Dupage Policy Journal

The District 200 school board considers a contract for a new communications system in the district.

“I think that in my opinion and I think our building administrators, too, is that when we celebrate our students and our staff publicly, whether that's on our websites or social media, it allows us to connect our communities back into our schools,” Public Relations Director Erica Loiacono said during the meeting. “We talk often about how 70% of the people that live in our community don't have a child in one of our schools, but they contribute resources to our schools. And so it's up to us to make sure they stay connected. They have a front-seat window into our schools, and we believe the solution allows us to do that even better.”

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the district’s YouTube channel.

At their January 11th meeting, the District 200 school board was presented with a new vendor for their website and mass communications system. Loiacono presented this item before the board. The district uses mass communication, like sending an email or text to a whole school, specific classrooms, or groups of parents or teachers, and they have been using their current program, a separate software from their website, for over ten years. Their contract with this software ends at the end of June 2023.

The board also discussed a resolution to begin the new fiscal year.

The district considered these factors and decided to look into new vendors to support its website and communication platforms. The district received information and demonstrations from three different vendors, and after getting positive feedback from the Apptegy program, they also tested that software with their building administrators and some support staff throughout the district. The community engagement committee evaluated the program and recommended bringing it to the board for their approval.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8 at Pleasant Hill Elementary School.

The new platform allows for the website and mass communication to be done together through a single system. This means any website logging or messages can be done through the same login in the same window, something very beneficial to building administrators. The program will also revamp the websites and create a user-friendly mobile app that gives updates and alerts to users as well. This would make it very easy to update the website and have parents get alerts on things like school delays, busing changes, school events, and other important information. The board voted to approve the new contract, starting in June.