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The ParentSquare Insider - August Edition

Posted Date: 8/15/25 (5:13 AM)
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The ParentSquare Insider

Your guide to smarter school communications.

Back to School, Better than Ever!

The end of summer always brings a mix of emotions, but here at ParentSquare, it's a feeling of pure excitement. While many were enjoying summer getaways, our product designers and engineers were hard at work, heads down, and fueled by customer feedback. We have spent the last few months rolling out powerful new features and making numerous improvements to ensure that ParentSquare is more intuitive and helpful than ever before.

Now, as schools gear up for the new academic year, we are right there with you. It's an energizing time for our entire team as we work tirelessly to help our partner schools and districts have a smooth start to a successful year. We can't wait to see all the incredible ways you will use these updates to strengthen communication and build a vibrant school community.
Students in a bright classroom, one raising their hand and another giving a thumbs up.
A woman helps a child with writing, both smiling, in a learning environment.

Check Out the Family Engagement Planner

Ready to build stronger connections with your school community? Our Family Engagement Planner is your month-by-month guide to building a thriving home partnership. With ready-to-use templates, ideas, and routines, you can move beyond one-way updates and create a truly engaged community.
 

Summer Updates

Enhanced Account Management
  • Keep your staff and parent accounts separate - now, staff members who are parents can have two separate accounts, one for work and one for home.
  • Stay logged in to multiple accounts - now, staff members who are parents can log in to both accounts and switch between them without having to log out and back in.

Improved Communication Efficiency
  • Know when your messages are read - when you send a 1:1 direct message, you will now see if the recipient has read it.
  • Truly silent outside your office hours - you have always been able to set office hours, and we will silence notifications outside those times.

Streamlined Family Engagement
  • Let parents see what is sent to students. As a district, you can choose to allow parents to view messages sent to students. It is a simple way to keep families informed with no extra work on your part.
  • Forms can be filled out more than once. You can let parents submit a form multiple times, even for the same child. Very helpful for situations such as bus changes, attendance reports, and more.

Virtual Phone Updates

  • Access Virtual Phone from the district level. District staff can now access Virtual Phone directly from the district menu.
  • Call students directly using StudentSquare. With proper permissions, you can now place calls to high school students with automatic call transcription and logging.
  • Use Virtual Phone without your number. A new school setting allows you to set up a Virtual Phone without linking your phone number.
A screen displays a call recording interface with a dial pad and contact suggestions.
A mobile screen displays an invoice for afterschool care, with a 'Pay' button.

ParentSquare Pay Updates

  • Get your Post payments approved. You can now choose to have payment admins approve payment Posts before they are published.
  • Pass service fees to parents. Save money on credit card processing by collecting service fees from your parents to cover the cost.
  • Required payment forms. A new workflow streamlines the process for parents to submit a form and pay simultaneously.
 

From the Field - A Real Q&A from our Educator User Group

One of the most rewarding aspects of our job is seeing how you, our community, utilize ParentSquare to address real-world problems. We recently saw a fantastic example of this in action. A user from a Missouri school district, new to ParentSquare, reached out with a question:

"We are new to ParentSquare, and I need help. Has anyone used Secure Document Delivery to send Missouri MAP assessment results to parents? Our Assessment Director is having trouble determining this. Please reply if you can help us walk through this."

The response from the community was immediate and overwhelmingly positive! Several ParentSquare users replied to share their experiences, confirming they successfully used Secure Document Delivery to distribute their state assessment results to families. They highlighted not only the ease of the process but also the significant savings in both time and money they achieved by going digital instead of mailing paper copies.

Our Educator User Group is an exclusive online community where current ParentSquare users share ideas, ask questions, and exchange best practices and tips. While access is reserved for active customers, you will be invited to join once your district comes on board. In the meantime, this Facebook group is limited to verified educators already using ParentSquare.
A group of five women are gathered around their phones while icons of social media float in the air behind them. Icons include Pinterest, Facebook, Z, and LinkedIn with some floating hearts.
 
A man in a suit celebrates with his fist raised high on a rooftop.

Shout Out to Our Launch Team

Just as I was about to hit send on this newsletter, a truly humbling message came in from one of our partner districts in Florida. It's a powerful reminder of the incredible work our team does every day.

The district's ParentSquare administrator shared this with us:

"Parents are calling principals; principals are calling me, and I am getting all the credit, but your team deserves all the credit! You must do whatever you need to do on your side to yell from the rooftops that your launch team is phenomenal. I don't hate getting all these kudos calls and texts, but trust me, I am getting far too many not to share this news so you can pass it along!"

While we are delighted to hear that our partner is receiving well-deserved praise, we are even prouder of our Launch Team and the fantastic work they do to ensure a smooth and successful start for every school and district. Their dedication and expertise are what make moments like this possible.
 

Have questions or want a closer look?

Post a comment, send me a direct message, or follow up with your sales representative if you would like to see a demonstration of any feature shared in this newsletter.