At Community Preschools in Houston, Texas, every detail matters when it comes to providing quality early childhood education. As the Systems and Data Manager, Carla Aguilar brings her unique background in digital animation and coding to streamline the operations that keep their centers running smoothly.
Community Preschools serves families with children from 6 weeks through preschool age, focusing on holistic development that encompasses academic, social, emotional, cognitive, and physical growth. Beyond providing childcare, they play a vital role in helping families access essential benefits and services, including free and reduced lunch programs.
When Carla joined during the height of the pandemic in 2020, she faced an immediate challenge: setting up three new schools within a month. This baptism by fire highlighted the need for more efficient, streamlined processes that could scale with their growing organization while maintaining their commitment to comprehensive early childhood development.
The enrollment process at Community Preschools presented multiple challenges that affected both families and staff. Parents often needed to make multiple trips to the school to complete paperwork, a particular hardship for working families juggling busy schedules in the Houston area. This time-consuming process not only frustrated parents but also created bottlenecks in the school's operations.
The food program compliance process was especially problematic. Staff found themselves resorting to makeshift solutions, printing forms, using white-out for corrections, and taking pictures to upload them – an inefficient and error-prone system that consumed valuable time and resources. "Before implementing the new process, completing and reviewing forms was challenging. We often faced issues like identifying missing data and ensuring the enrollment team was aligned on required data points," Carla explains.
Data validation and tracking posed another significant challenge. Without a centralized system, the enrollment team struggled to stay aligned on required data points, making it difficult to maintain the accurate records needed for funding and regulatory compliance. The food program staff lacked a secure way to edit forms and access data without increasing their workload, leading to delays and potential compliance issues.
Communication with families was also a pain point. Missing information in forms created operational bottlenecks, as the team had no streamlined way to follow up with families or track changes made to documents. Without a centralized system, the team couldn't quickly confirm whether they had received important documentation, leaving parents uncertain and anxious about their children's enrollment status. This made it particularly challenging when dealing with time-sensitive programs like free and reduced lunch applications, where accuracy and completeness are crucial for approval.
The need for multiple reviews of documentation, especially for compliance-sensitive programs, created additional complexity. The team needed a way to ensure that multiple staff members could review and verify information without creating confusion or compromising data integrity.
Each new location meant additional forms and data to manage, along with new district and state requirements to navigate. The organization needed a solution that could scale with their growth while maintaining compliance and quality standards.
By implementing UnicornForms, Community Preschools has transformed their enrollment process into a streamlined, efficient system. The platform's mobile-friendly interface allows parents to complete all necessary paperwork in one sitting, directly from their phones, and the platform's integration capabilities have enabled a seamless flow of information between systems, making it easier for staff to manage and track enrollment data. "Thanks to the integration, the food program team can easily review the form. With just one click, the enrollment team is notified that the form is complete, the information is updated, and the student is ready to proceed," Carla shares. UnicornForms allowed them to combine all forms (enrollment, food program, etc) into one streamlined, easy to complete package, which they refer to as their ‘Common Application.’
The improved process has significantly reduced the burden on families and increased trust between schools and families. “The integration with Monday.com created a seamless workflow that dramatically improved communication with families. And now with UnicornForms and the Monday integration, we are able to let parents know right away if we've received their forms, and that creates a lot of trust," Carla notes. "Our enrollment team can go into the system and immediately confirm to the parent that we have received their documentation successfully, and that gives them a lot of peace of mind.” This change also minimizes the frequent commutes parents make to the schools, notes Carla. In addition, the platform's features, including text reminders and automated emails, have transformed what was once a time-consuming process into a smooth, efficient experience.
For the staff, the benefits have been equally impressive. "We now find it easier to reach out to families for missing data because we can complete it directly on the form. With the activity and audit logs, we can easily track changes if needed," Carla explains. This has been particularly valuable for their food program compliance: "We recently established this process to ensure two sets of eyes review the food program. Typically, it involves data points like whether a family member receives benefits. If this information is missing, the food program may question the form's accuracy."
The partnership between Community Preschools and UnicornForms continues to evolve. Weekly meetings ensure the platform keeps pace with the organization's needs, allowing them to test new developments and refine their processes. This collaborative approach has enabled Community Preschools to achieve new accreditations and quality ratings while focusing on what matters most: supporting families in their community.
The digital transformation has allowed Community Preschools to focus more energy on their core mission: providing high-quality early childhood education. By streamlining administrative tasks and improving data management, they've created more time for what matters most – supporting the development and growth of the children in their care.
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