Charles County Public Schools to consolidate communications into single platform with July launch

Charles County Public Schools officials told the Board of Education on March 20 that the district will consolidate several communication tools into a single vendor platform with a planned July 1, 2026 launch.

Miss Mackey, the presenter on the item, said the platform (referred to in the presentation as "app to G") is intended to be "a one stop tool for communication" and emphasized it is not a learning management system or a gradebook: "It is a communication tool. It is not a learning management system such as canvas. And it is not a gradebook such as synergy," she said. The change is intended to replace multiple logins and tools currently used by parents, teachers and staff, including School Messenger, Finalsite, TalkingPoints and parts of ClassDojo.

Officials said the district has been researching options for about two years, including demos with other Maryland districts and a back-end review of the vendor experience with districts that already use the platform. Miss Mackey said the contract was presented to the board as an approximately three-year agreement with startup and implementation included; staff described the three-year cost as roughly $503,000 and said current budget funds will cover implementation and the contract. She also told board members that, on an annual basis, the new contract will be about $7,000 more per year than the district—s current combined platform costs, but those additional services (including an optional annual website redesign and push notifications) would otherwise carry separate fees.

The rollout plan calls for data syncing from Synergy (student information) and Oracle (staff) into the new platform now, migration of thousands of website pages by a June 1 target to allow a month of review, and district training and pilot work in spring and summer. Staff said the vendor—s data privacy language has been reviewed by district attorneys and that training will be staged by role (principals may receive broader admin access while teachers will have classroom-level access such as a "rooms" two-way communication tool).

A notable feature cited by staff is push notifications on the mobile app, which the presenter argued will make emergency and inclement-weather alerts more visible to parents and other caregivers. The district—s current mobile app, launched in 2022, has had about 17,000 downloads and lacks push notification capability.

Board members pressed staff on cost and accessibility. Miss Smith asked for savings estimates; Miss Mackey said the district currently pays about $160,000 per year for the blended set of platforms and expects a modest annual increase under the new contract but noted it bundles services currently charged separately. Board members also sought assurances about translation, calendar customization and whether classroom two-way messaging would remain available via a centrally monitored tool; staff said the new platform includes a translation component, a desktop and mobile interface for classroom messaging, and calendar subscription options, though some detailed calendar customizations are still to be implemented.

Multiple board members urged the district to finalize governance rules to prevent fragmented use of unmonitored third-party apps at the school level; staff pointed to past incidents tied to unmanaged tools as a rationale for centralizing communications under district-managed contracts. The board also requested plain-language guides and one-page training materials for parents and school staff before the July launch.

The district said it will pilot the platform at at least one school, continue to collect parent and staff survey input, and use the June window to test links and content before the public launch. The Board did not take a formal vote on the contract during the work session.

Next step: staff will continue data migration and training work and return with any necessary contract approvals and rollout materials in subsequent meetings.