Glenwood board approves ParentSquare to centralize school communications

The Glenwood City School Board voted to adopt ParentSquare as the district’s primary communications platform, aiming to consolidate email, texting, mobile app, and archived coach‑to‑student messaging required under Act 89.

Superintendent Patrick described ParentSquare as a tool to improve internal and family communications and to create an auditable record of coach‑student exchanges: “ParentSquare offers a variety of things including email, text messaging, a mobile app and archived communications that help us meet Act 89 requirements,” he said.

A board member who had used ParentSquare previously told the board the platform simplified district operations across roles: “I’ve seen it from the parent lens, the coach lens and the principal lens — field trip forms, on‑demand alerts and archived consent are all easier to manage,” Jordan said, describing a range of teacher and coach use cases the software can replace.

Administrators said ParentSquare could reduce the district’s dependence on several overlapping services (school messenger, survey tools) and could offset some needs in an upcoming phone‑system upgrade. The board approved implementation and transition planning during the meeting.

What happens next: staff will negotiate implementation timing and work through a phased cutover from existing services, with the goal of improving timeliness, archiving, and safety‑related alerts for families.