Expanded ParentSquare Features Coming Soon

As another step toward making ParentSquare Lakota’s singular school-to-home communication tool, the District is slowly introducing expanded features to Lakota parents and staff. 

A brief pilot involving four schools - Heritage Early Childhood School, Adena Elementary, Liberty Junior School and Lakota East High School (main campus only) - will allow for classroom-level communication as well as direct messaging between school staff and parents. With the exception of a few teachers at these four pilot schools who are already testing the new features, school-wide access will open for all staff in these buildings in early November. The pilot will extend through the end of December, with the goal of rolling out the new features to all other schools in early second semester. 

The new notification system for sending email, phone and text alerts was introduced to all Lakota families and staff over the summer. Since then, Lakota schools and the District have been using the ParentSquare platform to share school-wide and district-wide announcements and reminders. 

In this second phase of the rollout, parents and staff can expect to see the following expanded features: 

• Classroom Communication: Teachers will use ParentSquare as the primary way to share classroom newsletters, photos, sign-ups and other general updates as posts to their class sections. 
   
• Direct Messaging: Teachers and staff will be able to engage in two-way messaging, both one-on-one and in small groups. Consistent with other communications generated via ParentSquare, messages will be delivered in each user’s preferred language. 
   
• Scheduling & Sign-Ups: Parents will notice ParentSquare replacing tools like SignUp Genius or Google Forms to sign up for conference slots, donations and volunteer opportunities, for example. These things will be documented and tracked within each user’s personal ParentSquare sign-in.

As communicated at the initial launch of ParentSquare, no action is required to continue receiving important communications at the phone numbers and email addresses parents update via FinalForms (or for staff, phone numbers added to our previous notification system). However, to get the most out of ParentSquare and take advantage of options to customize your Lakota communications, parents and staff are encouraged to take these steps: 

1. Log into your ParentSquare account via OneLogin to set your notification preferences for receiving school and district emails, text messages or app alerts instantly or via a daily digest. (Email and text default to "digest," while app notifications default to "instant.") Lakota will override these settings when sending an urgent, time-sensitive alert. The daily digest of messages will be delivered to inboxes and via text or app notification after 6 p.m. each night. You can also update the language preference that is automatically set based on Lakota’s records.
    
2. Download the free app (iOS or Android version) for on-the-go access to all Lakota  alerts in ONE place. You can also search "LLSD ParentSquare" from your app store. 
    
3. Join More Groups: While you are auto-subscribed to receive updates from some groups based on your associations (i.e. school, grade level, etc.) you are welcome to join other public groups. If accessing ParentSquare from a web browser, select “Home” and then click “Groups” in the left sidebar under “Participate.” Check this periodically, as new groups get added. In the app, select the hamburger menu at the top and then “Groups” on the left sidebar.
    
4. Review the contact information Lakota has on file for you. All parent/guardian updates must still be made through FinalForms via OneLogin. Staff will be able to add or edit their phone number within ParentSquare.  

Please take a few minutes to watch this Getting Started with ParentSquare video for parents and guardians. The shift to ParentSquare is a direct response to survey feedback that prioritized a more centralized tool for school-to-home communications.

Complete our ParentSquare feedback form to share your experience with the new platform and help us continually improve its functionality. Visit the parent/guardian, staff or community tab on Lakota's Communications Sign-Up webpage for more details about how to stay connected to Lakota.