Cuyahoga Falls City School District

Background
The District has been busy this summer preparing to launch our new mass communications platform, ParentSquare. In an effort to streamline communications between staff and families, we examined what staff and families were using in previous years to find platform features that stakeholders found useful, but also provided secure messaging and data protection, as well as resources that will help our families who speak languages other than English.

By moving to ParentSquare, the entire district will move to one unified platform for all communication. Our families have expressed frustration with not knowing where to go to receive school news and information. Families with children in multiple schools have had to juggle multiple platforms to keep abreast of information. ParentSquare will eliminate the need for parents to sign up for different platforms and will be accessible in the palm of their hand and computers.

About ParentSquare
ParentSquare is a unified communication platform that offers a whole host of tools that allows district, school administrators, and teachers to more effectively communicate and engage with families and students. Some features include:
· Mass notifications and Urgent Alerts with two-way communication
· Mobile application for administrators and parents (iOS and Android)
· Attendance notifications
· Teacher and classroom communication
· Direct Messaging with two-way translation
· Social (Facebook and Twitter) and website share
· Appointment Sign Ups (parent-teacher conferences)
· Calendar and RSVP
· Volunteering and classroom supply sign-ups

Communication to Parents
Both staff and families will receive an activation email for their ParentSquare account. Those who do not register will still receive text, email, and phone notifications. Families who do create an account can interact by viewing photos, downloading attachments, leaving comments, messaging teachers, and managing their communication settings and preferences.

Training Resources
All staff will receive an email notification from ParentSquare asking you to activate your account. You will use the Google SSO (Single Sign On) box to log in to ParentSquare after you activate your account. You are not required to download the app; however, the app adds a level of convenience for sharing photos and posts from your mobile device.

For users who already have a registered ParentSquare account, modules and webinars to learn more about the platform and its features can be found here.

This is a quick reference guide you can download and print out to help you with basic features.

ParentSquare User Group on Facebook
Once you are set up on ParentSquare, feel free to join the ParentSquare User Group on Facebook. This group is specifically for customers to provide feedback to the product team and interact with other ParentSquare users. You can join here.