Spread across four campuses in Ontario, Canada, Unionville College is a K-10 school with big plans for growth. They offer a unique blend of Montessori, elementary, secondary, and advanced-level classes for a community of 1,200 students. Unionville College adopted the Veracross student information system in 2024.  

The Challenge 

After learning their SIS vendor was getting acquired, Unionville College knew it was time for a change. The new company did not integrate well with the school’s LMS, Edsby, or handle payments — a priority for a multi-campus school. Staff needed to manually transfer data, create complicated workarounds, and pay extra for third-party applications to complete critical functions like admission and enrollment.  

At the same time, the school was growing rapidly and planning to expand to K-12 in the near future. “With our school essentially doubling in size, we knew we needed something that allowed the uniqueness of our situation to not require us to go to so many different applications,” says Pegi Keeler, Head of Technology & Curriculum.  

The Process 

Unionville College began their initial SIS search in 2021. As an Ontario-based school, they prioritized vendors with a strong footprint in the Canadian educational market.  

“We’re not like the states,” says Keeler. “We have OnSIS reporting, we have a lot of different criteria… even the online payment system is different. Having a strong Canadian appetite from [our SIS] was something we were looking for.” 

Additionally, they evaluated vendors based on the following criteria: 

  • Integration with Edsby LMS 
  • User-friendly parent experience 
  • Reliable support 

After learning about Veracross’s single-record database, Unionville College added this to their wish list, too. “Once we had that vernacular, it became really clear how our process was moving,” says Keeler. 

Stakeholders from IT, administration, and academics met with each vendor and assessed their ability to meet the school’s needs. They began to compare every vendor against Veracross based on the goal of having one record per person. The stakeholders were also impressed with Veracross’s “authentic and honest approach to working together” and felt it would be the best fit for their community.  

The Impact 

Veracross implementation began in 2024 with Academics, Enrollment, After School Programs, and VC Pay. Here are a few ways Unionville College is already benefitting from their new SIS.  

Edsby Integration 

Finding a SIS that plays nicely with Edsby was a top priority for Keeler’s team. Through the Veracross Partner Network, we share a two-way integration with Edsby powered by the Veracross Open API. This integration enables Unionville College to create report cards and schedules utilizing accurate information from both platforms.  

“There’s so much communication between the LMS and SIS,” says Keeler. “We no longer have to oversee so much, it’s all able to be managed by [the integration].” 

Training and Support 

Since day one, Unionville College has been impressed with Veracross’s support and training resources. “From the initial demonstrations to trials, the team is amazing,” says Keeler. “It doesn’t matter if we’re dealing with our account manager or our customer success person… we don’t have answers that aren’t given to us within a very short time. It’s huge.” 

Beyond support, school staff is leveraging Veracross University to level up their understanding of the system with live trainings and on-demand webinars. “It’s exactly what we were looking for,” says Keeler.  

Single-Record Database 

When Unionville College started their SIS search, they weren’t familiar with the term “single-record database” or its powerful implications. Now they wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Having looked at other systems, if you’re using and juggling multiple systems, you just have to go to the single database,” says Keeler. “It’s so much simpler. You’re able to switch to an all-in-one solution instead of trying to get different programs to talk to each other.”  

With everything in one place, staff can easily access their data and trust its accuracy. As the school continues to grow and expand its offerings to cover the full K-12 journey, the single-record database will be even more impactful.  

Return on Investment 

Many schools struggle to realize the return on investment (ROI) of their technology. Prior to Veracross, Unionville College faced this same challenge and felt they were underutilizing their systems, disjointed as they were.  

Today, Keeler “[feels] like we’re getting a good ROI on what we’re doing. It was hard with our old SIS to see so many applications sitting empty, knowing we were paying for them. We’re not doing that anymore — we’re engaged and we’re using it!” 

Unionville College and Veracross Today 

Fresh into their journey with Veracross, Unionville College is excited to explore even more opportunities with their new SIS. “We want to move with Veracross and innovate,” says Keeler. “We’re excited about that!”  

To learn more about Unionville College’s journey to Veracross and how we support Canadian schools, catch up with our on-demand webinar.