Dinwiddie board approves ParentSquare website/communications platform to replace legacy tools

The Dinwiddie County School Board approved the purchase and phased implementation of a unified website and communications platform presented as ParentSquare (with vendor reference to Prairie Square) to replace multiple legacy services used by the district.

District staff said the package will consolidate mass notifications (voice, text, email), classroom communications, website content, forms, payment processing and bilingual translation. The superintendent and technology staff described a phased approach: the website will be prepared on the vendor platform and remain private while staff and pilot groups validate content; a public launch of the website is targeted for January and two-way teacher-parent messaging is planned for a later phase to allow for staff training.

Board members asked about Infinite Campus integration (presenters said the platform works with Infinite Campus), accessibility and translation for English learners, data security, and the plan to retire or run legacy systems in parallel during the transition. Staff said translation features would support more than 100 languages, the old website would remain live until the cutover and IT will train internal staff and pilot parent/teacher groups. The vendor conversion was described by referenced peer districts as smooth.

The board approved the contract in a voice vote and directed IT and Communications to form pilot groups, train ITRTs and the accountability team, and proceed with back-end build-out. Staff will report progress before public launch and present a timeline for the two-way messaging pilot.