Building Community One Message at a Time

Mill Creek Community School Corporation serves a close-knit community of 1,500 students and families in Hendricks County, Indiana. The district relies on PowerSchool SIS and SchoolMessenger Communicate to support engagement across its five schools.  

As Assistant Superintendent Kale Blickenstaff says, “It’s not just about school—it’s a community.”

Before: Paper trails and communication challenges 

Before SchoolMessenger, Mill Creek relied primarily on printed flyers and backpack mail. Important documents, event notices, and announcements often failed to reach parents. This led to the district wasting time, paper, and postage. The lack of a two-way channel also meant missed opportunities for deeper engagement.  

They turned to PowerSchool’s SchoolMessenger Communicate to centralize communication, reduce paper waste, and keep families and the community connected. What began as a simple messaging upgrade has become an engagement engine that rallies the entire town.

Shifting to engaging, secure messaging 

Mill Creek integrated SchoolMessenger Communicate into their current PowerSchool SIS, and they work together seamlessly. Blickenstaff draws on the strength of the PowerSchool community (attending User Groups and tapping into expert support) to better serve his own.

With tools, insights, and encouragement from fellow educators and PowerSchool, he now sends over 100,000 secure messages a year to engage with families. These messages include report cards, emergency alerts, and school functions, but they also share community news around fish fries, clothing drives, and food pantry schedules.

After: Clearer communication. Deeper engagement. 

Mill Creek discovered new efficiencies, deeper community involvement, and more meaningful interactions with family after integrating SchoolMessenger into their PowerSchool workflow.  

• Secure, timely delivery: Documents like report cards and test scores are now sent digitally, which is more secure and efficient. 

• Meaningful two-way connection: Families can respond directly to email messages, generating genuine 1-1 interactions that build trust and engagement.  
• Environmental and cost-saving benefits: The district has greatly reduced paper usage and eliminated the failure points that can come from paper-based communications. Blickenstaff jokes that the district has probably saved a forest’s worth of paper after shifting to digital communications.  
• Increased community involvement: Messaging extends beyond school events to community-building initiatives that unite families, churches, and local groups. Event attendance is increasing, and families are more informed and involved.  
• No more switching tools: Integrated directly into PowerSchool’s SIS, SchoolMessenger allows educators to send targeted messages by grade, class, or school with just a click. This saves them time and avoids the hassle of manual list-building and switching between various tools. 

Looking ahead: Deep data dives for increased success 

With a strong foundation for engagement, Mill Creek has turned its focus onto data-based decision making. Their next goal? Analyze response rates, customize message timing, and continue to refine their community engagement strategies.