A Cincinnati-based edtech company is rolling out a new offering that it's billing as a first for parents with students in K-12 schools.
SchoolNow, formerly Campus Suite, this week introduced a school-to-home digital publishing platform. The company said the hub speeds up and improves how schools engage families and their communities.
The platform combines ADA-compliant websites, mobile app, social media, text, voice and email into one system. In two steps, school staff can create a message or a post and select the channels in which to deliver it. The platform includes digital branding and messaging for schools and districts, handling everything from urgent alerts to social posts to general messages.
Parents also have the option of receiving messages through text, email, voice or via mobile app based on their preferences. SchoolNow said it has developed the first “parent-first” digital publishing platform designed around parent communication preferences.
"We've taken a whole new approach by simplifying how schools deliver messages and stories, and how families can connect," Steve Williams, CEO and co-founder of SchoolNow, said in a news release. "With the same ease it takes to share a social media post, school staff can create and control their entire digital school messaging, securely and boost parent engagement."
Williams said the company started to reinvent itself several years ago. It also provides educational resources through its SchoolNow Academy to help schools with community engagement and communications planning.
SchoolNow said schools can improve outcomes if they better share information.
"Many of us at SchoolNow are parents of school-age children ourselves, so we've been at ground zero when it comes to experiencing the school-home communication gap,” Williams said. “We all are relying on schools more than ever to deliver information quickly, accurately and safely. It's all about telling the stories that reflect their image and build trust."
SchoolNow was founded in 1998 and has 18 employees. The company in 2018 participated in the Amazon Web Services EdStart program, a web-based accelerator for edtech startups.
