Pennsylvania Business Central: A Conversation with Ed Marflak (3/12/10)

Ed Marflak, President and CEO of Schoolwires, discusses how the company has become one of the top ten fastest growing private education companies in the nation.  According to Marflak, "Frankly, nothing has contributed to our success more than the quality and commitment of our people.  Our people have helped to make Schoolwires the industry leader."  Read Article >

NSPRA: San Diego USD Overhauls Its Web Site (02/10)

The National School Public Relations Association wrote about how the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) elevated and unified its communications using the Schoolwires Centricity platform. 

"After getting bids from several companies, Chief District Relations Officer Bernie Rhinerson and SDUSD settled on Schoolwires to help the district undertake the massive project of redesigning its website - complete with its new logo and brand - and using templates for each of its schools' sites ... The resulting site is a clean, information-packed experience that allows SDUSD a variety of ways to get information out and for visitors to find the information they need.  There are featured photos and videos as well as news stories on the main page, calendar and directory modules, and flexible site shortcuts on key issues (budget crisis materials, H1N1 information, etc.). 'We think it really gives visitors to the site - and parents in particular - a better experience at every level,' Rhinerson said."  Read Article >

Tech & Learning: The Challenge of Coordinating District-wide Communications (01/10)

eSchool News: Online Tools Boost Parent-Teacher Communications (09/22/09)
eSchool News posted an article by Joe Jenkins, CTO of Natomas Unified School District in CA.  In the article, Jenkins describes how the district's two-communications help engage the community more deeply in the district. "The Schoolwires...integrated solution suite serves all our communication needs, from putting interactive, internet-based teaching tools into the hands of teachers to better engage their students, to informing all our parents and students about an unexpected school closing, to providing information to the community at large. Our staff even uses it for all service requests, from requesting the repair of a broken desk to reserving a bus for a field trip.

"All the applications are already seamlessly integrated into a single platform, and we have the capability to integrate other applications as well. This integration met our objective of having a robust, digital environment that did not require in-depth technical support. In addition, the integration of the three products into a single platform makes them easier for end users, like teachers, to use and thus increases their value even further.  A user can move seamlessly among the three solutions because the suite is built on the LDAP software protocol. In our experience, the ability to move seamlessly among all the applications within the communications suite has greatly increased the products' usability while providing the district with the interactive tools we wanted to foster better communications and collaboration."  Read Article >

District Administration: Review of Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District Website (09/09)
District Administration magazine did a thorough review of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District's website, built on the Schoolwires Centricity platform.  Read Article >

District Administration:  It Takes A Village (09/09)

District Administration magazine interviewed Superintendent Terry K. Holliday on the essential role of communications in helping Iredell-Statesville Schools achieve an 80 percent positive community satisfaction rating.  The district uses the Schoolwires Centricity platform.

"To overhaul the Web site, Holliday's communications staff surveyed teachers, parents, students and community members to understand what information they sought and how they'd like it delivered. The resulting site has easy-to-find, up-to-date and accurate information on budget issues, events, the dress code, testing results and more. Average site traffic currently is 23,000 hits per week.

"On Holliday's blog, updated three times a week, he discusses everything from school performance to finances. 'My staff and the entire community know what to expect in terms of budget issues, how to lobby, or anything else that's relevant,' he says. The blog invites readers to respond, and Holliday gets up to 10 replies from each posting.

"Another way Holliday encourages feedback is through a link to his e-mail address. 'If people hear rumors, I'm able to wipe them out immediately.' The Web site's complaint-management system provides tools to report concerns or complaints. Staff members address these concerns within 24 hours and can easily track response time and customer satisfaction."  Read Article >

Centre Daily Times: Schoolwires is Upside in Down Economy (05/17/09)
Centre Daily Times reported on the successful operations of Schoolwires, Inc., in spite of the floundering economy. According to the newspaper, "(Schoolwires) has thrived and in recent years has consistently ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in the nation.  And at the end of last year, the company saw a "real opportunity to expand rapidly," said Founder Ed Marflak, a chance to "really scale the business up." After securing $12 million in outside investment, the company is moving forward with its expansion plans, which involve hiring an additional 60 employees this year and finding more office space."  Read Article >

THE Journal: Electronic Alerts - A Simple, Timely Message
Can Make All the Difference (05/12/09)
THE News Update published an article on how districts are using the e-Alert functionality within the Schoolwires Centricity platform to keep their constituents informed about the impact of the pandemic flu.
The article states, "The e-alert is essentially an electronic schoolbell," remarked Peter Lisi, superintendent of Woodcliff Lake School District, which enrolls 900 preK-8 students in two schools in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. "We use them on a weekly and routine basis. Like all schools, we have the need to send home upwards of a dozen announcements, from 'the school is selling wrapping paper,' to this week, things like we're going to start a protocol of using Purel before and after lunch for all the kids in the district. This is in relation to the pandemic."  Read Article >

Keystone Edge: Schoolwires Maintains Momentum
in Recession (04/09/09)
The Keystone Edge reported that "State College-based provider of online communication, community management and productivity solutions for school districts, expects to expand company staff by 55 percent by the end of 2009. That jump to approximately 140 from 90 employees at the end of last year will expand capacity in sales, marketing, customer service, interactive design, professional services, product development and quality control, according to Ed Marflak, founder, president and chief executive officer."  Read Article >

administr@tor magazine: Schoolwires Centricity a Hands-On Favorite for Communication Management Software (02/09)
administr@tor Magazine selected Schoolwires Centricity as one of its "hands-on favorites" for communication management software. According to reviewer Terry Holliday, superintendent, Iredell-Statesville Schools (NC), "Even the most resistant technophobes bought into it (Centricity) quickly. We now have blogs, an RSS feed, podcasts and webpages at the teacher level. We also needed the ability to post a lot of photos and videos.

"We're getting an unbelievable number of hits to the website: 150,000 in one week!"  Read Article >