Simplicity was the key to district-wide adoption at Kalispell Public Schools.

The challenge

Secure transfer that a low-tech user base would actually adopt.

Student data is protected under FERPA and Montana’s student privacy act, and hackers increasingly target student records for identity theft. Frequent student movement between districts meant constant transfer of records — sometimes 50+ pages of health, assessment, and contact information per student. Printing, faxing, or insecure email was inefficient and risky.

Many staff members and external recipients were only comfortable with basic tools like fax machines, so any solution had to be intuitive and familiar. New open enrollment legislation added a surge of paperwork: nearly 800 parent-submitted forms in a single year, all requiring secure intake and routing to the right schools.

The solution

District-wide rollout with no new logins

KPS rolled out SendSafely district-wide as the standard for secure file transfer. Adoption was rapid because the platform’s simplicity eliminated barriers for both senders and recipients.

1. Feature 01
   Gmail Integration

   Employees click the SendSafely orange lock button directly inside Gmail to secure their email and attachments. Staff continue to live in their inbox — no new login, no training required.

2. Feature 02
   Hosted Dropzones

   Parents and partner districts upload documents securely with a simple link, avoiding fax machines and snail mail. Dropzones are easy to set up and scale; administrators configure and manage them in minutes.

3. Feature 03
   Read Receipts

   Staff can see whether recipients have opened files, enabling proactive follow-up on records that matter — enrollment deadlines, health information, IEP distribution.

4. Feature 04
   Cross-Department Use

   Enrollment transfers large student files between districts; nurses share health information with doctors and parents; special education distributes IEPs and assessment data; HR communicates benefits information with staff.