District 70 Creates Mobile App for Busy Parents

Submission by Libertyville School District 70

Keeping on-the-go parents connected with Libertyville School District 70 is as easy as the touch of a button now that the elementary school district has created a free smartphone mobile app.

These days a parent can be out on a soccer field watching their child play and just check their phone to find out what’s for lunch, send a teacher an email or check a school’s upcoming events on the “Libertyville District 70” app available to download at iTunes App for Apple mobile devices, including tablets, and at Google Play stores for Android devices. The app has been downloaded more than 1,100 times.

Looking at ways to improve communication and keeping the community informed, the north suburban school district spent several months designing the app with School Messenger. There was a soft opening for the mobile app earlier this year.

“It’s been a plan for some time to find a way to keep families well informed and to offer a method that allowed for ease and convenience,” said Supt. Dr. Guy Schumacher. “Designing the mobile app with parents in mind was both creative and fun and worked to meet the goal of continuously improving communication in District 70. The app allows for updated news and school stories with a calendar featuring one touch download of activities and events into one’s personal mobile calendar.”
While many local high schools offer a mobile app directed at parents and students, Libertyville District 70 is one of the few grade school districts to create the application for parents. While students can use the app, Schumacher said the district really created it for parents.

The app is so dynamic and classy, Schumacher and Imholz will attend an Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association luncheon later in September to receive a state award for their well-defined mobile app.

The app offers the latest news in the form of announcements posted on the District 70 website at d70schools.org, along with a calendar that can be personalized to your school and child’s events, athletic sports games and practices, as well as email addresses to principals and links to teachers. The app also will notify users when schools are closed in cases of emergency. Parents also are provided with links to lunch accounts and a copy of the Parent Student Handbook, and have access to Board of Education information and meetings. Both FaceBook and Twitter accounts run by District 70 also are easily accessible through the mobile app.

“We wanted a classy but simple design with a friendly user interface to make the experience as easy as possible for our users,” said Pam Imholz, District 70’s director of technology.

District 70 also reformed its websites last year so that they were easier to read on mobile devices.

Schumacher and Imholz reviewed website data to determine which items were being accessed by parents on a regular basis to help determine what features the mobile app would support. They expect to tweak the app over the years as different features are added depending on the demand of parents’ usage.