Introducing Parent Square

Greetings, SLSD Families,
We are pleased to introduce Parent Square as our new district-wide communication platform.  

BACKGROUND
One of the major takeaways from last year’s Parent Survey is that families are frustrated with multiple communication apps and logins, instead wanting one communication platform for all district-level, building-level, and classroom-level communications. After considering multiple vendors and options, Parent Square was deemed to be the platform that offered the most flexibility and was the most straightforward to use.

ABOUT PARENT SQUARE
Parent Square is a unified platform for all communication, allowing for easier parent involvement, more robust engagement features, an app for mobile users, flexible notification options for parents, two-way language translation, etc. 

Some features include:
·  Mass notifications and Urgent Alerts
·  Mobile application for staff and parents (iOS and Android)
·  Teacher and classroom communication
·  Direct Messaging with two-way translation
·  Calendar 

Your user account has been setup on Parent Square using the information you have entered in Final Forms.

GETTING STARTED
Between now and Monday, you will receive an email from Parent Square with a link to register your account.  (You may need to check your Spam folder to find the email). Click the link in that email and follow the instructions to register your account. You can also download the Parent Square app (available for both iOS and Android) from your app store. 

Those who do not register will still receive text, email, and phone notifications. Parents who do create an account can interact by viewing photos, downloading attachments, leaving comments, messaging teachers, and managing their communication settings and preferences.

You can click HERE for a brief, narrated video which will show you the basics of getting up and running on Parent Square.

NEXT STEPS
Staff members will begin using Parent Square to communicate with families beginning at the start of the 4th Quarter (Monday, March 17).  The plan is to run Parent Square parallel to the current communication platforms through the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year.  This will give an “on ramp” of sorts, allowing both staff members and families to become familiar with Parent Square.  Beginning over the summer, when communications begin for the 2025-2026 school year, Parent Square will be the sole platform that we use for district-level, building level, and classroom-level communication, as well as communication from extra-curricular coaches and club/organization advisors.

If you still have questions after watching the video linked above, please email parentsquare@southwestschools.org. 

Thank you for partnering with us as we work to streamline our communication to families.