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Jacksonville North Pulaski board approves Apptegy 'Rooms' to centralize family communication
Summary
The board approved Apptegy's 'Rooms' feature to replace multiple teacher apps. First‑year cost if signed in April would be $21,898.09 (one‑time $6,000 setup); ongoing annual cost $15,898.09 to be paid from Title I parent engagement funds; the motion passed in voice vote.
Jacksonville — The Jacksonville North Pulaski School District board voted to move forward with Apptegy’s 'Rooms' communications product after a presentation and question‑and‑answer session at the district’s board meeting. The board called the motion, members answered in the affirmative and the measure passed in a voice vote.
Chelsie Williams, the district’s director of communications and marketing, told the board the district currently spends about $19,700 a year on the district website, its app and Thrillshare. She said Rooms would consolidate ClassDojo, Remind, Google Classroom messages and other third‑party teacher apps into a single platform that preserves an archive of teacher–family communications.
"It costs $3.77 per scholar, and currently we have roughly about 4,200 scholars," Williams said, and added there is a one‑time $6,000 setup fee to integrate eSchool and eFinance. "So, if this deal is signed in the month of April, our first year cost is $21,898.09," she said, and estimated the annual cost after year one would be $15,898.09, to be paid from Title I parent engagement funds.
Apptegy representative Alex Blake described implementation support and training. Blake said Apptegy will provide unlimited training and ongoing support, including hands‑on assistance for new teachers and substitutes, and noted Rooms includes translation and AI‑based moderation tools so administrators can monitor communications.
Board members asked how Rooms compares to ClassDojo and what would happen to teacher‑level ClassDojo histories. Williams said the district cannot see ClassDojo conversations if a teacher leaves, but Rooms would provide district access to archived conversations for oversight and recordkeeping.
The board moved and seconded the recommendation to adopt Rooms and called the vote; members responded 'aye.' No board member recorded a dissenting vote.
The district will proceed with implementation steps outlined by district staff and Apptegy, including training lead teachers at each of the district’s eight schools, a soft athletic‑department launch in May, and broader staff training in August. The district plans to fund ongoing costs from Title I parent engagement funds, while the district website and current app/Thrillshare costs remain in capital outlay technology funds.
