DCPS parent communication guide

DC Public Schools (DCPS) reaches families through several channels. Here's a plain guide to how DCPS communicates, and how to keep up without checking a different app for every message.

How DCPS reaches parents

• School & district email: notices from your school and the district's own addresses.
• Canvas: assignments, grades, and class announcements for your student.
• Remind: quick messages from teachers.
• Phone & text alerts: urgent notices like closures, delays, and early dismissals.

The catch: it all looks the same

Whether it's an urgent early-dismissal notice or a routine newsletter, DCPS messages arrive in the same inbox, in the same format. When everything looks equal, the message that actually changes your day is the one you're most likely to miss.

How to keep up with all of it

• Turn on text alerts for closures and delays.
• Check the district calendar for planned half-days and no-school days.
• Use one place that reads it all. AVVI connects to your school email and texts, recognizes DCPS's senders, and surfaces only what needs you, so the urgent notice never gets buried.

Read next