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Aug. 27—School board members on Aug. 22 approved a five-year communication plan for the Newton Community School District, which ultimately provides a guideline to how the district distributes messages to staff, students and families for general information, emergencies and other scenarios throughout the year.

The plan was developed in part by the School Improvement Advisory Committee.

Jordan Bell, a member of SIAC, said the committee found out that there is so much communication that comes out of the school district. Although that is a good thing, she said, it can sometimes be overwhelming and cause people to miss out on crucial information.

SIAC broke down the types of communication the school district would send out, as well as the platforms in which those messages are sent. For example, the school district can communicate messages through its website, email, local media, text and voice messages and social media pages.

Depending on the type of message the district wants to get across, a different form of communication may be used. The types of messages the district deals with include: general information, emergencies, early dismissals, delayed opening, school closures, weather related, common forms and latest news.

Some less pertinent types of communication like general information, latest news or common forms will be showcased on the website or through email or social media. However, emergency information, early dismissal, delayed openings, closures and weather-related communications will be sent to all platforms.

In addition to the charting out which platforms to use for certain messages, SIAC recommended the school district also hire a communications and engagement secretary to oversee all communications and social media pages. Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger said the plan consolidates communications.

"One of the things that came up during our conversation was there was a parent in the group that had kids in more than one building. So you may get a certain type of information one way from one building and you become accustomed to that, but then it comes a completely different way from another building," he said.

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The communication plan comes in and brings all that together, Messinger said. The same type of information would be delivered consistently from all sources.

Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger speaks with school board members about the district's communication plan on Aug. 22 at the E.J.H. Beard Administration Center in Newton.

As far as social media platforms go, Newton school district may think about adding TikTok to its list. Messinger said right now people who have children ages 6 and under use TikTok as their main social media source as opposed to Facebook or Twitter.

School board members Liz Hammerly and Ray Whipple sat in on the SIAC meetings that eventually led to the creation of the plan. Whipple said it was largely community driven process. Hammerly agreed and said what struck her was the amount of messaging coming from social media.

"Sometimes you have a message coming about a school that no one from the school had made, and then it was shared so many (times). So I think this is a really important piece that we need so we can efficiently use everything that the community, in terms of resources, offers," Hammerly said.

Messigner said the creation of the plan also highlighted ineffective ways of communication. Last year one of the goals that came out of SIAC was setting a priority on student-staff mental health. Administration put in place employee and student assistant programs. Some SIAC members were unaware of the program.

"So we had a program in place that came about as a result of SIAC last year but because of communication that wasn't well-orchestrated, people didn't know about it," Messinger said. "...This way we're going to be able to better get the word out on some of these things that are in place."

Eventually, the school district will distribute its communication plan to families. A digital copy of the plan is viewable in the Aug. 22 school board agenda.

Included in the physical copt of the communication plan are several QR codes that can be scanned and direct people to certain websites or social media pages. Some of the codes direct people to the board meetings website and a link where parents can apply for free and reduced lunch.

Other QR codes allow parents to get the app to access Infinite Campus and Here Comes The Bus.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com

Fictionary co-founder and CEO Kristina Stanley has worked in a wide variety of different jobs, from manager of broadband planning at Nortel to the director of employee, safety, and guest services for an Eastern British Columbia ski resort, to author of mystery novels.

But one of Stanley’s most difficult jobs was figuring out how to edit her own manuscripts while writing The Stone Mountain Mystery Series. As she told BetaKit in an interview, “it’s really, really difficult to edit a book from a story level. You’ve got thousands and thousands of elements that you have to keep track of and make them work together.”

“We’re trying to help the average person who doesn’t have an ‘in’ in the publishing industry get a really good book out there, get an agent, or get a publisher.”
-Kristina Stanley, Fictionary
 

Initially, Stanley tackled this problem using a combination of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and graphs. But she soon realized that other authors likely faced the exact same issue, and set out to build a better way by combining her tech and writing background.

Today, Stanley’s software startup Fictionary aims to offer an alternative. Amid a wide field of solutions that help writers and editors with specific parts of the process, like spelling, grammar, style, structure, and publishing, Fictionary hones in on perhaps the most important and challenging part: producing a good story.

Fuelled by $1.8 million CAD in seed funding, Fictionary aims to help writers and editors around the world produce quality stories more quickly and affordably. With this capital, the Inverary, Ontario startup, based just north of Kingston, plans to move into non-fiction and start selling to other publishers and agencies to expand its community of users.

The startup’s all-equity round, which closed in September, was co-led by StandUp Ventures and BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, with support from The51 and a group of angels that includes Women’s Equity Lab general partner Sally Morris. For newly launched Thrive, Fictionary marks the fund’s third investment to date, after investing in Acerta and Private AI.

Stanley founded Fictionary in 2016 alongside her husband, Mathew (COO), who also previously worked at Nortel and has a background in tech, and her brother, Michael Conn, Fictionary’s former CTO, who has since left the company.

Initially, Fictionary focused solely on writers, before expanding to meet demand for a similar offering from editors. Today, Fictionary offers three subscription software products for writers and editors that range in price from $19 to $49 monthly, sells online courses, and provides a community for writers and editors to connect.

Fictionary’s software helps writers visualize their story arc by analyzing key story elements with artificial intelligence (AI) and gauging how their manuscript compares to fundamental storytelling components.

RELATED: With new Thrive platform, BDC commits half a billion dollars to invest in Canadian women-led startups and funds

“We’re trying to help the average person who doesn’t have an ‘in’ in the publishing industry get a really good book out there, get an agent, or get a publisher,” said Stanley.

On the editor side of the equation, the company claims its offering enables editors to provide better, deeper story edits in less time, increasing the quality and profitability of editors’ services.

