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Communications recommends ParentSquare for district website; cites security and cost savings
Summary
Communications staff recommended ParentSquare over Finalsite for a district website migration, citing better security for staff contact information, inclusive design services and about $15,000 in three‑year savings; administration plans to bring an action item in January to begin migration for a July 1, 2026 contract start.
The district’s communications lead briefed the board on Nov. 10 on a multi‑month review of website providers and recommended ParentSquare as the preferred vendor for Mill Creek Township School District’s website migration.
Selection process: a cross‑functional committee evaluated several providers, reviewed model sites and conducted vendor demonstrations. The committee eliminated proposals that raised security concerns or lacked a robust staff portal. ParentSquare and Finalsite were the finalists; Apogee (apparent spelling variants in the transcript) was eliminated because it would have required many employees to share a single password for staff portal access, creating security risk.
Why ParentSquare: the communications lead said ParentSquare provides a contact‑form approach that removes staff email addresses from public web crawl exposure and includes design services in the quoted price. ParentSquare also offers communications and permission‑slip tools as optional add‑ons. The presenter recommended the district bring an action item in January to approve ParentSquare and begin a six‑month migration to meet the district’s current contract expiration on July 1, 2026. "I'd like to recommend action in January so we can start that migration process," the communications lead said.
Cost and next steps: the presentation said ParentSquare would save about $15,000 over three years compared with Finalsite for comparable features; the district will initially embed Google or Microsoft Forms where necessary and may later adopt ParentSquare’s form/permission tools. Administration will return with an action item and migration timeline for board consideration in January.
