Digital Evolution: So Much More Than a Website

Former Ridgway Area School District Superintendent Tom Butler thinks of eChalk as much more than a website tool. “eChalk’s the way we interact,” he says simply, “from lesson planning to parent communications to student engagement.” 

Only four years ago, Butler told Technology Teacher Rita Buhite, “The only school supplies we need are chalk and a chalkboard.” Back then, updating and maintaining the districts’ websites was “one big headache,” according to Buhite, but once eChalk arrived, “It became a whole different ballgame.”

Since the district’s successful eChalk implementation, Superintendent Butler is eager to connect parents, students and schools even more. “The 21st Century is all about being transparent,” said Butler, “and as a parent in the school system, I want to know what my kids’ teachers are doing and what’s going on in the school. I want to be able to interact with teachers and staff in the district. eChalk makes interaction easy.” 

Lesson Planner

eChalk’s Lesson Planner is the key feature that convinced Butler to purchase eChalk for his rural Pennsylvania district. It provides teachers with customizable templates that can be shared with administrators and peers and archived for future use. All Ridgway teachers are required to use Lesson Planner and Butler is excited that it gives teachers an easy-to-use, consistent method to make planning easier across all schools. Once the templates are set up, teachers quickly realize how much time they save!

Lesson Planner aligns closely with Butler’s goal of providing more transparency into the classroom and its standards alignment tools, from Common Core to state-specific standards, make it highly relevant to teachers’ day-to-day lives. Next, Butler plans to get students even more engaged through individualized learning plans that enable them to connect to their work any hour of the day—or night.

Outstanding Customer Support

Ridgway’s eChalk Client Services Manager was a major success factor in the district’s implementation. “We brainstorm solutions together,” said Buhite, “and she always gets back to me quickly and walks me through everything. It’s so great to work with somebody at a company who cares!”

Superintendent Butler seconds the “excellent customer service” compliment: “Customer service is great. When I talk about eChalk to others, it’s always about the customer-facing people. If I were to give eChalk customer service a grade, I’d give it 100% and some extra credit.”