Cleveland Metropolitan School District launches new platform to improve customer service

Let’s Talk provides a convenient way for families and community members to ask questions, share feedback, and receive answers within 24 hours

Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) now offers a new, convenient way for families, students, staff, and community members to engage with the district through a new platform called Let’s Talk — a cloud-based, AI-powered customer service platform by K12 Insight.

“Through community listening sessions, one of the recurring themes was that our community wanted quicker and more helpful responses whenever they reached out with questions, feedback or concerns,” said Dr. Warren G. Morgan II, CEO of CMSD. “We listened to our community and are excited to introduce Let’s Talk as our new platform for ensuring all families, staff, and community members have an easy way to engage with CMSD and receive accurate and timely responses.”

CMSD has partnered with K12 Insight to raise awareness of its customer service portal — now powered by Let’s Talk — that enables parents, families, community members, and staff to ask questions, report concerns, and provide feedback at any time, using any device, regardless of their preferred mode of communication or level of technological access. Let’s Talk aligns with the district’s strategic priorities of “Coherent Central System” and “Engaged Community” as outlined in the CMSD’s strategic plan for the next five years. The launch of the platform is also part of the district’s customer service program, COMMUNICATE with H.E.A.R.T.™, which aims to provide quality service to all stakeholders.

“We are dedicated to providing stellar customer service to all of our customers and Let’s Talk allows us to improve responsiveness and enhance cross-departmental collaboration,” said Shirrell Greene-Joe, Director, Customer Experience at CMSD. “With Let’s Talk, CMSD can provide multiple entry points for customers to reach us while ensuring accountability. We’re also excited about the ability to use data to measure outcomes and tailor the platform around our community’s needs.”

As the third largest school district in Ohio, CMSD serves more than 35,000 students. Among those students, approximately 11% are English Language Learners. Let’s Talk offers automatic translation features in the district’s ten key languages including Arabic, Albanian, Chinese (Mandarin), English, Khmer, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

In February, the district rolled out Let’s Talk to 14 departments — including central office, Ombuds, customer experience, transportation, and others —- automating key processes and making sure inquiries are delivered to the right person in the right department. More than 130 staff have been trained to use Let’s Talk to deliver superior customer service.

To date, the district has received 3,644 dialogues and an average customer service score of 7.6. The district’s average response time is 0.6 days, which is within its goal of responding within 24 hours.

"We applaud Cleveland Metropolitan School District for their commitment to real-time, districtwide communication through Let’s Talk, which is designed to improve access to information and increase engagement," said Krista Coleman, K12 Insight’s Chief Customer Officer. "Our mission at K12 Insight is to unify school communities with our solution set of technology, training, and services, and we are honored to be part of Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s journey in taking their customer service and communications to the next level.”

Dr. Morgan debuted Let’s Talk in February as part of the district’s soft rollout of the platform. Watch his address to the CMSD community. By next year, CMSD plans to introduce Let’s Talk to all school campuses. Let’s Talk will make it easy for any parent, guardian, student, or staff member to ask questions, share feedback, and receive accurate responses within 24 hours.

To see Let’s Talk in action, visit clevelandmetroschools.org/cmsd. To learn more about Let’s Talk and K12 Insight, visit k12insight.com.

Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is the third largest public school system in Ohio, serving roughly 36,000 students. Under The Cleveland Plan, a groundbreaking reform plan created by the community and written into state law, CMSD strives to ensure that every child receives a high-quality education, regardless of the provider. To that end, CMSD lets families choose which District schools their children attend, with options that include STEM, the arts, single-gender education, International Baccalaureate, Montessori, and early college.

K12 Insight has helped over 500 school districts across the nation deliver transformative customer service with its comprehensive suite of customer service solutions — including a powerful customer service platform with an AI-powered chatbot, managed research services, survey platform, and professional development. Visit k12insight.com to learn more.