What a Four-Campus High School Reveals About District Communication

When Passaic High School split across four campuses, more than 750 families were still receiving school communications in one place. For a school of nearly 3,000 students, that didn’t happen by accident.

That’s the situation we’ve been navigating at Passaic High School in New Jersey. While a new building is under construction, our students are temporarily spread across four locations. Students are organized by career pathways, meaning teachers, administrators, and families are working across multiple buildings every day.

In a distributed environment like this, communication can quickly become fragmented. Families may struggle to keep up with announcements, staff may rely on different systems, and administrators can spend significant time trying to keep everyone informed.

Communication doesn’t just matter, it becomes mission-critical, especially when school and district leaders are accountable for information they can’t always see.

Maintaining cohesion requires a communication approach that is both consistent and easy for families to access. For district leaders, this kind of distributed environment also creates a visibility challenge. When communication happens across multiple campuses and systems, it becomes difficult to ensure messages are consistent, aligned, and reaching families as intended.

What happens in classrooms shapes how families experience the entire district. In a split-campus year, that meant we needed communication that district leaders could see across campuses—ensuring it was consistent, aligned, and something they could stand behind.

The Communication Challenge in Large High Schools

High schools approach family engagement differently than elementary schools. Parents are less likely to volunteer or attend frequent events, and many assume their teenagers are managing communication themselves. In reality, communication is often reactive; families tend to reach out when there’s a problem, rather than engaging consistently throughout the year.

But families still want to know what’s happening at school—they just need a simple, reliable way to stay informed.

Before this year, keeping families updated involved multiple steps. Sending letters home required printing, translating, and coordinating distribution across offices. Even digital communication often meant navigating complicated workflows across systems.

For administrators managing large student populations, these processes create unnecessary barriers. Our goal was to simplify how information moves between school and home, so families receive updates quickly and consistently.

Creating a Central Place for School Updates

One approach that has helped is establishing a centralized place where families can see announcements, reminders, and highlights from across the school community.

At Passaic High School, we’ve been using ClassDojo for Districts to connect staff and families across our four campuses. One feature that has proven especially valuable is the ability to share updates through a central feed, including announcements, testing schedules, event reminders, and highlights from daily school life.

In the absence of a traditional school website, this has become a centralized, dynamic “front door” for our high school community. Families don’t have to search through multiple emails or wait for printed notices. Just as importantly, it gives school and district leaders visibility into what’s being shared across campuses—helping ensure communication is consistent, aligned, and no longer happening in silos. And while this hasn’t necessarily translated into increased event attendance yet, it has significantly improved family awareness of what’s happening across the school.

Speed and Visibility Matter for District and School Leaders

For school administrators, time is one of the most limited resources. Communication tools need to work quickly and efficiently. This shift reduces friction and allows school leaders to respond in real time rather than after the fact.

One of the biggest benefits we’ve experienced is the ability to share updates in seconds. When we needed to distribute state testing letters, for example, we were able to upload the information immediately rather than navigating a complex workflow. What once required multiple steps can now be completed almost instantly.

This efficiency also reduces reliance on printed materials. During a recent paper shortage, we shared important updates digitally instead of printing hundreds of copies; small efficiencies that make a meaningful difference at scale.

Supporting Multilingual Families

Like many districts, Passaic serves a linguistically diverse community. Communication tools must support families who speak different languages at home.

Built-in translation has made a significant difference. Families can view messages in their preferred language automatically, ensuring access to important information without additional tools or manual translation.

For administrators, this also removes a logistical barrier to effective communication.

Preparing for Changing School Policies

Across the country, many states and districts are implementing stronger restrictions on student cell phone use during the school day.

These policies support focused learning environments but also change how students and families communicate. In the past, students often texted parents about schedule changes or concerns. As phone restrictions increase, communication will increasingly shift to school-managed channels, placing more responsibility on educators to keep families informed.

That means schools must be prepared with systems that allow teachers and administrators to quickly share information when issues arise. In large high school environments, having a reliable communication channel becomes even more important as these policies evolve.

Lessons for Other High School Leaders

For high schools looking to strengthen family communication, a few lessons stand out.

First, don’t assume strategies used in elementary schools won’t work at the high school level. Students may be older, but families still value clear, timely updates.

Second, invest time early in staff training. If I could do it again, I would dedicate part of our first faculty meeting to helping teachers connect with families and understand how we value strong communication. Starting the year aligned ensures consistency across the school.

Finally, remember that effective communication builds trust. Families who feel informed are more likely to feel connected to the school community.

In large high schools navigating complex logistics, diverse families, and evolving communication expectations, strong communication isn’t just a support system—it’s what allows school and district leaders to stay aligned, informed, and connected at scale.

Finally, consistent communication doesn’t just support individual schools—it strengthens alignment across the district. In our case, having a centralized way to share updates helped maintain cohesion across four campuses and gave leaders greater visibility into what families were seeing, something that had previously been difficult to track.