Tara Poolson, Technology Integration Specialist and ParentSquare Ambassador for Pearl River County School District in Carriere, Mississippi
If you’ve ever worked in a school system, you know that payments for activities and daily events quickly get complicated. Field trip forms get folded into backpacks (if they make it there at all). Checks arrive days later—sometimes weeks. Coaches track athletic fees on spreadsheets. Club sponsors keep lists of who has paid and who still needs a reminder.
For parents, the process can be confusing. They might receive a flyer, a message, or a form, but the next question is often the same: “Where do I actually pay?” For staff, it often means time spent collecting envelopes, tracking payments, and reconciling records, usually with some friction between themselves and the busy parents who are struggling to get everything done.
I worked in the Pearl River County School District for many years prior to the adoption of ParentSquare for our school-home communication. After spending time working with the Mississippi Department of Education, I returned to the district to serve as the Technology Integration Specialist. By that time, the district had adopted ParentSquare as its communication platform.
Having previously worked in the district before its implementation, I was immediately struck by how streamlined communication had become. What I soon discovered, however, was that communication was only one piece of the larger system ParentSquare offered to schools and families. The platform’s integrated payment feature has proven to be a true game changer, simplifying processes for families while reducing paperwork for school staff.
When communication and payments live in the same place
What our district was most interested in was simplicity. How could we make the process of payments for school activities easier for our parents? ParentSquare Pay answered that question for us because payments are attached directly to the message.
When schools share information about a field trip, club activity, or event, the payment option can be included right there within the ParentSquare Post. Parents see the announcement and can complete the payment within the platform they already use and trust. There’s no searching for another website or wondering where the payment should be submitted, who it should go to, or how it should be received. The information and the action are connected in one place. For families, that simplicity makes a big difference.
The initial impact on families and staff
We began to notice a change almost immediately. Instead of sending home forms and waiting for payments to come back over several days, schools could post the announcement and see responses roll in right away. Parents receive a notification on their phone, open the message, and complete the payment in just a few taps.
Because the payment is tied directly to their day-to-day communication, the process feels natural for families, making adoption quick and seamless. They don’t have to remember another system or keep track of separate instructions—it’s just part of the normal flow of school-home communication but with less stress all around!
The change has also been helpful for teachers, sponsors, and school staff. Previously, collecting payments often meant managing envelopes, updating spreadsheets, and sending reminders to families who had not yet paid. The morning of a field trip was a mess, with last minute payments and forgotten forms flooding the classrooms and front offices. With ParentSquare Pay, much of that chaos has disappeared.
Staff can easily see who has completed the payment and who may still need a reminder. Instead of sorting through paper forms or handwritten lists, everything is right there in the ParentSquare platform, resulting in a process that is easier to oversee and easier to track.
Start with small wins
We started small. Our first payments were for prom and cheer tryouts. After reviewing the process and making adjustments to our way of thinking about payments, our schools started using ParentSquare Pay for field trips. Once staff saw how simple the process was and how quickly families responded, we began exploring additional ways to use it.
What I’ve noticed is that the best indicator of success is when staff begin asking, “Could we use this for such-and-such too?” And that is exactly what started happening!
Remove friction from school payments
At its heart, ParentSquare Pay helps remove a common source of friction in school operations. When families can read a message in their home language and submit payments in the same place, the process becomes easier and more accessible. When staff no longer have to track payments across multiple systems, they gain valuable time back in their day. It’s a simple change, but one that has made school payments so much better for families and staff in our district.
Ready to simplify school payments?
If your district already uses ParentSquare, ParentSquare Pay makes it easy to collect payments on the same platform your families already use and trust for school-home communication.
Instead of juggling forms, flyers, and payment websites, you can request and track payments for field trips, extracurricular activities, fees, and more—all in one place.
👉 Learn how ParentSquare Pay can help your district start going cashless.