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Catawba County school board approves multiyear ParentSquare/SmartSites contract after negotiators narrow key terms
Summary
The board approved a three‑year bundled contract with ParentSquare (Engage 2025) and SmartSites that consolidates parent communication and web services; board counsel secured written exhibits and defined support and data‑safeguard language but warned remaining industry terms (change‑by‑link, liability caps) still expose limits of recourse.
The Catawba County Board of Education on a unanimous vote approved a three‑year contract bundling ParentSquare’s Engage 2025 communications platform and SmartSites website services, after the board’s attorney explained negotiated changes designed to give the district more control over contract terms.
Crystal Davis, who reviewed the proposed agreement for the board, said she had removed online links and incorporated the contract’s linked terms as attached exhibits so the district can see what is actually incorporated. "The entire agreement consists of" the listed exhibits, Davis said, adding that the district insisted that those exhibits be attached rather than reachable only by links.
Davis said ParentSquare agreed to define "standard support" (email, chat, phone support, maintenance updates, online help articles and training modules) and accepted several of the district's change requests on safeguards and data protections, but she warned that the company had not agreed to refund prepaid fees on termination for convenience and insisted on conventional limitation‑of‑liability language. "In no event" the contract limits recoverable damages to amounts paid under the contract, she said, noting that industry norms leave the district with limited recourse for consequential damages.
Kim Jordan, who presented cost details, said the bundled offer includes a one‑time onboarding fee ($5,400), a prorated first payment of $4,600 to start July 1, SmartSites at $18,400 per year beginning July 1, 2025 (three years), and a bundled ParentSquare/StudentSquare/Engage line that the presenter said results in a first‑year bundled cost of $63,652 and an estimated $35,000 savings over three years compared with purchasing services separately.
Davis recommended that proposed future modifications be sent to the superintendent or board chair, and she described a negotiated procedure in which ParentSquare can propose changes but the district can object within 45 days to avoid automatic adoption of the revision for the district. "If they give notice of the proposed change and we don't object within 45 days, then the change is made," she said. "However, if we do object within 45 days, then they won't make the change with regard to us."
The board granted authority for the chairman to sign the contract with the attorney's proposed amendments and the notification procedure described by Davis. The record shows the motion and the second, and the chair called the raised‑hand vote; the motion carried unanimously.
What’s next: the district will execute the contract with the attached exhibits and begin onboarding on the July schedule described in the presentation.
