Declining enrollment is the district’s number one pressure point.

“It’s enrollment. It’s enrollment,” Boothe says. “We are on a steady decline.”

The district has lost 323 students in the last 3 years and 439 students since pre-pandemic enrollment highs. What makes that decline more unsettling is what surrounds it. Even as housing developments go up, fewer families are choosing public schools.

The problem is not the neighboring district with more academic programs or a shinier brochure.

“Public schools no longer have a monopoly on education,” Boothe acknowledges.

That single shift reframes the whole conversation. Homeschooling is accelerating. . School choice voucher legislation looms.

“In Kansas, we’re about a year away from having some form of vouchers,” Boothe says. “Families who are on the fence about moving away from public schools are just going to be financially pushed even further in that direction.”

The implication is uncomfortable but unavoidable. “We’re going to have to humble ourselves and start meeting with these homeschool folks,” Boothe says. “If you’re going to educate your children at home for some of the time, how can we provide a service that you absolutely can’t. In the past, we never would have even considered engaging in that conversation.”

The core challenge isn’t silence. It’s misallocated attention. Districts communicate constantly, but not persuasively.

“We spend 80% of our time sending process communication to parents,” Boothe says. “Telling them how to do school instead of why they should keep their kids in our schools.”

Bus schedules, lunch menus, early dismissals. All necessary information, None of it is persuasive. Families considering homeschooling aren’t asking how school works. They're wondering why it is worth choosing at all.

“That goes down to the granular level of school by school,” Boothe says. “What are the unique, exclusive learning opportunities that we can be promoting that families can’t get from virtual learning or homeschooling?”

For years, Boothe’s own quality standards slowed him down. “I like to think that I’m a perfectionist,” he admits. “But I’ve learned that it is more important to get the content in front of people than it is for it to be perfect.”

He’d capture great moments in classrooms, then wait to write the perfect post later. Later rarely came. “I’d never get around to doing it,” he says. “Next thing you’d know, it’d be a week later, and the story was no longer timely.”

The realization was liberating. The shift was less about technology and more about mindset. “Social media content moves down on the feed so quickly anyway,” Boothe says. “Parents are looking for information more than pretty content.”

Using the Apptegy staff mobile app, Boothe shifted to posting in real time. Principals followed. With the ability to create once and publish everywhere, the district’s digital presence became more frequent and more authentic.

“If principals have to return to their desk to post a story they captured in a classroom, we lose them”, he says. They’re too busy. “If they can’t push it out immediately, then it’s lost.”

The tool worked because it fit reality. Reality in Gardner Edgerton is capacity.

The Capacity Reality

Gardner Edgerton has been an Apptegy customer since 2017, making them one of the company’s earliest clients.

“That is our communication system,” Boothe says. “That is what we rely upon solely to get information out to families.”

The tool works because it fits reality. Reality in Gardner Edgerton is capacity. “My issue has always been capacity,” he says. “Sometimes when you want to delegate, you’re too busy to even delegate.”

Before the pandemic, Boothe planned to launch a student communications internship program to expand content creation. “Right before Covid hit, I had been researching a student intern program,” he says. “And then Covid hit. And I’ve never been able to get back to that work.”

Boothe’s role gives him early visibility into district decisions, which he uses to practice what he calls preventative communication. When Gardner Edgerton passed a bond issue, months of proactive messaging laid the groundwork.

“You’re not going to stop patrons from complaining,” he says. “But when they say, ‘you didn’t tell us,’ you can politely say yeah we did. And here are all the ways that we did.”

He admits the satisfaction. “I’m competitive in that way,” Boothe says. “I’m going to find the email that we sent you.”

Redundancy is intentional. “Communicate it,” he says. “Communicate in multiple forms.”

The Apptegy platform allows Ben to create once and publish everywhere, meeting the demands of his role without adding friction.

Data-Driven Adjustments

Six months ago, the district implemented Apptegy’s AI chatbot. The analytics immediately brought blind spots to the surface.

“We are running the reports to shift content or make content more visible based on the questions we’re getting via the chatbot,” Boothe says.

One insight surprised him. “I was surprised at how many people were asking about graduation,” he says. “That topic never would have crossed my mind if we didn’t have that data available to us. I just assumed they were reading the high school’s newsletters.”

This year, the district will build a dedicated graduation page. Small change. Real impact.

Teacher Two-Way Communication

This year, Gardner Edgerton rolled out Apptegy’s teacher two-way communication tool. Adoption has been gradual, especially among coaches used to third-party apps. But features weren’t the point.

“If you’re going to communicate with parents, or students too, especially students, we’re offering this platform in order to protect you (the employee) and to protect the district,” Boothe says.

No more texting students. No more unofficial side channels. If communication happens, it happens inside a system that preserves records and protects staff.

“The approved forms of communication for staff are email, phone, or teacher two-way,” he adds.

The logic is simple. If inappropriate communication happens, the district can point to approved tools and retained records. “If teachers are using it beyond that,” Boothe says, “that’s gravy.”

Why Gardner Edgerton Stays Loyal to Apptegy

After eight years, the district hasn’t looked elsewhere.

“In my 27 years in education, Apptegy has provided the best customer service I’ve ever had, regardless of product,” Boothe says. “In education, customer service is a rarity.”

The product works. It’s intuitive. Most support issues rarely reach his desk. “Ninety-nine percent of the issues, I don’t even hear about. Our staff goes directly to the Apptegy live help chat for answers,” he says.

That reliability explains the loyalty.

Boothe’s definition of communications success is pretty simple. He does not talk about engagement metrics or awards.

“Success is not only that it’s communicated,” he says. “But that it’s delivered in such a way that it’s sticky, that people remember it, and they’re not circling back and saying, ‘you didn’t tell me that.’”

He knows how it sounds. “I know it sounds a bit negative,” he says. “But teachers, families, and students can't say they haven’t heard it.” In other words, the message landed.

The Path Forward

As Gardner Edgerton heads into another recruiting season, the stakes are clear. Families have options. The old assumption that public school is the default no longer holds.

Telling the story is not enough. It has to be timely. It has to be visible. It has to be consistent.

“It’s more important to get the content in front of people than it is for it to be perfect.”

In a competitive education market, perfection is a luxury. Showing up is strategy.