SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, 2026 — More than 30 states are moving to ban student cell phone use in schools to protect instructional time, but the change is creating new challenges for families and educators on how to stay connected during the school day. To address this gap, ClassDojo for Districts today introduces Parent and Student Messaging. This is a new structured, school-managed communication channel that will be introduced in the 2026 school year, allowing families to stay connected without bringing their phones into the classroom.
Starting in the 2026 school year, parents will be able to send messages directly to their children on school-issued devices and view conversations between teachers and students without requiring the student’s phone.
As student phone bans become more entrenched, school districts are discovering the unintended consequence that when students lose access to phones, families lose their closest means of communication. Front offices are fielding an influx of calls from families, forcing staff to track students, relay messages throughout the building and deal with increasing interruptions throughout the school day. District leaders now face a new challenge: how to keep families connected in schools without phones.
ClassDojo is already used in more than 90% of U.S. schools, and millions of families open the app every day to hear from teachers and get updates on school life. Parent-Student Messaging is built on your existing foundation, so you don’t have to download new apps, evaluate new vendors, or run adoption campaigns.
“No phones in the classroom should not mean families are isolated,” said Jeff Beuning, general manager of ClassDojo. “Many districts are seeing increased pressure on front offices to manage parent communications and relay messages throughout the day as school districts restrict access to student phones. Messaging between teachers, students, and parents allows communication to remain open within school-managed guardrails, giving district leaders a clear path forward. Also, ClassDo… School districts that use it don’t have to add another vendor or ask families to download another app.The infrastructure and reliability are already in place.
As we launch for the 2026 school year, the expanded message will be:
Allow families to send messages to their children from the ClassDojo app. Deliver messages to students on school-issued devices such as Chromebooks. Involve the teacher in all conversations. Log all messages and make them auditable within your district’s ClassDojo environment.
“There’s no peer-to-peer chat or social layer,” Buening added. “It is designed to allow direct communication between parents and children, again supporting a no-phone policy without being a distraction in the classroom.”
Interested school districts should visit the website or contact a ClassDojo representative for more information.
About ClassDojo
ClassDojo is on a mission to provide every child with the education they love. Used by 90% of U.S. schools, ClassDojo helps teachers and families build stronger school communities through everyday communication. ClassDojo for Districts is a unified communications and engagement platform that combines daily classroom updates and district-wide messaging into one seamless experience. This helps families feel connected, students are engaged, and school culture is strengthened. It is built with privacy at its core and is available to school districts at no additional cost.
