Districtwide Communication Platform

The Vendor is required to provide for a comprehensive, district-wide communication platform to streamline communication between the district, school sites, staff, students and families.
- Platform must support more than 140 schools and approximately 65,000 students, 12,000 staff members, and a highly diverse community that includes a large population of multilingual families.
- The platform must include the following core features:
•    Multichannel Messaging: Email, SMS, voice calls, mobile app push notifications and in-app messaging. 
•    The platform must be able to narrowly target messages to specific audiences, whether it be a single classroom, a specific grade or employees with certain job titles.
•    Two-Way Messaging: Ability for families to respond and engage with school and district messages.
•    Automatic Language Translation: Real-time translation in written and spoken formats. A full list of languages is provided at the end of this document; however support is required for the district’s top languages, including:
o    Spanish
o    Vietnamese
o    Arabic
o    Swahili
o    Dari
o    Chinese
o    Pashto
o    Kinyarwanda
o    Farsi
•    Student Information System (SIS) Integration: Seamless integration with Synergy, the district’s current SIS, including access to class rosters, schedules, contact details and attendance data.
•    Website Integration: The platform must integrate with schools current website content management system (plone, finalsite).
•    User Interface: Mobile-friendly experience for families on iOS and Android; responsive design for all users.
•    Role-Based Permissions: Centralized administrative oversight with autonomy for school sites and appropriate permissions for teachers and support staff.
•    Alerts and Urgent Communications: Tools to send time-sensitive and emergency messages at the district and school level.
•    Surveys and Events: Built-in functionality to conduct surveys, manage RSVPs and create events.
•    Newsletter Tools: Support for building and distributing school and district newsletters.
•    Audit Logs and Search: Support for communication logs, search history, message tracking, and exportable reports.
•    Approval Workflow: Built-in workflow for reviewing and approving messages at the school and/or district level.
•    Accessibility Compliance: ADA and WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.
- Each user group should have clearly defined functionality:
•    District Administrators:
o    Send district-wide communications and emergency alerts.
o    Access analytics dashboards, message logs and compliance reports.
o    Manage user permissions and settings across the system.
•    School Administrators:
o    Send school-wide messages and newsletters.
o    Schedule and approve communications sent by staff.
o    Access school-level engagement analytics and message logs.
•    Teachers:
o    Communicate directly with classroom families via multiple channels.
o    Automatically access current class rosters through sis integration.
o    View communication history with families.
o    Use built-in tools for translation and scheduling messages.
•    Support Staff:
o    Communicate with families as permitted by school administration.
o    Access school-level tools such as surveys, events and voice notifications.
•    Parents/Guardians:
o    Receive messages in their preferred language across channels.
o    Respond to messages and initiate conversations with staff.
o    Access a mobile app or web portal to manage preferences and view history.
•    Students:
o    Access relevant messages from teachers and school staff.
o    View schedules, reminders and surveys (opt-in per school site).

- Contract Period/Term: 8 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: September 8, 2025