Extracurriculars have been using GroupMe as their main form of communication for as long as I’ve been in high school. Now GroupMe has been deemed not user-friendly and we are making the switch to ParentSquare, but is this app better for students?
Why the Switch?
The switch from GroupMe to ParentSquare has been nothing more than tedious, but are there real reasons for the switch?
Before I debate the better of the two options, find out why the change to ParentSquare was made in the first place. According to Matt Fuller, assistant superintendent of technology and innovation, and Eric Steckling, director of communications, the reason the school can no longer promote GroupMe is because of the Student Online Personal Protect Act (SOPPA).
“Microsoft will not follow Illinois law and sign a SOPPA agreement,” Dr. Fuller explained, “when a company won’t sign a SOPPA agreement, it means they do not agree to follow student data privacy laws in Illinois. Because GroupMe does not follow Illinois student data privacy laws, Barrington 220 does not permit the use of GroupMe at the district or school level. The use of GroupMe could result in any of several undesirable outcomes.”
Since GroupMe and Microsoft will not sign the SOPPA agreement, the school has decided to switch over to ParentSquare.
GroupMe the Old Way
Now let’s take a look at the apps themselves. Let’s start with the app we all know well: GroupMe. GroupMe is a good app because it organizes all groups I’m a part of neatly, so I can easily see which ones I’m in and who has recently sent a message. You can also pin groups just like in messages. The app makes it very easy for students to communicate with each other because of its feature of allowing you to directly message anyone you’re in a group with, or even the whole group. GroupMe has been a great way to get information out fast to students, and, as a club leader, it has proved to be very convenient and useful for all students.
The main downside to GroupMe is that there are a lot of scammers. I mean, several times I’ve received a GroupMe notification saying, “Hey, I’m selling my laptop for $300.” As annoying as they are, there are ways to help prevent them. Have the admin of the group set “Who can join?” to only approved members so that the admin has the ability to look at the profile before letting them into the group. This can help minimize the number of scammers entering the group and prevent students from interacting with them. But because of all the scams and the SOPPA agreement not being signed, we now have ParentSquare.
ParentSquare the New Way
ParentSquare has no scammers and is able to communicate information not just from club groups but from the Principal as well, so students who don’t read their emails are just as informed as everyone else. Students are also still able to message each other individually; however, students aren’t able to talk to each other in a group on this app, and in my opinion, it also takes away from student leadership roles. From what I have explored, there is no way for a student to send out a message to a whole group, and as the president of a club, I feel it takes away part of the purpose of those leadership roles because then the clubs become less student-led and more teacher-led.
Now, if GroupMe won’t sign the SOPPA agreement, we can’t go back to it. However, we need to find an app that allows students to be leaders within their clubs and allows students to directly communicate and connect. If we can find a way for this to work in ParentSquare, then I think it could be the best communication app for the district. Till that’s figured out, I’m going to wish we were still using GroupMe.
The Thought Exchange
Q: How do you feel about Parent Square?
DE: I’ve liked the switch to ParentSquare. I think the fact that not only students but parents too have access to updates on information or events. This will definitely make communication easier.
Student Daniela Elizalde, ‘26 explains how she feels about the shift from GroupMe to ParentSqaure
Q: Do you think this new app is a better form of communication?
DE: From what I’ve seen, Parents Square is going to make everything a lot easier
Q: Do you think this ParentSquare is a safe or not safe app?
DE: I think Parent Square is significantly safer when compared to GroupMe. I’ve been in multiple groups that have had spam accounts with links. There’s a huge risk of kids clicking on them and getting hacked. Parent square doesn’t do that, so it’s probably much safer.
Q: How do you feel about receiving text messages from the school via ParentSquare?
DE: I’m open to receiving messages directly from the school. This is going to be beneficial for the entire student body.
Courtney Meuer, mother of students, Jake Meuer and Emmie Meuer, shares her thoughts on the recently launched ParentSquare app.
Q: How do you feel about the Parents Square app?
CM: First of all, well, I’m new to it. I think it’s good to have one location for all the communication needs. A mother of two high schoolers, I don’t find out a lot from them, so it’s nice to be able to access information that I might not normally know about in one place.
Q: Do you think ParentSquare is a better form of communication in comparison to GroupMe?
CM: So I use GroupMe for basketball, and GroupMe is not very user-friendly. So far, my experience with ParentSquare has been that it’s more user-friendly. There’s it’s easier to access, there’s the information is easier to find. That’s it.
Q: Do you think ParentSquare is a safe app for students and parents to use, or not?
CM: As far as I know. I mean, like I said, I’m new to it, and I don’t have enough experience to comment like I don’t know about whether other people outside of our community can access our information. I guess if that was the case, I would be a little more on the unsafe side, but I would assume that it’s they wouldn’t choose an app that has those capabilities. I would think they would have it pretty locked down for our needs only, and not for outsiders.
Q: How do you feel about receiving text messages from the school via ParentSquare?
CM: I appreciate it. I like that. It’s instantaneous. I like that it works well; there’s a lot of communication that comes from the high school, which I appreciate, but sometimes it’s a lot. So a text and just a text would be nice instead of a phone call and an email, and a text, and like so, just a text is all I need. But I like it