Built by educators who lived the problem.
Habitus was not born in a boardroom. It was born in dean's offices, classrooms, and faculty meetings — out of genuine frustration with tools that made our jobs harder, not easier.
Who we are
We are Cole Shipley and Ryan Hallford — two educators who served in administrative and teaching roles at the same classical school. Both of us have served as Deans of Students.
How Habitus started
Independently of each other, we both reached the same conclusion: the software our school relied on was forcing us to adapt our processes to the tool, rather than the tool serving the needs of the school. Disconnected systems, duplicate data entry, and administrative inefficiencies were eating up time that should have been spent with students and teachers.
We had experienced several apps the school was paying for, each of which did one thing well but nothing else. What if we could replace that patchwork with one integrated platform — saving the school money, increasing user-friendliness and features, and making everything work together seamlessly?
When we learned of each other's intentions, we decided to team up. Our goal was simple: ask, "If we could design the system we wish we had, what would it look like?"
Habitus is the answer to that question.
While Habitus is currently available as a progressive web app, we will shortly be releasing it as a regular native app as well.
Built on a principle
Our work reflects the principle of subsidiarity — the idea that those closest to a problem are often in the best position to understand it and contribute to its solution. We lived the problem every day, and that proximity gave us clear insight into where existing systems fell short and where a more integrated approach could better support administrators, teachers, and families.
What we are building
Habitus is a modular platform designed around four pillars that matter deeply to schools: Accountability, Culture, Operations, and Safety. Each package replaces a patchwork of spreadsheets, forms, group texts, and standalone apps with one coherent system — accessible anywhere, including offline as a progressive web app.
We want the schools and people using Habitus to help shape the roadmap and features. Customizations that follow your unique workflow can be accommodated as well. We are open to adapting the platform according to the needs and lived experience of your school.
We believe the platform has the potential to serve our own school well, and more broadly to create a tool that helps any school operate more effectively while strengthening the things that matter most: student growth, community life, and campus safety.
Habitus is an extension of our genuine desire to improve the work we care deeply about, and offer to any school that shares the same need.