No app required
Parents open one school link in any browser and see current announcements, events, and links immediately. Nothing to install, nothing to update.
The free PTO parent communication hub — no app required for parents
Most PTOs are stuck repeating the same announcement across three different channels and still have families say they never heard about it. SchoolRelay gives your school one permanent, bookmarkable link parents can check any time — no login, no download, no group to join.
The problem with how most PTOs communicate today
The typical school PTO runs on a fragmented stack: an email blast that half the school never opens, a Facebook group that requires a personal account, a Remind thread that scrolls off the screen, and a PDF flyer that goes home in a backpack and disappears forever. Each channel has its own audience, its own password, and its own rules. Volunteers spend more time copy-pasting updates than they do actually running the school.
The result is that engaged families are over-informed across too many apps while less-connected families miss everything. When a new officer takes over, they inherit a tangle of group admin logins, mailing lists, and follower counts tied to a personal account the previous president doesn't want to hand over. There is a better way.
Everything a PTO needs to communicate — nothing families have to install
Push notifications
Parents can subscribe to browser push alerts and get a notification on their phone's home screen the moment you post an update — no app download, no account required.
Group-level targeting
Post school wide or scope an update to a specific grade, committee, or volunteer group so families only see what's relevant to them.
Weekly email digest
An automated weekly recap email surfaces your latest announcements and upcoming events so low-frequency readers stay current without any extra effort from you.
How each feature helps your PTO reach families
Announcements that stay visible
Unlike email or a Facebook post that disappears into a feed, SchoolRelay announcements live on a permanent page. When a parent hears about the spring carnival from a friend three weeks later and wants to find the details, the announcement is still there — pinned, searchable, and up to date. You can mark announcements urgent, set expiration dates, or pin the most important one to the top of the feed. No re-sending, no re-explaining.
Announcements post immediately and appear to every family who visits the school hub, whether they found it from a QR code on the school sign, a link in the newsletter, or a push notification on their phone. One update reaches every parent, every time.
An event calendar families can actually use
Most school calendars are PDFs — printed once, outdated by week three. SchoolRelay's event calendar is live. When the book fair moves from Tuesday to Thursday, you update it once and every family who checks the hub sees the current date. Events include a title, date, description, and optional location. Parents can view the full calendar without an account.
Volunteer signups can be attached directly to events so that families who show up to check the date can also sign up for a role in the same visit — no separate tool, no redirecting to a Google Form.
Volunteer signups with role capacity tracking
Create volunteer signups inside any event listing. Each role has a capacity limit — when the "Table Setup" slot fills to 5 volunteers, it closes automatically. Parents sign up by name without creating an account. Admins see who filled each slot and can export the list before the event.
This keeps everything in one place: the event description, the start time, and the volunteer roster are all on the same page. Families don't have to click through to a third-party signup tool, create a new account, or remember yet another URL.
Push notifications without an app store
Parents who opt in receive a browser push notification the moment you post an update — on their phone's home screen, the same way a text message would arrive. No app store, no account, no monthly subscription fee for the family. SchoolRelay uses the Web Push standard supported by iOS 16.4+, Android, and all modern desktop browsers.
Push reach grows organically. Every family who visits the hub sees a one-time prompt to subscribe. Over a school year, most of your active families end up opted in with no campaigning required on your part.
How SchoolRelay compares to alternatives
Not every parent communication tool is built for the same job. Here is how SchoolRelay stacks up against the tools most PTOs already use.
SchoolRelay
Email Lists
Facebook Groups
Remind
Parent login required
No
No
Yes
Yes
App required
No
No
No
Yes
Public shareable URL
Yes
No
No
No
Push notifications
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Volunteer signups
Yes
No
No
No
Free tier
Yes
Yes
Yes
Limited
Who uses SchoolRelay for parent communication
The new PTO president
You inherited a password spreadsheet, three Facebook group admin logins, and a Mailchimp account nobody has the credentials for. SchoolRelay gives you a clean slate — one URL that belongs to the school, not a person. Set it up in an afternoon and hand the login to the next president in two years without drama.
The volunteer coordinator
You need to fill 40 volunteer slots for the spring carnival and you're tired of posting the same Google Form link across five different channels every week. With SchoolRelay, you post the link once to your school portal and every family who visits — whether they came from a push alert, a weekly digest, or a QR code on the school marquee — finds the same up-to-date information.
A school mid-transition
Your school just switched principals, reorganized its communication committee, or simply decided the Facebook group experiment has run its course. SchoolRelay gives you a neutral, institution-owned home for parent communication that survives leadership changes, stays off social media, and never locks families out behind a platform account they don't want to create.
Key Takeaway
SchoolRelay gives your PTO or PTA one stable link that every family can bookmark. Post an update once — parents see it without logging in, without downloading anything, and without joining a private group.
Frequently asked questions
Does SchoolRelay replace our school website?
No. SchoolRelay is a parent communication hub for the PTO or PTA, not a full school or district website. It works alongside your existing site — many schools link to their SchoolRelay hub from the district homepage or the PTO page. SchoolRelay handles the real-time layer: announcements, events, volunteer signups, and links that change throughout the year.
Can parents receive updates without subscribing to push notifications?
Yes. Parents can bookmark the school hub URL and check it any time with no subscription required. You can share the link in paper newsletters, QR codes, email blasts, or on the school sign. Push notifications improve reach for parents who opt in, but families who never subscribe can still stay informed by visiting the hub directly.
What happens when a new PTO president takes over?
The school hub URL belongs to the school, not to a person. You update the admin login and the new president picks up from where the old one left off — all announcements, events, and signups stay intact. No migrating a Facebook group, no handing over a personal email account, no starting over. Board transitions take about 10 minutes.
How is SchoolRelay different from Remind?
Remind is a one-way message tool: you send, families read, the message scrolls off a feed. SchoolRelay is a persistent hub: a public page with a stable URL that families bookmark and return to all year. SchoolRelay sends push notifications like Remind does, but it also gives families a place to look up the spring calendar, find the volunteer signup, or grab the lunch menu link on their own schedule.
How long does setup take?
Most PTOs have a working hub live in under 10 minutes. Create an account, name your school group, add your key links and a welcome announcement, and share the URL. No design experience required, no templates to configure, no IT ticket. The fastest setups take about 5 minutes from sign-up to first publish.
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