Frontline Placement Technologies, the provider of Aesop, is pleased to announce the agreement to acquire the assets of Substitute Personnel Solutions (SPS), provider of the substitute calling service DISC, in an effort to strengthen its position in the substitute placement market. SPS was founded in 2001 by George Barnard and has been providing DISC to 49 districts in 10 states. Aesop is the nation’s leading automated substitute placement and absence management system, serving over 1,700 districts nationwide.

After a year of operational and financial difficulties, SPS began researching and evaluating alternative substitute placement service providers for their districts. SPS, which provided its DISC service through ASP and box-on-site hardware, chose Aesop due to its industry leading customer service and robust Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. SPS negotiated an agreement with Frontline that ensured a seamless transition from DISC to Aesop and protected SPS districts financially as well. “It was essential to me that our districts, who had been so loyal to us, would continue to be provided with the highest level of customer service and I felt that Aesop was by far the best choice to provide this,” stated George Barnard, SPS founder.

“We have a high regard for SPS’s accomplishments over the years and their valued relationships with customers. George had a strong customer service-oriented approach to his business, which was an excellent fit with Frontline’s culture and direction,” said Michael Blackstone, Managing Partner at Frontline. “This is a new chapter for us”

The transition to the Aesop system presented districts with all the functionality of the DISC platform and offered several improvements to increase efficiency and ease of use for district administrators.

“Every eventuality that we were concerned about had already been addressed, the training was unbelievable, and the entire staff greeted and welcomed us aboard,” said Hubert Carmichael, Assistant Principal at Clarke County Public Schools, a former DISC customer. “Over the years, our district has been consistently implementing more and more data components into our decision making process. Now many of those items are simply a click away.”

Aesop’s integrated internet and phone service offers additional benefit to former DISC districts because it does not require hardware, software, or extra phone lines at the district office. This technology allows Aesop to eliminate maintenance and upgrade fees and also integrate with many districts’ current payroll systems, a feature that saves district personnel hours of time spent re-entering payroll data.

Frontline’s list of customers includes the School District of Philadelphia, Dallas Independent School District, Long Beach Unified School District, Guilford County School District, in addition to over 2,000 districts across the country.