UCPS makes changes to mobile app

Union County Public Schools Launches New and Improved Mobile App

Kendall Sienon, Staff Writer

Union County, N.C. — Finally, connectivity has reached Union County Public Schools in the 21st century. The new and approved UCPS app is now available for students, parents, teachers, staff and administration and it’s FREE! This will allow users to stay connected and up to date on what’s going on with Union County Schools.

This new app has been updated to allow users to customize it by selecting the school(s) they would like to follow. There is a new Activity Stream feature that pulls all social media posts from all the schools. The News feature shows all the stories that are relevant through out the county.

Push notifications allow users to receive alerts on upcoming events or important announcements. This will most likely be most beneficial to parents and students because they won’t have to search through the app to get important information; it will show up right on their screen. But perhaps the best new feature is the Tip Line; this allows users to submit tips to the school or the district in categories such as bullying, kudos, safety, and other feedback.

Becky Swiger, Union County Public Schools Web Communications Coordinator, believes that the new app will “increase access to information because of its ease in functionality and quick access to materials”. The design resembles that of social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

When the app is downloaded and ready to open, the first thing it asks is to select what school(s) that one is interest in. The first page shows the top stories of the county. Other features are set up in an easy, organized fashion in icons that connect a user to exactly where they need to go. Some of these icons include the Calendar, Sports, Lunch Menus, Transportation, Parent Information, Directory, K12 Payment Center, the Tip Line, Settings and plenty other useful information.

Swiger is the administrator of the app and has the ability to customize the icons within the app, how they look, what they link to, how they are ordered, and what feeds are being pulled in. The app was coded and provided by Blackboard. Currently, there are 4,963 downloads.

Edited by: Sara Gunter