ASHLAND — The Ashland City Schools Board of Education received a tech update at its meeting Monday.
Ben Spieldenner, the district’s chief innovation officer, gave the board a rundown on the ongoing transition to Final Forms.
He also discussed the district’s new website, which launched this summer, and the transition to Bloomz as the district’s main form of communication.
“It was a really busy summer and we’ve had a lot of pretty massive, sweeping changes technology-wise that have been in the works for quite a while,” Spieldenner said.
Website redesign
One of those changes included a new website design for users to interface with.
Spieldenner said the design of the website was based on the most-often searched terms on it.
“I tried to develop a website that was much easier for parents and kids to be able to use to find information quickly,” Spieldenner said.
He hopes the design is also more visually appealing than the website was previously.
A new Ashland City Schools application comes with the website, Spieldenner said. The old app expired and he received several messages when it did from parents who relied on it for information.
The new app is in the works, and information about it will be sent out when it’s complete, Spieldenner said.
Final Forms
Spieldenner announced the switch to Final Forms at a board meeting last August, telling the board it hoped to implement the new system in November. Final Forms takes external forms, like medical forms, and makes them electronic.
Since the district made the switch, Spieldenner said he’s been communicating with parents to fill out the forms online.
On Monday he told the board 84% of the district’s families had successfully transitioned to Final Forms.
A little more than 200 families still have information they need to complete on Final Forms, Spieldenner said.
The switch, Spieldenner said, will benefit the district in the long run. It will make those forms easier for families to fill out and update. Rather than sending home paper packets each year, parents can sign the forms digitally.
Final Forms has also made it easier to update parents’ and emergency contacts’ information, Spieldenner said. That contact information then easily transitions to Bloomz, the district’s new communications platform.
Up and running
The district announced its plan to transition to Bloomz in May. It had previously used Remind, another application that allowed for direct communication between schools, teachers, coaches, parents and students.
Bloomz also offered several other perks, according to Spieldenner.
It allowed for teachers to link Google calendars or create calendars on the app, making it easier to schedule parent-teacher conferences. Students can submit assignments through Bloomz, and it provides a way to track PBIS rewards.
Spieldenner previously estimated the district could save around $20,000 by moving to Bloomz. It replaces several other applications the district was using.
Spieldenner told the board Monday more than 6,000 people are registered to receive Bloomz alerts from the district.
His office is working to make sure the information in Bloomz is accurate, he said, along with ensuring the tech is working correctly.
