Fentress Schools Launches New App For Parents, Community

The Fentress County School System has launched a new mobile app to keep students and their parents updated.

Instructional Technology Specialist Rhonda Roysden said the app will provide information about upcoming events, news, and each school’s dining schedule. She said the app is a one-stop shop that sends posts to Facebook, Twitter, and the school’s website when something is added.

“We just decided it was time to update,” Roysden said. “Group things together in one place that made it kind of easy on everybody. It’s going to be very easy for teachers, for school admin, to send out to parents, and just open up that communication for everybody.”

Roysden said the schools previous website required additional charges for the services that this app provides. She said getting used to the app has been a work in progress, but she is glad to be up to date with modern technology.

“We feel like it’s very important,” Roysden said. “We want the community, parents, everybody to understand what’s going on in the school system.”

She said the use of Facebook and Twitter is a new development for the district. She said she has found that parents are more likely to get their information and seek updates on social media, so it has become an important tool in keeping parents aware of the district’s latest news.

“We weren’t happy with our previous website,” Roysden said. “And this one that we went with, with Apptegy, you know, has everything that we needed for a call system, for the app, and the website, so we just decided it was time to update and group things together in one place that made it kind of easy on everybody.”

She said the Fentress County community can find the app on their mobile device’s app store or on the Fentress County Schools website. She said the app is already up and running, adding events to the schedule for the May and June calendars.