Grafton to use ParentSquare to centralize communications as district prepares for Act 89 policies

The Grafton School District presented a first read of nine policies intended to implement Act 89 and said it will transition to the ParentSquare communications platform to help meet the law's record‑keeping and professional‑boundary requirements.

Mr. Kaylor summarized the policy committee's June 8 review of nine policies connected to Act 89 and said the committee focused on how the law affects different employee groups, volunteers and board members. Superintendent Jeff Nelson told the board that Act 89 requires districts to adopt rules regulating communications between students and school employees or volunteers by Sept. 1 "and that the statutory language specifies that these regulations apply to staff when acting in the individual's official capacity."

Nelson said the district is moving to ParentSquare and introduced Rick, the staff lead on implementation. Rick described ParentSquare as a mature, widely used K‑12 communications platform that integrates with Skyward and helps limit sharing of personal contact information. "The students personal information is never really viewed by the coaches," Rick said, noting that ParentSquare allows parents to receive texts and emails while preventing coaches from seeing phone numbers. He said the district plans a soft launch with athletics and coaches and will expand classroom use in a second year.

Board members asked how messages are delivered, whether there is an app, and how parents will be trained. Rick said messages go to text and email, there is a mobile app that preserves communication history, and the district will use a launch kit, flyers at registration and registration‑time outreach to train parents.

There was no vote tonight; administration said the policies are on first read and a second read and approval will occur next month.