SimplyCircle is announcing the launch of their 2.0 web app – a newly redesigned communication platform that allows teachers, parents, PTAs, scout groups, sports teams and other affinity-based groups revolving around the school community to efficiently organize and communicate in overlapping ‘circles’, much like they do in real life.
“As a parent and a former technology executive, I asked myself why school communication often breaks down when you go from in-person to digital communication,” says SimplyCircle founder Elena Krasnoperova. “In real life, the circles we belong to as parents – our kids’ classrooms, the school, the PTA, the scout troop – are fluid and dynamic. We go seamlessly from one to the other, shifting roles from a leader in one group to a contributing member in another, sometimes participating in circle-wide conversations and sometimes one-on-one. Yet the typical online communication tools these circles use – whether that’s email, online signup sheets, or social media platforms – don’t mirror the way they communicate in real life. SimplyCircle is the first tool that actually does.”
The SimplyCircle 2.0 web app is a new group communication and productivity platform that gives school communities the benefits of email, group texts and online discussion forums in a streamlined and intuitive interface. It removes the friction of managing disparate communication tools, and solves the privacy concerns that many parents have about inadvertently exposing sensitive information on social media platforms. Parents can see information for all of the circles they belong to in one convenient interface, which they can access from any computer or mobile device.
“SimplyCircle consolidates everything into one place and lets users actually be productive!” says Reghan Laki, President of the Falls-Lennox/ECC PTA.
Parents, teachers, PTA members, club organizers and leaders of all kinds can start their own SimplyCircle group in less than 5 minutes at http://www.simplycircle.com/. The application is, and will always be, 100% free for users, with iPhone and Android apps launching shortly.
News Feed For A High-Level View Of All New Posts, Events, Tasks and Photos
No matter if you’re a group leader or member, or how many groups you belong to, SimplyCircle adapts to your needs.
A streamlined News Feed consolidates information from all of your circles into one easy-to-manage dashboard so you can act on important action items while keeping tabs on everything else. The best part? You get a single email summary of all new activity delivered right to your inbox.
Only The Messages That Matter
SimplyCircle combines group communication – allowing all groups to share information with all of their members – with the ability to send messages to individual people without looking up their private contact information.
Want to check in with your child’s teacher about her progress or arrange a play date with the parents of your child’s new best friend? No problem, and no need to search through separate paper or online directories, or look for that long-lost email in your inbox – everybody
in your circles is just a click away.
The Master Calendar
No matter how many circles a parent or group leader is a part of, all important event dates and deadlines are included in a single calendar, so nothing slips through the cracks. And you will get a convenient automatic reminder as the event date approaches.
No more copying and pasting info into your personal calendar – you can import any information you want with one click of a button. SimplyCircle is all about organizing the details so you don’t have to.
Safe & Private Photo Sharing
Everything shared in the SimplyCircle app is private and secure to that circle. Families, troop leaders, teachers and friends can all share photos and documents without worrying about sensitive information getting into the wrong hands.
One-Click Volunteer Signups
Sometimes it’s hard to tell which is more difficult – being a teacher organizing volunteer signups for parents, or being a parent trying to remember what you signed up for.
SimplyCircle’s one-click volunteer signup feature makes it incredibly easy for both volunteers and organizers to get involved, coordinate scheduling and get all the details straight. All the reminders are automatic – no need to nag and remind for the organizer, and no fear of forgetting an important commitment for the parent.
“SimplyCircle is essential to giving all of my students’ families access to information and opportunities that are critical to student success,” says Ronak Shah, Teacher at Tindley Preparatory Academy.
As part of their 2.0 launch and in celebration of the 2015 Back To School Season, SimplyCircle has announced their first-ever $1,000,000 PTA Challenge where local units can earn up to $200, and state PTA units can earn up to $10,000 just for using SimplyCircle to communicate with their members. Visit SimplyCircle’s PTA Challenge page to sign up and learn more.
“It’s going to be a great school year,” says Krasnoperova. “We’ve come a long way in a year since our launch, adding new functionality that our customers wanted, and now we completely redesigned our app to better meet the needs of new people who are signing up for our service every day. When I see how important and central SimplyCircle has become to the communities that we serve, it makes all the hard work we do feel very rewarding.”
Set up your own circle online at www.simplycircle.com and stay tuned for new iPhone and Android apps coming soon!
