Lafayette, Louisiana, July 9, 2021– As the COVID-19 pandemic eases, businesses around the country are returning to a mix of both normal and new normal. Some businesses have resumed operating much as they had before the pandemic, some have transformed, and others have closed entirely. For many companies, COVID-19 represented both a challenge and an opportunity to transform and emerge even stronger.
Education technology startup SchoolMint became just such a company when it chose to move its U.S. headquarters from Silicon Valley in San Francisco — as well as its smaller offices in New York City and Miami — to the heart of Cajun Country: Lafayette, LA.
In early March 2020, SchoolMint “shut our doors and started working remotely,” says SchoolMint CEO Bryan MacDonald. “In less than a week, half of our nation’s schools had taken the unprecedented step of also closing their doors and sending students into a never-before-tried online learning environment. By the end of March, virtually 100% of U.S. schools were operating virtually.”
As a former middle school teacher himself, MacDonald immediately realized the impact COVID-19 was about to have on K-12 schools and their operations. SchoolMint quickly moved to support its customers and manage the sudden surge in demand for the company’s online student enrollment and behavior management tools. “We knew that rapid growth would be necessary to keep up, and we began considering options for growing our team.”
After considering 15 locations around the country, SchoolMint chose Lafayette, LA, in June 2020 as the new home for its growing team. SchoolMint was drawn to the region’s unbeatable mix of unique culture, talented and hardworking people, affordability, and quality of life.
SchoolMint has thrived in its new home. Many employees and most of the company’s leadership team relocated their families from San Francisco to Lafayette mid-pandemic.
Achieving another post-pandemic milestone, SchoolMint has fully reopened its Lafayette headquarters facility. The team, which has tripled in size since the pandemic began, is returning to the office in person.
“When we closed our doors 15 months ago, things looked very different,” says MacDonald. “We were a lot smaller then and certainly more spread out across the U.S. We already have more people in Lafayette than we had across all of our locations in 2020.”
In the past year, SchoolMint has also fueled its growth by acquiring other edtech companies and technology, including Whetstone Education, Bright Minds Marketing, Enquiry Tracker, and, most recently, Schoolrunner.
“We now have more than 215 employees between our Lafayette headquarters, our New Orleans office, our Costa Rica office, and remote workers across the country,” says MacDonald. “And we have no intentions to stop growing. It’s what we do.”
In the 9 months since choosing to move headquarters to Lafayette, SchoolMint has steadily hired and grown in Louisiana. In that time, they’ve hired 59 Louisianians (47 in Lafayette; 12 in New Orleans) and are looking for even more. View open positions.
But the growth story doesn’t stop there.
“This fall, SchoolMint will be releasing two new products,” adds MacDonald. “SchoolMint Enroll, an all-inclusive next-generation enrollment platform, and SchoolMint Connect, a customer relationship management (CRM) tool built specifically for schools and districts.”
Combined with SchoolMint’s existing portfolio of enrollment software, lottery and application, student behavior management, and early learning education services, these acquisitions and new products solidify SchoolMint’s position as the K-12 leader in strategic enrollment management.
As a breath of fresh air amid these times of great change, SchoolMint continues to make a difference in not only K-12 education — but also in their new community.
SchoolMint Inc. is dedicated to helping educators create bright, sustainable futures. Serving more than 11 million students and families in more than 16,000 schools across the country, SchoolMint is the leading K-12 provider of solutions for Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM). With products that put the family experience first while generating powerful insights, SchoolMint is committed to helping all schools across the K-12 landscape attract and enroll more students, families and teachers, and retain them for years to come. SchoolMint is backed by BV Investment Partners and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. Learn more here.
