CARTHAGE, Mo. — A local school district is rolling out a new communication system — making it much easier for parents to get in touch with teachers.

The Carthage Intermediate Center hosted the district’s fifth through eighth-grade teachers on Wednesday for some back-to-school training.

Teachers spent their first day back in school getting a head start with the school’s new communication system.

“It’s just a great way for them to brush up on all of their learning right before they come back to the kids, and today we are going to be doing a special training at the end of the day, about Parent Square,” said Amy Cristy, Carthage Schools Communication Director.

“I have activated my teacher account and my parent account, it really easily activated for all three of my children, they are all in different buildings this year so it’s nice to have all of their communication in one spot,” said Cassandra Lipscomb, Carthage 4th-grade teacher/parent/coach.

The app is a one-stop shop for teachers, parents, and administrators.

It provides a place for them to have protected conversations, get permission slips signed in a moment’s notice, and even allows two-way translation for parents who don’t speak English as a primary language.

“Before there would have been a barrier there, I would have had to get an interpreter if I don’t speak Spanish regularly, and wait for that. Now, I can message them and they will receive it on their app, or in their email, in Spanish, they can respond in Spanish, and when they respond I get it in English,” said Cristy.

And fair warning for local students — Cristy believes the app will also help parents keep a closer eye on how their kids are doing in school.

“There’s no more ducking the report card, it’s all in the app. I can pull up my two kids and look at each of them, look at their classes, look at their grades as they go into the student information system, any information I might need to know,” said Cristy.

Cristy invites parents to go ahead and download the app — which can be found on both the Apple and Android app stores.