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Kalamazoo schools expand parent messaging with MyPowerHub app, offer in-school kiosks to bridge access
Summary
The Kalamazoo Public Schools reviewed the district's MyPowerHub parent app and outreach plan: staff said teacher messages may still be emailed by preference, about 60% of high‑school parents have logged in, and every school hosts registration Chromebooks for families without devices.
Kalamazoo Public Schools on Monday reviewed the district's MyPowerHub parent app and the steps staff are taking to boost parent access and contact accuracy.
During a board Q&A, Trustee Murphy asked whether teacher messages posted to the app's news feed would "also still be sent as emails or only available in the app?" District staff replied that sending by email is a teacher preference and emphasized that the app is an additional messaging tool, not a replacement for district robocalls or mailed notices. "This is another messaging tool, and specifically a two‑way messaging tool," staff said, noting the app enables instant messaging between teachers and specific parents.
Staff also described in‑school registration kiosks: a Chromebook at each building that opens directly to the district's enrollment page so families can log in without an account. "We have it every school, we have what we call registration kiosks," a district presenter said, adding kiosks are available during office hours.
Board members pressed staff on sign‑up rates and data quality. The district said "it's about 60% of our high‑school parents have logged into this," and acknowledged participation drops at elementary levels because the district historically did not encourage elementary parents to use the system for grades. Officials said roughly 40% of high‑school parents had not logged in and described a multi‑pronged outreach campaign: communications‑office pushes, flyers in back‑to‑school packets, open‑house assistance and school‑level events where staff help families install and set up the app.
On contact information, staff said secretaries were trained to verify email addresses and phone numbers when parents visit school offices; schools may still print and send paper report cards at the school level, but "we don't, as a district, mail them home anymore." The presenter said the app also supports viewing report cards as PDFs.
Staff said the app supports the top three languages for real‑time translation and many additional languages beyond that list; no complete language roster was provided at the meeting.
Next steps: district staff said they will continue outreach at school events and refine in‑person assistance for families who need help enrolling or do not have email addresses.
