Case Study: Spartanburg School District 2 achieves record community engagement and transparent decision-making with ThoughtExchange

Spartanburg School District 2 uses Thoughtexchange to engage their community on key initiatives

Spartanburg School District 2 in South Carolina faced rapid enrollment growth driven by a new distribution center and nearby housing development, and needed to address facilities planning while ensuring every stakeholder—especially quieter voices—could be heard. At the same time the district was rolling out a one-to-one iPad program and wanted community feedback to guide that digital transformation without sacrificing past strengths.

The district used Thoughtexchange to gather broad, transparent input: about 31% of those invited participated, with roughly 1,940 people contributing ~4,100 thoughts and 106,780 stars. The process clarified community priorities, showed strong support for the technology initiative, surfaced concerns like teacher workload, and allowed principals and the board to create school-level action plans and defend merit-based decisions ahead of a facilities bond.

Spartanburg School District 2

Scott Mercer

Superintendent