HLPUSD urges families to activate ParentSquare, highlights multilingual features and Aeries integration
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Summary
District officials told a virtual town hall that ParentSquare is the official communication platform and described features—mass messaging, classroom-level posts, embedded forms, smart alerts and translation—urging families to confirm contact data in Aeries to reach 100% of households.
Hacienda La Puente Unified School District officials used a town hall to encourage families to register and activate ParentSquare, the district's official parent communication platform.
Lily Picado, director of data, research and innovation, said the district has enrolled roughly 15,450 students and 18,543 student families in ParentSquare and described the platform's key features: district and classroom messaging, embedded forms for things like data confirmation, two-way messaging, smart alerts for emergencies, and automated translation into more than 100 languages.
Picado explained ParentSquare draws contact information from the district's student information system, Aeries, and urged families to complete annual data confirmation so ParentSquare can reach them. She described site-level dashboards principals use to track contactability and said principals and office staff can intervene when emails bounce or contact information is missing.
On translation and quality control, the panel acknowledged limits of automated translation. Dr. Rosa Isaiah and Superintendent Dr. Alfonso Jimenez told participants that Google Translate functionality in ParentSquare is machine-assisted and that the district will continue to work on human proofreading where necessary.
The panel also addressed teachers' use of other apps (ClassDojo) and said the district prefers a single official platform for security and centralized oversight but understands that some teachers use email or other tools for classroom feedback. Picado described use cases the district has piloted (sending MAP scores and report cards through ParentSquare) and how principals can set up community groups for non-enrolled residents who want school-level updates.
District leaders said resources and short how-to videos are available on the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District website and encouraged families to set notification preferences (instant or digest) in ParentSquare.
"ParentSquare is our official communication platform," Picado said, and officials asked families to ensure their Aeries contact data are current to receive alerts and school communications.