Stronger Family Engagement, Simpler School Communication

September 14, 2026

As you head into another successful school year, new updates across SchoolMessenger Communicate and Presence are designed to help your teams connect with families more efficiently, reduce manual work, and create a more streamlined communication experience. Whether you’re managing attendance, sharing updates, or coordinating events, these enhancements are focused on helping you work smarter while keeping families informed.

See how your feedback is driving change at PowerSchool. Chief Customer Officer shares key customer priorities, progress made, and next steps.

Product Updates

Status: Available Now

• What’s New: Facebook publishing is now available directly from SchoolMessenger Communicate broadcasts.How This Helps: Share important updates across communication channels without creating separate posts, helping staff save time and maintain consistent messaging.

• What’s New: The new Communicate user interface includes a dashboard with recent communications, performance analytics, and streamlined navigation.How This Helps: Staff can access key information faster, reduce navigation steps, and review communication activity more efficiently.

A Connected Family Engagement Experience

Status: Coming Fall 2026

• What’s New: An all-in-one family engagement platform is planned to bring broadcasts, messages, and posts together in one experience.How This Helps: Gives families a more unified experience and reduces the need to navigate multiple communication tools.

• What’s New: Interactive newsfeed capabilities will support updates, sign-ups, calendars, and engagement features.How This Helps: Creates more interactive communication opportunities and helps families stay connected to school activities.

• What’s New: Event management and volunteer sign-up tools are planned as part of the expanded experience.How This Helps: Simplifies event coordination and reduces manual tracking for school staff.

• What’s New: Newsletter design tools will support drag-and-drop newsletter creation.How This Helps: Makes it easier to create polished family communications without complex design work.

• What’s New: Modern website and content management capabilities are planned through the partnership with Content Manager by Imagine Everything.How This Helps: Supports website management needs with tools designed specifically for K-12 districts.

Tips & Best Practices

Back-to-School Communication Success

Small preparation steps now can help avoid challenges once the school year gets busy.

Re-enable Repeating Broadcasts

• Try this: Review your repeating broadcasts before students return and confirm they are enabled.Because: Attendance notifications, lunch balance alerts, and other automated communications can continue running as expected, reducing manual follow-up for office staff.

Explore the New Communicate UI

• Try this: Have district and school leaders enable the new user interface first before broader rollout.Because: Familiarity with the experience helps support staff adoption and encourages more consistent communication processes.

Consider Making the New UI Your Default

• Try this: Evaluate the new interface as the standard experience across your district.Because: A shared interface can help reduce confusion, improve consistency, and make it easier for staff to leverage communication tools and translation capabilities.

Complete a Back-to-School Audit

• Try this: Review active automations, verify SIS data flows, update templates, and complete user profile cleanup activities.Because: Proactive maintenance can help improve data accuracy, support security practices, and prevent issues during busy school periods.

Support FAQS

• How can I get help with SchoolMessenger products? You can contact support by phone or through Customer Central and the PowerSchool Assistant during support hours.

• When should I contact support? Start with available self-service resources and knowledge content in Customer Central (link in resource section). If additional assistance is needed, contact support and provide details about the issue and steps already attempted.

Customer Success Story

At Wellington Catholic District School Board in Ontario, attendance teams moved from managing absence reports across multiple channels to a centralized workflow using SchoolMessenger SafeArrival. The district reports that 93% of absences are now reported through SafeArrival, and a process that previously took four hours is completed in 40 minutes. Staff gain earlier visibility into attendance information and can respond more quickly when student follow-up may be needed.

Resources

• Customer CentralCustomer Central brings technical support, knowledge, collaboration, and community resources together in one place, making it easier to find answers, manage your support interactions, and stay connected.

• SchoolMessenger Back-to-School Checklist

Thank you for being part of the PowerSchool community. We look forward to continuing to share product updates, practical tips, and customer success stories that help your teams stay connected with families and support stronger school operations. Join us at the next Town Hall to see what’s new and learn from fellow districts.

More for You

PowerSchool University (PSU)

Interested in strengthening your product knowledge and learning alongside your peers? PowerSchool University offers in‑person and virtual training experiences where you can learn directly from experts, share ideas with other districts, and gain practical guidance to help you use your solutions even better! Check out our upcoming events here.

Professional Development Plus (PD+)

Giving you flexible ways to keep learning throughout the year, Professional Development Plus (PD+) offers you on‑demand access to self‑paced courses and videos, making it easy to build skills over time and support consistent product use across your district. Learn how your organization can get PD+.

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