School district changes communication platform for Cardinal parents

Newton Community School District has switched its parent communications platform from Infinite Campus to ParentSquare. However, families will still use Infinite Campus to register students, pay fees and check grades, among other things. But any messaging to parents will be facilitated through ParentSquare.

Kelly Sorenson, an administrative assistant at Newton schools who is in charge of communications and outreach, said ParentSquare officially launched July 1, which was also the same time the district’s contract expired with the messaging portion of Infinite Campus. Sorenson stressed Infinite Campus is still utilized.

“It’s just the communications piece that is gone,” she said in a July 12 phone interview with Newton News. “Infinite Campus is a student information system, whereas ParentSquare is a communication platform. One of our focuses is better communication between teachers and families and buildings and families.”

ParentSquare is intended to be the tool that facilitates and improves those two-way, back-and-forth communications. It was also a solution to help the district better reach non-English speaking or English learning families. Sorenson said she often found herself spending a lot of time using translation tools.

“I was looking at some other districts’ websites because we’re doing a revamp of ours, and Waukee was actually who had this ParentSquare,” Sorenson said. “I was looking at it and thought, ‘Oh my gosh! This is the coolest thing!’ So we set up a Zoom with them. It’s a really neat platform with a lot of versatility.”

It also allows for more interaction between families and their specific student’s classroom and building. Sorenson said ParentSquare operates similarly to a social media website in that parents and teachers can interact to posts and bulletins. But interaction is more exclusive than on Facebook or Twitter/X.

For instance, parents can only comment or engage with the classrooms their kids are in or the buildings they are attending school.

Currently, there are three ways in which families can set up and access their ParentSquare accounts: email, web browser and cell phone application. Parents should have already received an email about the change to ParentSquare, which redirects them to a page where they can set up an individual account.

Families can also visit www.parentsquare.com/signin and enter the email or phone number they have on record with the Newton school district. From there they can set up an account and password. The app is also available on Google Play or the App Store, and the set up process is relatively the same.

Language settings should eliminate issues Sorenson faced while also allowing all families to partake in the new communications system. Sorenson acknowledged that some parents are displeased with having to use another app, but she emphasized the app is not needed to receive messages from the district.

“The app just provides a more interactive experience,” Sorenson said. “It’s sort of like social media in that there is a district page and then a building page and then classroom or teacher would have a page … Those teachers can send out information in there, like if they need permission slips signed or something.”

In that specific instance, it would allow parents to sign permission slips digitally. Teachers can also post sign-up lists for class parties or directly ask parents to volunteer with events or activities. Sorenson said teachers can even post pictures that are shared directly to parents.

“It really is kind of a news feed like Facebook that families can scroll through,” Sorenson said. “But it’s more closed circuit. Joe Schmo just can’t log in and see it like you could on real life social media. Within that, too, if (a teacher) has a reading group that helps students with reading, he or she can create a group.”

Again, it would allow communications to families whose students are part of that group. Community members can sign up for district communications but their information — phone number/email address — would have to be submitted to the administration office for approval.

Perhaps one of the more welcomed changes with the app is its integration with the school district’s Google Calendar. Parents should not have to go hunting for dates anymore. For Sorenson, that is one of the most underappreciated improvements the app brings since the calendar has been a point of contention.

“I’m excited about ParentSquare,” she said. “The parents that are using it I’ve gotten really good feedback from.”