The writing and editing software space features a ton of players, from Grammarly to Scrivener, Novel Factory, and Canada’s Wattpad. According to Stanley, Fictionary is unique within the sectors in terms of its focus on storytelling elements and its use of AI. “We’re it right now as far as, there’s an automated way to do this, and have software for it,” said Stanley.

“While there are other platforms endeavoring to address this gap in the market, there doesn’t appear to be a single player who is able to look at the writing and editing process in a comprehensive and meaningful way, which puts Fictionary at a sizeable advantage to lead the charge and expand into new markets and segments,” Michelle Scarborough, managing partner of BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund, told BetaKit.

RELATED: StandUp Ventures reveals second fund dedicated to women-led startups with $30 million first close

Fictionary previously secured $100,000 in grant funding from Creative BC and raised $245,000 in pre-seed funding in 2019 from a group of angels that included Shopify co-founder Scott Lake, Stephanie Andrew of Women’s Equity Lab, and FirstEditing founder and CEO JoEllen Taylor.

According to Stanley, following that pre-seed round, Fictionary reached breakeven cash flow and had to decide whether to keep going on its current track or set its sights higher.

Following some discussions with StandUp Ventures, Fictionary decided to embark on a new chapter and raise more venture capital to tackle the opportunity it sees in this space amid the rise of self-publishing. “We have a great product, we’ve got product-market fit, we’ve got a market, so let’s just go for it,” said Stanley.

“The love for the product Fictionary users articulate so regularly is rare, and indicative of the power and impact the tool brings to its customers,” said StandUp Ventures senior associate Lucas Perlman, who is joining Fictionary’s board as part of the round. “The self-publishing world has exploded, and we believe Fictionary is poised to become a de-facto part of the story writing toolkit for writers and editors around the globe.”

RELATED: Wattpad’s new leader is focused on creator value

For her part, Scarborough said the Thrive Venture Fund sees “a sizeable opportunity [for Fictionary] in the fast-growing creator economy space—a market with many dimensions—within writing and editing, screenwriting, non-fiction, and beyond.”

To date, Fictionary has focused entirely on fiction but Stanley said the startup’s roadmap includes moving into non-fiction, where the CEO sees plenty of potential to apply its tech to helping people tell their own life stories. Fictionary also sees an opportunity to help agencies and publishers clear the slush pile of submitted manuscripts.

As it looks to build out its own community of writers and editors, Fictionary follows in the footsteps of Wattpad, which parlayed its vibrant self-publishing community of writers and readers—and the content produced by them—into a $754 million CAD acquisition last year.

After discussions with StandUp, Fictionary decided to embark on a new chapter.

“Wattpad is very inspirational for us,” said Stanley. “They are different in the sense that people write their stories in the community, where we help writers take those stories and turn them into powerful stories readers love. Their community is a great lead-in to Fictionary for writers needing to edit their stories.”

As the startup charts its growth strategy amid an uncertain economic environment, Stanley is confident that Fictionary is well-positioned to grow during this period, noting that people tend to write more when they are stressed. Back when COVID-19 first hit and everyone was cooped up, the CEO said people begin writing more, and demand for Fictionary rose. Heading into what could be a deep downturn, Stanley believes Fictionary is in a good spot given that it offers a tool to help people do their passion without spending a lot of money.

What Perlman finds most exciting is the appreciation Fictionary’s customers have for the startup’s product, noting that writers “pour countless hours into their stories and writing books is an emotional and very personal thing to take on.”

“Fictionary has removed a major hurdle that stopped these creators from bringing their stories into the world,” Perlman told BetaKit. “The impact of that really comes through when you speak to their customers and see feedback from their community.”

Feature image courtesy Fictionary.

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Stocks: Real-time U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only; comprehensive quotes and volume reflect trading in all markets and are delayed at least 15 minutes. International stock quotes are delayed as per exchange requirements. Fundamental company data and analyst estimates provided by FactSet. Copyright 2019© FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. Source: FactSet

Indexes: Index quotes may be real-time or delayed as per exchange requirements; refer to time stamps for information on any delays. Source: FactSet

Markets Diary: Data on U.S. Overview page represent trading in all U.S. markets and updates until 8 p.m. See Closing Diaries table for 4 p.m. closing data. Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones

Stock Movers: Gainers, decliners and most actives market activity tables are a combination of NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American and NYSE Arca listings. Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones

ETF Movers: Includes ETFs & ETNs with volume of at least 50,000. Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones

Bonds: Bond quotes are updated in real-time. Sources: FactSet, Tullett Prebon

Currencies: Currency quotes are updated in real-time. Sources: FactSet, Tullett Prebon

Commodities & Futures: Futures prices are delayed at least 10 minutes as per exchange requirements. Change value during the period between open outcry settle and the commencement of the next day's trading is calculated as the difference between the last trade and the prior day's settle. Change value during other periods is calculated as the difference between the last trade and the most recent settle. Source: FactSet

Data are provided 'as is' for informational purposes only and are not intended for trading purposes. FactSet (a) does not make any express or implied warranties of any kind regarding the data, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use; and (b) shall not be liable for any errors, incompleteness, interruption or delay, action taken in reliance on any data, or for any damages resulting therefrom. Data may be intentionally delayed pursuant to provider requirements.

Mutual Funds & ETFs: All of the mutual fund and ETF information contained in this display, with the exception of the current price and price history, was supplied by Lipper, A Refinitiv Company, subject to the following: Copyright 2019© Refinitiv. All rights reserved. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Lipper content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Lipper. Lipper shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrency quotes are updated in real-time. Sources: CoinDesk (Bitcoin), Kraken (all other cryptocurrencies)

Calendars and Economy: 'Actual' numbers are added to the table after economic reports are released. Source: Kantar Media