Consolidating Tools, Cutting Costs, and Connecting Families

Most districts don’t realize they’re overpaying for communication—until they add it all up. From alerts, classroom apps, newsletters, sign-ups, to websites, every tool that a district adopts to handle communication contributes to a system that nobody sees.

Among the panelists of our recent webinar, one pattern came up again and again: Districts don’t find the real cost of communication tools until they map everything out. 

Watch the on-demand webinar to see how districts uncovered hidden costs and where they’re saving.

Skyward® + ParentSquare: Consolidate Tools, Cut Costs, Connect Families brings together district and product leaders to share what they’ve learned and what other districts can apply to their own communication infrastructure, especially in a budget environment where every dollar counts. 

Here are just a few of the highlights from the webinar.

How connected partnerships help fast-track implementation and support

For Dave Ilkka, VP of Business Development at Skyward, treating Skyward’s partnership with ParentSquare as a priority and not just a standard integration shows up in how issues get handled. As Bill Frenzel, VP of Sales at ParentSquare, put it, “You’re not stuck between two vendors. We work together to solve any problems.”

Kirk Murdock, Chief Technology Officer at Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, described how the partnership between Skyward and ParentSquare was apparent right from the start:

“You can tell that ParentSquare and Skyward have a relationship, because SkyBuild works so easily and efficiently with the nightly data sync. Having been a Skyward user for a number of years, I know how much work it takes to have templates built. But when we started rolling out ParentSquare, the template was just there, and it was a big sigh of relief for our group. It aided in our implementation dramatically.”

The secret to mapping out communication tools for better cost savings

Looking at tools individually can make costs seem manageable, but looking at them together can reveal a different picture. As Bill noted, when districts bring multiple systems into ParentSquare, they often see a significant return on investment from:

• Direct savings – Reducing vendor contracts and replacing tools
• Operational savings – Cutting down on training, troubleshooting, and coordinating across multiple tools

In some cases, consolidation can also help districts uncover costs they weren’t aware they could reduce. Some districts have saved over $100,000 in postage costs—just by moving communications into a digital, centralized system.

The surprising benefit of consolidating tools

Before adopting ParentSquare, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD relied on a mix of different tools, including free-to-teacher apps that didn’t give the district visibility into what was happening. 

Consolidating communication into a single system eliminated the need to renew some of these tools. But for Kirk, the impact wasn’t just in dollars saved: the district started seeing the effects of more consistency for staff and families.

“When our teachers, our staff, and even our board members are referencing ParentSquare in different conversations, I feel like we hit the mark we were aiming at. The comments that we’re getting are amazing.”

One consolidated platform, multiple district priorities

Cutting costs and improving community experience aren’t the only upsides to consolidating communication. With a unified platform, districts can use the communication system they already have to support other high-impact initiatives.

Amy Serrano, Regional Sales Director at ParentSquare, highlighted how ParentSquare Attendance Plus lets districts manage attendance engagement from end to end instead of maintaining separate systems for attendance improvement and school-home communication.

At Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, where average daily attendance (ADA) impacts district funding, Kurt’s seen this effect in action.

“Initially, we focused on just the automated attendance notifications, but adding the Attendance Plus piece speaks for itself. It’s been such a powerful tool with parent contacts, calendar visualization, and tiering—not just for principals and assistant principals, but everyone else in our campus attendance teams.”

And with the partnership between Skyward and ParentSquare, the district can seamlessly integrate data for attendance as well as all of their school-home communications.

Continue the conversation

The strategies and perspectives above come directly from the ParentSquare webinar Skyward® + ParentSquare: Consolidate Tools, Cut Costs, Connect Families.

If you’re ready to put these ideas into practice, watch the webinar or contact us to learn more.