Georgetown ISD highlights ParentSquare rollout, volunteer expansion under community-and-connectivity plan

Georgetown ISD presented an overview of Strategic Priority Area 4 — community and connectivity — at the board’s Jan. 7, 2025, meeting, focusing on a districtwide switch to the ParentSquare two‑way messaging platform, a website content management migration and growth in volunteer and mentoring programs.

Melinda Brazier, a district staff member who led the presentation, said the district replaced its previous messaging system with ParentSquare in summer 2024. “One of the things that was a big win is the two‑way capability,” Brazier said. She told trustees the system protects contact information while allowing parents and staff to message each other and to choose whether to receive notices by text, email or app notification.

Brazier said district analytics show 96% of users currently opt to receive text messages, 84% opt for email and 35% opt for app notifications, and that the district’s contactability rate is 100% since the launch. She said the district’s message open rate is about 90% on average compared with about 65% under the previous system. “ParentSquare is helping us stay engaged and connected a whole lot better,” Brazier said.

She also described a migration from the Blackboard content management system to a new vendor, FinalSight, which consolidated roughly 20 websites and about 10,000 pages and allowed the district to remove outdated content.

Brazier reviewed volunteer and mentoring programs that staff said support student attendance and engagement. The district’s volunteer management system now lists more than 8,000 registered volunteers; Brazier said about 2,000 of those are district employees. She said more than 500 volunteers are reported as serving one‑on‑one with students, while 329 people are registered as reading buddies, each asked to read with at least two students per week. A volunteer‑coordinator role has been added at every campus; Brazier said about 35 people currently serve as campus volunteer coordinators and receive a stipend. She described a planned spring expansion of a Costco reading program at one campus that would add roughly 40 volunteer slots.

Brazier said the district’s multilingual families benefit from ParentSquare’s translation features. “Whatever your home language is noted in Skyward is how that information lands in your inbox, your text app, or in the app notifications,” she said, calling the translation capability “a game changer” for reaching families beyond Spanish speakers.

The presentation also highlighted philanthropy and community partnerships during the prior holiday season. Brazier said district staff are aware of more than $60,000 in donated goods or support used across campuses for food, clothing and gift cards, and she credited groups that coordinated a large school‑supply drive that distributed about 1,000 backpacks this year.

Trustees and staff discussed implementation steps. Brazier said staff will continue training campus volunteer coordinators, refine volunteer matching and continue surveys in the spring to gather feedback from families and partners. Trustees moved next to a separate agenda item on legislative priorities.

There were no formal votes recorded in the transcript of this presentation.

This account is based on the district presentation during the Georgetown ISD Board of Trustees meeting on Jan. 7, 2025. Direct quotes are attributed to Melinda Brazier, the staff member who delivered the report.