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By Dena Wood
The Times 

Prescott Considers New Technology to Improve Communication

New platform would streamline communications and serve mobile users

 

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Apptegy's Thrillshare platform allows school administrators to update multiple communication portals with one just one post.

PRESCOTT – Getting school notices home to parents – and then making sure they read them – is a challenge for most school districts. For Prescott Schools, the struggle is magnified because a large percentage of parents speak only Spanish.

At the district's Feb. 25 school board meeting, the board previewed an app that claims to improve communications with parents, students, and the community-at-large. The mission of Apptegy, the app under consideration, is to "help schools build better connections with their communities by using the best technology available."

Apptegy says its user-friendly iPhone and Android apps are the easiest way for the district to communicate important notices, but also to get positive messages out to the community. Through Apptegy's "Thrillshare" platform, content can be uploaded in one spot and distributed to selected outlets including, Facebook, text messages, push notifications, a website update, the mobile app update, Twitter, and more. A special feature of the Apptegy app is its ability to translate data from English to Spanish.

Apptegy representative Josh Nielsen, who presented the platform to the board, said coaches, teachers and administrators can each have their own limited logins, which allow them to quickly update "all the good stories" going on with their students and at the school. Coaches can update game scores and teachers can share photos of classroom events and achievements in just seconds, he said.

The Apptegy package includes website development and hosting, but Nielsen said the vast majority of today's users access technology through their phones rather than via websites, which increases the appeal of an app.

And unlike Facebook, which allows potentially negative comments from readers, the app allows the district to control and share outbound positive data. The app allows schools the option of adding forms for feedback, volunteering, or anything else the school would like to know from the community.

"It truly changes the way you guys are communicating with your community and brings in that community and parent involvement to the district that has truly been missing in the educational field," Nielsen said.

Superintendent Brett Cox said the app would allow the district to meet archiving requirements since all posts are stored on the Apptegy servers. He said the district currently spends $2,000 for their website hosting and it would cost the district approximately $600 annually to monitor and update Facebook and another $350 to use Smarsh.com to archive Facebook posts and comments.

Apptegy will cost Prescott $3,000 annually and the district would also incur a one-time $5,000 set-up fee.

The board authorized Superintendent Cox to move forward in price negotiations with Apptegy. Business Manager Patti Johnson said that the current web-hosting contract expires in July. If the Prescott School District does purchase the Apptegy platform, they will be the second school in the state to partner with the company, which is based in Little Rock, Ark. Morton School District signed with Apptegy in late February.

 

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