GREEN COVE SPRING - The Clay County School Board appeared to be receptive on Monday, Aug. 26 to a new app that, if approved, would foster communication throughout the school district.

Apptegy, a media platform designed for school districts, would facilitate monitored direct messaging between teachers, coaches, parents and students. Previously, the school district used emails sent through Synergy. 

Using a third-party platform like Apptegy would be preferable to teachers or coaches handing out phone numbers to students, which could lead to a wide range of abuses. Messages sent on Apptegy will be monitored and made accessible in the public record. 

"Our team would never encourage an adult staff member to give out their cell phone number to a student," Terri Dennis, Communications Coordinator, said during a presentation she gave to the school board during the workshop meeting. 

"That is something we don't monitor because we don't have access to that," she added. 

Apptegy comes with the added benefit of sending district-wide messages to all schools and all families, such as if the school was canceled. 

"This has been months in the making and is a collaborative effort between our Community Relations and ITS departments. I am the lead for Goal 3 of our strategic plan, which focuses on Family and Community Engagement," Dennis said in an email to Clay Today.

"If the Board approves Apptegy at the September 5th meeting, we'll transition our current app and websites for a January 2025 launch. While it offers some social features, it's not exactly like Facebook. The app's social interaction is primarily one-way, similar to a website. However, there is a "Rooms" section for two-way communication between parents and teachers that is password-protected for student and teacher safety," she said. 

The school districts in Putnam and Sarasota counties currently use Apptegy. 

Clay County District Schools currently spends $153,750.80 on district-wide communications. Apptegy's goal is to integrate various communication tools, such as ClassDojo and GroupMe, onto one platform. 

More information can be found at apptegy.com/.