An ongoing debate between Gmail and ParentSquare communication prompted the introduction of a new ParentSquare feature intended to make the app more accessible and comparable with Gmail, Saturday, Jan. 10.

The feature, called Family Messaging, began its pilot phase due to teacher requests for more inclusive features. The feature enables family members to create group conversations with an educator on ParentSquare. Students and their parents can also message each other directly, while messages between parents, as well as between students, are not allowed.

“Everyone is included in a conversation about how to support a student,” said Vice Principal Amy Winston.

According to freshman Emilia Babitskaya, Family Messaging is an important feature because “everyone can join” and “stay informed.”

After the pilot, the feature will be edited and released to other Newton Public Schools, which also use ParentSquare.

The dispute between using Gmail or ParentSquare stems from the differences in their features, including search and translation tools, which impact their overall convenience and efficiency.

“We have encouraged teachers to use ParentSquare as much as possible since it includes automated translation,” said Winston.

According to physics teacher Rick Michalka, he mainly uses ParentSquare instead of other platforms due to directions from the administration.

English teacher Brian Reardon said that he finds ParentSquare’s automatic translation feature useful because it allows users to translate their messages if the recipient’s preferred language is not English. However, Reardon added that he does not use ParentSquare often other than for the translation tool.

Babitskaya said that while her family uses both communication methods, ParentSquare is more convenient because messages are automatically sent to Gmail and other apps like iMessage.

However, according to Yan Huang, a North parent, she finds email apps to be more convenient than ParentSquare because “other non-school messages come to Mail.”

According to Michalka, he prefers Gmail because it is easier to include deans, guidance counselors, and family members into one online conversation. He said that group conversations on ParentSquare are difficult because new people cannot be added to an already-existing chat.

Michalka added that Gmail is better for including attachments and links, and its search tool is more efficient than ParentSquare.