Massachusetts District Overcomes Significant Language Barriers to Advance Inclusive Family Engagement and Bolster Student Safety Protocol
Taunton Public Schools (MA)
Challenges & Goals
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With over 18 languages spoken throughout the district, maintaining clear lines of dialogue posed significant challenges — from the district level to the classroom — resulting in less family engagement.
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With student safety a top priority, the district needed a solution that didn’t rely on just one communication channel — like telephone lines — to update parents and caregivers in an emergency situation.
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The goal? Deploy ParentSquare, a multilingual, multimodal communication solution that emphasizes frequent and inclusive exchanges to facilitate stronger bonds between educators and caregivers, while effortlessly bolstering student safety protocols.
Like many districts throughout the country, Taunton Public Schools serves a multicultural, multilingual student population, with families speaking over 18 languages. And while inclusive family engagement has always been a top priority, it was also a mounting challenge for the district to adapt and scale its efforts to keep every caregiver informed in their home language.
In addition to addressing language barriers for greater connection, the district was also looking for a multimodal approach to its communications, so it didn’t have to rely on traditional phone lines to notify parents and caregivers during an emergency.
With all this in mind, the district decided to implement ParentSquare to streamline its daily operations and to enable more equitable and efficient communication for increased caregiver engagement and student safety.
Name
Taunton Public Schools
Type
District of 13 Schools
Students
8,000
Location
Taunton, MA
Reaching Caregivers In Their Preferred Language Reaps Big Rewards
Identifying caregivers’ preferred languages and ensuring they receive important school information in that language can pose significant challenges and leave room for error — not to mention is time-intensive and expensive. However, since onboarding with ParentSquare, Taunton Public Schools reported it has decreased its workload in communicating with families by 50%, while exponentially increasing family engagement.
“As someone who is in the thick of it everyday, I can tell you that ParentSquare’s translation features are a game changer for engaging with families in various languages — our caregivers can’t stop raving about how easy it is to use,” said Superintendent John Cabral.
Not only has the district increased its contactability to upwards of 90%, which is an incredible feat itself, but it also “transformed how we connect with families,” added Cabral. With features like two-way messaging with translation in 130+ languages, teachers can write a message in English and it will get delivered in a caregiver’s preferred language. Caregivers can reply in their home language and it will automatically translate it back to the teacher in English, allowing families to actively engage in their student’s education, no matter what language they speak.
No Phone Lines? No Problem. Multimodal Communication Supports Student Safety Protocol
Once onboarded, all caregivers have the option to create a ParentSquare account, which they can access via desktop or mobile app to receive notifications. However, even caregivers who don’t create an account will still receive emergency alerts on their mobile device as long as the phone number is up-to-date in the school information system (SIS). With seamless integration into its existing systems, ParentSquare helped Taunton Public Schools ensure student safety remained a top priority with reliable multimodal communication.
“ParentSquare is the heartbeat of our daily operations.”
John Cabral
Superintendent
Redefining Interactions Between Schools and Their Communities
No matter how small or large a district is, without the right communication platform and infrastructure in place, it’s almost impossible to ensure all stakeholders are equitably engaged. By choosing a cutting-edge platform that emphasized usability for every stakeholder amidst linguistic diversity, Taunton Public Schools was able to achieve an interconnected educational environment across all school sites. “ParentSquare made a huge difference in our community — the platform has transformed how we connect with families,” said Superintendent Cabral.
When it comes to effective school-to-home communication, it’s not about keeping up with technology trends; it’s about harnessing them for truly meaningful impact — something Taunton Public Schools has proudly achieved to better serve every family.
