Blogs

January 19, 2014

LCJSMS Changes Student Directory to Online Format with MobileArq

The new web-based and mobile tool, developed by a local mom, changes district communication How are parents at Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School taking advantage of the new PTO-provided web-based and mobile student directory since it was made available to them last September? MobileArq, the brainchild of Summit resident Niru Mallavarupu, a parent at LCJSMS, has changed the way parents contact each other. MobileArq allows parents to be better organized, and helps them become more engaged in the school community, Mallavarupu said.The mobile and online apps allow parents to communicate more easily with each other and with the school.   Gone are the days, she said, where parents have trouble locating the elusive directory that never is where it should be, and having to purchase extra copies for the car.   In September 2013, instead of receiving a traditional directory, parents were told to sign up for the online […]
March 2, 2013

School Directory Production

School Directory Production can be a torturous process I was talking to the “PTA ex-Directory Chair” in one of the Elementary Schools about the school directory process in her district. She told me that after three years of producing the school directory for her elementary school, she was “BURNED OUT” and stepped down last year. Let me call her Mrs. Directory Chair. Mrs. Directory Chair was very frustrated about the problems she faced in the school. They used archaic systems to collect the information, namely paper forms. Although the district collected the information, they would not give her the updates she needed for the existing parents. This was in part due to the “privacy policy”. Each time she would walk into the office to get some information, they would ask her for all her details ALL OVER again. And she was visiting them three to four times a week! Although […]
January 22, 2013

School Directory App invaluable tool for parents

Why do parents need a mobile school directory? All parents are always balancing their commitments to work and other responsibilities with their children’s activities and school events. Their school directory and calendar is an invaluable tool for them to communicate with other parents in their child’s class/school/sports team. Parents are mobile and on the run dropping and picking up kids at various activities. However most of the schools do not publish a mobile school directory. The school directories continue to be printed on paper. Take the case of Allison, a working Mom with 2 children in elementary school who lives in our neighborhood. She relies heavily on her babysitter to pick up the children from the school at 3 and take care of them until she comes home in the evening. When Allison’s babysitter’s car breaks down, she has to find someone to pick up her kids and keep them […]
December 20, 2012

Mobile and Online School Directory for School Parents – Top Ten Reasons

Do we use the printed copies of the Yellow Pages? Years ago, after search engines like Yahoo, Google and Bing put businesses on the internet highway, the paper Yellow pages have grown extinct. We no longer refer to the paper directory as much as our mobile apps or the online white and yellow pages. Our schools however continue to churn out a paper directory year after year after year. A Mobile and Online Directory is not common yet.  Schools are generally cautious in their approach to technology and rightfully so. However, we offer several compelling reasons to adopt a mobile school directory below. The school directory contains the contact information of all the parents, teachers and staff in the school, the school calendar and the school rules/regulations. Here are Top Ten simple reasons to move all of the directory information to a mobile and online directory. 10. Updated Real time […]