Breck School is a pre-K through twelfth grade independent day school located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They adopted the Veracross student information system in 2018.  

The Challenge 

With 1,200 students spread across lower, middle, and upper school, Breck School is known for its thriving community and wide range of academic and extracurricular offerings. As a former PowerSchool user, the school struggled to connect the dots between departments and make confident decisions with their data.  

A.J. Colianni witnessed firsthand the school’s data challenges in his previous role as Dean of Studies. Parent contact information was outdated; enrollment data didn’t flow throughout the system; school staff were printing physical copies of schedules and report cards instead of relying on PowerSchool’s portals. Information was often manually updated by faculty and staff, leading to human error.  

“It was a silo within the school,” says Colianni, now Breck School’s Director of Technology. “[PowerSchool] wasn’t considered to be the source of truth. There were discrepancies between different databases about which one had the most up-to-date or current information.” 

A typo on a major school announcement was the tipping point that led to the search for a new student information system. Knowing that a single-record system was the solution to Breck School’s data chaos, Colianni led the charge for a new SIS. 

The Process 

To help navigate the SIS evaluation process, Breck School hired an external consultant. Together, they identified the school’s criteria for a new solution, worked with internal constituent groups, and sent out a request for proposal to various vendors.  

After a few months of demos and conversations with potential software partners, Breck School selected Veracross as their new SIS.  

“It was very clear that it offered us the best chance to get to that single source of truth and single record for our constituents,” says Colianni. Breck School was also impressed by Veracross’s commitment to its partner schools. “There was a palpable sense of the relationship that we were getting into with Veracross which wasn’t there with other vendors we were talking to. We knew we were buying in for the long haul with Veracross.”  

The Impact 

Over the course of six months, Breck School implemented the core Veracross student information system. They also use Veracross for online enrollment, communications, athletics, and student billing. Additional modules like admissions and advancement are conducted in third-party platforms and connected to the SIS using the Veracross API.  

Powerful Integrations 

“The API has been the biggest surprise of our time with Veracross,” says Colianni. Now, every potential school solution is evaluated through the lens of operability with Veracross. The admissions team, for example, uses FinalSite Enrollment to gather information and applications from prospective families. This data then flows into Veracross to complete the enrollment process and inform other departments such as academics. 

Beyond seamless connections, the API has enabled the school to build a custom application. Students, parents, and advisors log in using single sign-on to complete a learning profile and track learning strategies. “It’s pretty amazing,” says Colianni. “It wouldn’t have been possible for us before [the API].” 

Confident Communications 

Veracross’s communication tools have been another game changer for the school. Before, they struggled to share targeted information — like middle school athletic schedules — with their community. Coaches relied on personal email lists with manually added information and hoped to reach the correct families. With Veracross, they can communicate with confidence, knowing that their contact lists are always accurate and up to date. 

“Now that we’re intrinsically using the communications tools built into Veracross, there’s confidence in the system that it’s up to date with the right list and everyone’s correct email address,” says Colianni. “That little workflow seems so simple, but it’s incredibly complex in a school of our size.”  

Whole-School Experience 

One of Colianni’s biggest goals in moving to Veracross was the ability to “shepherd student and family data through their experience at the school.” As a large school with many moving parts, families travel from inquiry form through enrollment, tuition deposits, lower school, middle school, athletics, upper school, graduation, and beyond. “We want to be carrying everything they’ve told us carefully as they’re experiencing the school,” says Colianni. 

With Veracross’s one-person, one-record student information system, they are able to see a complete picture of each constituent no matter where they are in their relationship to the school. 

Veracross and Breck School Today 

Several years into their partnership with Veracross, Breck School continues to unlock new use cases and opportunities with the student information system. “It has become central to so many aspects of the school’s operations,” says Colianni. “It’s second nature; it’s people’s go-to resource for student and parent data.” 

To learn more about Breck School’s journey to Veracross, watch our on-demand webinar.