Riverside-Brookfield High School District 208 teachers and families will have a new communications platform for the 2025-26 school year.

According to Kiley Fletcher, district community engagement coordinator, ParentSquare is designed to centralize virtually all district communications within one app, and will replace the text app Remind, which is no longer being updated. Goleta, Calif.-based ParentSquare acquired Remind at the end of 2023.

 Fletcher said ParentSquare is designed to keep staff, parents, guardians and students informed while also supporting greater two-way engagement with District 208. The app will be available in the Apple App Store and Samsung Galaxy Store.

Though the start of the school year is just around the corner on Aug. 12, Fletcher said the plan is for ParentSquare to be in place by then, after staff training. 

“That’s the hope,” added Dave Mannon, assistant principal for student affairs, who collaborated with Fletcher on the adoption process. “Typically for the onboarding process for completion, it’s about two months or so, but since we’re one building, we can expedite that process and get it running in the next two weeks. We’re doing the back end, the uploading and making sure it’s connected with Skyward.”

Skyward is the district’s student information system, Mannon said, used for attendance, grading, enrollment and registration. A plus for the district is that ParentSquare has a partnership with Skyward, so parents and guardians don’t necessarily have to download the app, but the app is much easier to use, he said.

Additionally, in the case of emergencies, ParentSquare will be tied into local first responders, which formerly used the app Guard911.

“There are so many things ParentSquare can do,” Fletcher said. “You can use it to help manage attendance. It can do appointment signups, forms and permission slips. I can create newsletters on there. We’re hoping it can work with the residency process.”

One subtlety is the name. Parents will have ParentSquare, while students will have StudentSquare, basically the same product, but a different name. Fletcher said students aren’t exactly keen on using an app with “parent” in the name.

She also said students won’t be able to use the app to contact other students, and likewise parents won’t be able to use it to contact students. Teachers and coaches will be able to use the app to inform on assignments and practices, and can field responses from students and parents when clarifications are necessary.

Another key is the fact that ParentSquare automatically translates into virtually any language. Anytime a post is made, Fletcher said, it can be translated into the user’s preferred language, which is chosen within the app’s settings. 

“The biggest thing is they are phasing out the Remind platform in two years,” Mannon said. “Pricewise it’s the same. It’s a no brainer to get that going and take advantage of everything they have included in it.”

Added Fletcher: “It’s the right time. We’re continually trying to streamline things. It’s going to make a lot of people’s lives easier to have everything there.”