Washington Elementary

Background

The Washington Elementary School PTA works diligently to strengthen the backbone of the school through education programs and parental involvement. They push opportunity and are consistent in their efforts to open up new doors for their students in progressive ways.

“Washington Elementary PTA is made up of spectacular volunteer parents, who help ensure the wellbeing of all the children in the school through enrichment programs,” PTA chair of afterschool activities Emelie Watson says.

One of the PTA’s offerings is an afterschool program that the association designed to provide enriching experiences for Washington Elementary students in a familiar environment after the school day ends.

“A variety of clubs are offered in four quarters of 6-8 week programs throughout the year,” Emelie says. “We have chosen specific programs that will encourage a diversity of interests, challenge our children intellectually, and offer new and exciting opportunities to spike their curiosity for knowledge, and teach them new skills while they’re having lots of fun.”

The Problem

The afterschool enrichment program at Washington consists of four quarters of programs, and their enrollment process was an inefficient and outdated paper system in which more than 350 students used “weekly take-home packets” to transport written registration forms to their parents.

Next, collecting payments was difficult to track because the process involved handwritten checks. The students carried the checks and their completed registration forms back to the school so that the PTA could complete enrollment. Emelie says the process was time-consuming and hard to keep organized.

Furthermore, class maximums were difficult to enforce when using a paper enrollment system. For example, each afterschool club had a limit to the number of students who could enroll, in order to keep class sizes manageable. With paper registration, it was nearly impossible to enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Solution

We at Popsicle knew we were a perfect match for the Washington Elementary PTA’s needs because we had just the right tools to implement an updated system that complemented Washington Elementary’s innovative afterschool program.

First, paper registration is a difficult operation to manage, but we provided a system for enrollment that is a fully web-based paperless registration. Not only is it user-friendly, but it requires no headcounts or manual data entry. Our software creates a no-hassle roster, where program administrators can view fully, up-to-date class attendees with one click.

Next, we helped Washington Elementary PTA update their system for collecting registration fees. Our real-time transaction tracker monitors all payments 24/7, so that the PTA can instantly see who signed up for each class, and issue refunds if needed.

Finally, the PTA’s class maximums are now easy to manage because our software uses an automated waitlist when a club reaches its capacity. In real-time, administrators can see who is enrolled and who is on the waitlist.

The Results

Emelie says that Popsicle’s solutions are a tremendous time-saver that makes the process for program enrollment and payment easier for parents. Large enrollment numbers followed the implementation of the software.

Parents say they love the new process, according to Emelie, and administrators enjoy the fact that there are no yearly subscriptions to use the Popsicle technology.

Emelie also finds it easy now to create new clubs, email parents, monitor transactions and give refunds. In addition, she says the customer service is great.

Before the Popsicle’s solutions were used by the PTA, Emelie spent hours sending out registration forms, gathering the enrollee’s information and payments, and manually creating rosters. Now, with a few clicks, she can complete the process, so that she can focus more of her time on the students and parents of Washington Elementary.