I’ll admit it: I was a late bloomer when it came to apps. I was that person who staunchly refused to download the Starbucks app, even when everyone around me was earning rewards and getting half-priced drinks. I didn’t understand what apps had to offer that websites didn’t. But over time, I’ve come around to them—not just for deals on drinks, but because they allow me to interact directly with a brand in a convenient, distraction-free environment.
With the rise of AI, the dangers of misinformation are higher than ever. And unfortunately, on social media—where many schools strive to set the record straight—your message is more likely to be drowned out by false information than to reach your audience intact. So how can you keep your most important messages from being distorted or warped online? One answer is to invest heavily in the digital spaces that you control—including your district’s app.
But in order to be useful, apps require a high degree of internal and external adoption. You not only need your staff to get on board, but you also need your audience—families and often students—to download and use them. Once you have that buy-in, your app is a direct line to your stakeholders—a tool that shouldn’t be underestimated.
When we talk about school apps, we don’t just mean a place to post announcements. An app isn’t worth much without notifications and two-way communication built in—tools that make it easy for families and students to connect directly with your schools. But how do you get your community on board with using them? To answer that question, we’ve turned to a few administrators who have built strong internal and external buy-in for their apps—with innovative strategies to keep their communities engaged.
Building Internal Buy-In
Strong internal buy-in is essential for building a culture of consistent communication with your audience—a task that isn’t always easy. After all, changes in parent-teacher communication can be difficult to adjust to. But Etiwanda School District in California has mastered the art of establishing internal buy-in—and their approach relies on empowering teachers to be core district communicators.
“Whenever I communicate at the district level, I know that roughly 20% of the information I share actually makes it to families,” explains Director of Instruction Justin Kooyman. “But when I work with teachers to communicate info to families, that number is more like 99%. That’s why having teachers districtwide buy into our app is critical.”
But Kooyman wants teachers to do more than just convey information; he wants them to engage in conversations with families. While he could just require his teachers to use a specific two-way communication app, building true buy-in—getting them to actually use the app with fidelity—requires a little more thought. “I don’t know that we’ve ever required our teachers to use our two-way app for communication. Some continued to use email or phone calls,” Kooyman says. “But we did make it as easy as possible for them to use the app, and we supported them every step of the way.”
Kooyman started by carefully selecting an intuitive product that included all of the features that most teachers requested, such as the ability to message families without giving out their personal phone number. Then, it came time to provide teachers the training and support they needed to master their new tool.
Kooyman and Communications Consultant Aimee Dawson started teachers off in training groups with fewer than 20 people, keeping cohorts small so that people would be more comfortable asking questions. They also made it clear that many of the two-way communication tools teachers had already been using were no longer compliant with California’s privacy and security laws. “Once we adopted a districtwide two-way app, Rooms, we had to make it clear that other apps were off the table,” Kooyman says. “We explained to teachers that our two-way vendor had a student privacy agreement with us and that this protected both them and their students.”
And as more and more states pass laws requiring parental access to teacher-student communication, funneling all two-way communication through a single district-approved app is more important than ever. “I tell teachers all the time that our app is the safest way you can communicate with students and families,” Dawson explains.
But Etiwanda’s two-way communication through their app isn’t just safe; it’s also engaging. “We love to encourage teachers to have fun using the app, to share pictures and bring families into what their kids are doing as much as possible,” Kooyman says. “When everyone is helping our families stay connected to what’s happening in the classroom, it creates a sense of community.
Cultivating External Support
Alycia Burns, executive director of Twin Peaks Classical Academy in Colorado, jokes that the charter might be in the top 1% of campuses for how often they use their two-way communication app. “Every single thing we post goes through our app, from general announcements to teachers sharing information with individual classes,” Burns says.
But that wasn’t always the case for Twin Peaks. After a bad experience with a previous product, Twin Peaks wasn’t so sure about giving apps another try. “We thought it was going to solve all of our problems, and then it didn’t. It was buggy, it was inconsistent, and people hated it so much they deleted it,” Burns explains. “So when it came time to try another app, our community was naturally hesitant.”
This meant Twin Peaks had to stick the landing with the launch of their new app—and for them, that meant creating consistency. “There is almost no information that doesn’t come through our app. This is important to our goal of having a centralized place for communication,” Burns says. When parents turn to the district for information, they are pointed to the app every time, without fail. Over time, this has created a culture of expectation. When families have questions, they know there’s only one place to go: their app. Plus, because parents know exactly where to find all the most important information, staff are less tied up answering one-off questions.
But the Twin Peaks app is more than a communication tool; it’s also a recruitment tool. As a charter school in the Denver area, they have quite a lot of competition for enrollees. So the app acts as a secret weapon, selling families on Twin Peaks’ commitment to frequent, relevant communications. All prospective families are asked to download the app immediately before they begin their first tour of the school. “With our app, we can show them how we actually operate—not just tell them,” Burns explains.
In the weeks after their tour, prospective families have a view into what everyday communication at the academy looks like and how that communication aligns with Twin Peaks’ values. “They see who we are,” says Burns. “And we’ve seen that have a positive impact on how families travel through our pipeline.” It also allows the school a perfect opportunity for follow-up.
So whether your district is launching an app for the first time or giving it another shot, there are a few steps you can take to convince your community to use it. First, establish your app as the singular place for district information by front-loading it with everything your staff and families may need. Second, provide staff plenty of support to build up their buy-in. This means being willing to work through any challenges along the way, and highlighting that communicating through the app protects both staff and students. Finally, help all of your stakeholders understand your app as a digital manifestation of everything your district has to offer—all in a safe, distraction-free environment.