February 14, 2024

As you likely know, the district is transitioning to ParentSquare as our communication tool. By the fall, most communications from your student’s teacher, school, and the district will come through ParentSquare.

We are beginning this transition by sharing district-level communications, as well as communications from administrators at Newton North, Bigelow, Angier, and Bowen now. Emails will start to look a bit different and your options for control over communications will increase.

As we have begun to use ParentSquare over the past two weeks, we have received a few questions. We want to share the answers with you so that you can begin to become more familiar with the tool and to better manage how you receive information.

We look forward to sharing more information with you as we continue the rollout of ParentSquare. Please share feedback and questions with us as you use it through our community email at: community@newton.k12.ma.us. Please visit our ParentSquare webpage as well.

We are switching to ParentSquare for many reasons. Here are just a few:

• One-stop shop for all communications and information from the district. You can log into your account in ParentSquare and see information from your student’s teachers, your school, and the district. It is all in one place on one dashboard, either on your computer or on the app. All information will continue to be sent to your email as well.

• Easy to find information - all posts can be searched by keyword providing faster access to all the information you need on school/district events, announcements, forms, etc.

• Increased security - Parent Square is private by default making it more secure than social media for sharing information about classroom activities, clubs, and/or teams. The app provides texting functionality without the need for staff (teachers, coaches, etc.) to share personal contact information. In addition, all posts and messages are archived should they need to be reviewed in the future.

• Language translation and accessibility - Many of our families find it easier to read communications in their home languages. ParentSquare will automatically translate communications into the home language listed in Aspen. Teachers and staff will be able to text (or message) parents/caregivers directly in their home language as well. No more clicking the translate button or using other tools like Talking Points.

ParentSquare uses the contact information from our student information system (Aspen) to send information to families. Parents/caregivers will receive the information in their email inbox (or via text if you choose.) Registered users can also log into their account in ParentSquare to see a dashboard of all communications. These communications can be filtered by school and searched so that you can easily find what you are looking for.

You may have received an invitation link in your email box. If the invitation has expired, all you have to do is go to the ParentSquare sign in page and create your account with the email address you have on file with the school (the one listed in Aspen.)

ParentSquare allows NPS staff to share information via “posts” and “direct messages.” Posts are used for items like newsletters and full classroom/school/district announcements. Direct messages are for communication directly between a teacher and a parent. Teachers will also be able to ask for volunteers, send permission slips, and other classroom/school activities.

Right now, if you have students in multiple schools, you are receiving a lot of emails! ParentSquare provides you with options for managing communications from your student’s teacher and school. When you register your ParentSquare account you can manage:

• Frequency of communication - you can choose to receive “instant” notifications or a daily “digest” notification. Instant means you will receive the communication the moment it is sent - newsletter, athletics, special announcements, class field trips, pizza parties, etc. Digest means you will receive all the messages from your student’s teachers, schools, and the district in ONE email at 6:00 p.m. every day.

NOTE: Urgent alerts from the district or schools will override your notification settings. Urgent Alerts will be used for school closures, school emergencies, and other communications of an urgent nature.

• Method of communication - you can choose to be notified of communications via email, text, or mobile app. For email and text, you will choose the frequency - “instant” or “digest.” You can also choose not to be notified at all and just access the information when you log into your ParentSquare account.

• Source of communication - You can adjust notifications on a school building or district basis. For example, you may want to receive communications from your student’s school “instantly,” but you may choose “digest” for district communications (“Newton Public Schools” in your Parent Square Notification settings). Or, you may choose “digest” for school communications and no notification at all for district notifications.

Yes, emails will look different based upon your notification settings. If you choose “instant,” the email will look much like it does today. However, the sender will say “Newton Public Schools via ParentSquare.”

If you choose “digest,” your daily email will include the word “digest” with the date and the number of messages. You can read the messages in your email or you can click through to ParentSquare to view them on your dashboard or on the app. Here is an example:

Feb 28, 2024 Digest: 1 new message from Newton Public Schools today

By default, your notifications will be set to an email daily digest. Once you register your account, you can change how and when you are notified.

No, ParentSquare does not change the frequency of messages from the school. It does provide you with more control over notifications based on your preferences. Once you register your account, you control how often you receive messages (instantly or via a digest) and through what means (email, text, or push notifications from the Parent Square Mobile app).

You need to register for an account using the link sent to you. Once you have registered for an account, you can change your notification settings by clicking on your name (upper right corner), clicking “My Account” from the dropdown and then clicking “Notifications” on the left side of the page.

Yes, ParentSquare is more secure. ParentSquare is private by default making it more secure than social media. The app also provides texting functionality without the need for staff to share personal contact information, allowing for more secure communications with families and high school students.

Parent Square, like all software we use and share student data with, has signed a Student Data Privacy Agreement (SDPA). This agreement specifies what Parent Square can and can’t do with student data – in short, Parent Square is not allowed to share data with unauthorized third parties. Furthermore, access to Newton Public Schools communications on Parent Square is restricted to users (staff, family contacts, and students) uploaded by the Newton Public Schools. See the Parent Square Privacy Policy for more information about Parent Square’s privacy practices.

Yes, we recommend registering your account. This will provide you with more options for controlling your notification and translation settings. The mobile app is not necessary, but it can make it easier to access communications.

Phone numbers and email addresses need to be changed through the back-to-school process or by contacting the office at your child’s school. You are not able to change this information directly in ParentSquare as we need to keep data consistent between ParentSquare and Aspen, our student information system.

We are piloting ParentSquare only at Newton North, Bigelow, Angier, and Bowen. So, for example, if you have students at North and Day, you will only see communications from North in ParentSquare. In the fall, all schools will be active and using ParentSquare.

We do not recommend unsubscribing as you will no longer receive any communications from the schools or district. By registering your account, you can adjust your notification settings. You can choose instant, digest, or no notification. You cannot unsubscribe without contacting your student’s school.

Typically, when ParentSquare asks you to merge your accounts, it means that the data has detected that you have more than one student that belongs in your account, you already have an account, or that you are also an NPS staff member. Please read this article on Merging Accounts that tells you when it makes sense to merge accounts and how to do it.

Once you have registered your account, you can receive help online when logged into your account by using the “?” at the top of the menu bar.