Case Study: Molalla River School District achieves broad community engagement and strategic insights with ThoughtExchange

Molalla River School District uses online engagement to unite ‘a Community of Communities’

Molalla River School District, a rural Oregon district made up of several distinct towns, faced a common challenge: parents and community members felt disconnected from district-wide goals and successes, and traditional meetings couldn’t capture diverse, distributed voices. Superintendent Tony Mann sought a way to create genuine two-way dialogue so the district could share progress, learn community priorities, and build broader trust.

The district used Thoughtexchange’s online engagement to reach stakeholders from home, producing its largest engagement ever: 726 participants, 2,050 thoughts and 23,180 stars. The process surfaced priorities (personalized learning, extracurriculars, literacy, class size, elementary music), guided budget and program changes (new tech and business electives), spurred a popular e-newsletter with 98% retention, and strengthened public confidence—prompting plans for ongoing, regular engagement.

Molalla River School District

Tony Mann

Superintendent