and cost. Benoit said staff hope to pilot with activities over the summer but do not expect the platform to be in place by the May activities scheduling deadline; cost and contract terms are still being negotiated and will be brought to the board only if they are “astronomical.” The presenter said the district intends to reallocate existing communications spending (Google Voice and other translation tools) where appropriate.
Other discussion items: how TalkingPoints will interact with existing classroom tools (ClassDojo, Seesaw) and whether mass communications (food service, districtwide notices) will be migrated to TalkingPoints. Staff said decisions about replacing ClassDojo or Seesaw will be worked out over roughly a year and that ClassDojo will continue where it is performing functions not replaced by TalkingPoints. Staff emphasized a preference for one stable channel for two‑way parent contact rather than multiple teacher cell phones.
No contract was approved; the item was presented for information and discussion.