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App puts school information at user’s fingertips

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Is school closed? When is picture day? What’s for lunch? Where is that health form I need to fill out? When the New Hanover County Schools open Aug. 24, there will be an app for that information and much more.

The school system is teaming up with a local startup to launch a new communication method for parents, students and teachers. The local developers envision a revolution that could render school websites obsolete.

“They can do everything they want to do through this app,” said Jonathan Weiss, chief executive officer of the Wilmington company Education App.

School officials have a modest goal, at least at first: better communication.

“With schools, communication is critical,” said Dawn Brinson, chief technology officer for New Hanover County schools. The app will provide one more means to get information to parents and students, she said.

And it won’t cost the taxpayers. It’s free to download, and the school system will get a share of the advertising revenue that will support the app, Brinson said.

The concept turns a smartphone into a one-stop portal for just about everything related to the schools. On the first day of classes, all schools and the school system itself will have their own apps that contain all the information that is traditionally on the websites.

Families with multiple children at various schools can download one and connect with the other schools and the central office — each app contains links to the other schools and the system.

New Hanover County will be the first school district to launch the apps, but the developers plan to push it out to school systems across the state and beyond. Weiss, Tim Fields and Scott Hansberry are the brains behind Education App, which was formed in March. The company’s offices are inside Chief Financial Officer Hansberry’s accounting firm.

Fields is the technical wizard; his Appy City company already had developed applications for Wilmington and tourism sites such as the Cameron Art Museum and the Battleship North Carolina. Weiss, who owns the City Club and St. Thomas Preservation Hall, among other business interests, was introduced when he was asked to advertise on the Wilmington Downtown app.

“I was blown away,” Weiss said, noting business improved almost immediately after he began advertising. That led to development of the school app under a separate company.

Central office and individual school websites provide a way to find out the latest news, but they are not smartphone friendly, Brinson said. School websites vary in content and quality, but these apps will be standardized in format.

“Everyone’s got one of these,” Weiss said, waving his iPhone. Today’s tech-savvy kids are more likely to use an app than a website. They understand how the technology works — so much so that Fields said he plans to train high schoolers to help with tech support.

Advertising, which allows the company to offer the app for free and to share profits with the schools, was a sticking point at first.

Like some of his counterparts, school board member Ed Higgins had some initial concerns about signing on.

“I wasn’t sure exactly what it was going to be,” he said. “I didn’t want a situation where a student cuts their phone on and ads start popping up.”

That isn’t the case, though. Users must click on a link to pull up an advertisement. In addition, the school system has the right to refuse advertising it considers inappropriate. At the school system’s discretion, officials may OK push notifications from advertisers at school events, but push-ads will not appear during the school day, Weiss said.

In addition, schools and the users will control which push notifications to accept, and when, he said.

Higgins said he has no problem with passive advertising — he compares it to sponsors’ banners hung on ballfields and in gymnasiums at sporting events. And he especially finds the communication aspect valuable.

The school board voted unanimously in July to approve the apps’ use.

Weiss said he originally estimated ad revenue at $1.5 million the first year; the schools will get one-half of whatever comes in. The system can use the money any way it likes.

Fields and Weiss said the app can take the place of most web-based programs the schools use, and more. It can be used for document storage, to share educational videos, tutoring applications, teacher lesson plans and sites, virtual yearbooks and many others.

Local district attorneys Ben David and Jon David are also working with Fields to develop a public safety app that will link to the schools. The function will instantly inform parents of a lockdown or other emergency, and law enforcement can even send push notifications to students warning them to stay away from a certain part of the building if necessary, Fields said.

School principals and then athletic directors will be first to get training on the apps before school opens, Weiss said. But he expects once people are aware the tool is available, it will be widely used and uses will continue to multiply.

“The apps can do more than websites can,” Fields said.

Apps will be activated by Aug. 24 and are available for smartphones and tablets in most formats.

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