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Upper Darby committee advances TalkingPoints communication tool for June board vote
Summary
The Education and People Services Committee recommended moving a three-year TalkingPoints contract to the full board for a June vote. Staff said the multilingual platform supports two-way messaging, document translation and 150+ languages and estimated an annual cost near $38,000.
The Education and People Services Committee on May 20 advanced a recommendation to bring a three-year contract for the TalkingPoints communications platform to the full Upper Darby School District board at its June meeting.
Dr. Kelly, who presented the item, told committee members the district reviewed three products under Policy 109 and selected TalkingPoints for its two-way messaging, automatic translation and document-translation features. She said the platform is intended to supplement—not replace—existing district tools such as Blackboard and the weekly S'more newsletter.
"Talking Points uses both human translators and custom AI and they support over 150 languages," Mrs. DeMarco said, describing features that include text-to-speech, speech-to-text and an educational glossary to explain school terms to families. Mrs. DeMarco said educators would sign in on district-issued computers and that messages would be translated into parents' home languages and delivered by text or app.
Staff outlined a professional-development plan that includes virtual parent nights in the fall, summer training for administrators and half-day teacher trainings in August. Dr. Kelly said the recommended contract would begin in the 2025–26 school year and estimated an annual cost of about $37,000–$38,000, covering licenses for the district's students and web access for staff.
Board members asked whether the system would reduce other translation services and about data security. Dr. Kelly said the district's contract and information-security review found that translations and records would be hosted under the district agreement and that Kyle and his team reviewed the contract for data protections. "It's all on our server," she said when describing the district's safeguards.
Committee members also raised practical questions about how messages appear to families with multiple children, whether messages can be sent by email as well as text (staff confirmed both options), and how teachers will avoid using multiple, incompatible platforms. Staff said the district intends to standardize to a single approved tool to reduce confusion for families.
The committee indicated a consensus to move the TalkingPoints recommendation forward for formal action at the June 3 board meeting.
