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Christ Presbyterian Academy

After the abrupt loss of its former communications platform, Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA), a private, coed Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, needed an immediate replacement to communicate with its community of over 1,400 students, teachers, and staff.

“Our timeline was urgent,” said Stephanie Newton, director of communications. “We were deeply concerned about our ability to communicate via email and SMS with parents, especially considering our "school-to-parent" communication process is a critical tier of our campus security procedure.”

Facing a potential coverage gap for its communications, CPA needed a mass notification solution that could be deployed efficiently—and as soon as possible.

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At a Glance

Christ Presbyterian Academy is a private, co-ed prep school in Nashville, Tennessee, providing education through a Christian worldview for grades preschool through 12.

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A Comprehensive Solution

CPA turned to Finalsite and its mass notification product, Messages XR, to reach its entire community. The platform checked all the boxes and made it easy to send urgent alerts and messages to the whole school via email, text, voice message, mobile app notification, social media, and website alerts, all from one central location.

With list management, constituent grouping, and real-time data integration, Messages XR also offered additional features that enhanced CPA's communication capabilities, including new formatting capabilities, the ability to house more media, design custom templates, and save edits.

“The Finalsite team integrated a functional tool in a much shorter timeline than we anticipated,” Newton said. “The integration process was surprisingly easy, and the project management team confirmed the tool's functionality at every checkpoint.”

Consolidated Communications for All Stakeholders

The system has also enhanced the design and aesthetic of CPA's school emails, making it easier to store media and aggregate constituents into categorized groups. 

After its setup, Messages XR also proved effective in critical situations. The platform's quick and reliable communication features were instrumental in notifying parents that the campus was safe and secure during a recent soft lockdown due to an incident outside the school.

The announcement saw a 99.9% deliverability rate, zero bounces, and an impressive 88.2% engagement rate.

Messages XR mockup

“It worked beautifully,” said Newton, adding that the hyperlink to additional details accompanying the SMS text was especially helpful in providing more information.

“Messages XR is a far better communication platform for our school and has added a sophisticated look and feel to our communications,” shared Newton. The school’s leadership has even commented on the seamless transition to Messages XR and the overall better quality of the platform. 

“The added bonus is that it is incredibly user-friendly and accessible to other admins around the school,” Newton added. “Now that we've honed the ability to integrate additional constituents with the Group Module, we can further consolidate communications for alumni, grandparents, donors, and prospective families—all on one platform.”