At most high schools, family communication is already a challenge. Parents are less visible, engagement is harder to sustain, and too often, schools hear from families only when something is wrong. At Passaic High School in New Jersey, those challenges are amplified.

The school serves nearly 3,000 students in grades 9–12, but instead of operating in a single building, it is currently spread across four separate campuses while a new facility is under construction. Students are assigned by career pathway, meaning teachers, administrators, and families are distributed across multiple locations with no single, centralized hub for communication.

“It’s been tricky,” says Assistant Principal Leslie Sarousi. “We’re spread across four buildings, so keeping things cohesive can be difficult.”

Before adopting ClassDojo for Districts, communication was fragmented and time-consuming. Important updates required navigating multiple systems, manual processes, and, in some cases, printed materials—making it difficult to ensure families actually received and engaged with information.

Sarousi, who spent more than a decade in elementary education, saw an opportunity to bring a more consistent, accessible approach to high school communication. “I’ve been using ClassDojo for over a decade,” she says.

Today, Passaic High School uses ClassDojo for Districts as a centralized communication hub, giving staff a faster, simpler way to share updates and giving families a single, reliable place to stay informed, regardless of which campus their student attends. While event attendance may not have shifted yet, parent awareness of school activities and updates has increased significantly.

Results at a Glance

Passaic High School — Passaic, New Jersey

Scale

• Nearly 3,000 students across grades 9–12
• Four campuses organized by career pathway

Impact

• Increased family awareness of school events and updates across all four campuses
• Centralized communication into a single, reliable channel for staff and families across a distributed school community
• Over 750 families reached through one platform, regardless of campus location
• Faster school-to-home communication, with important updates shared in seconds instead of through more complicated manual workflows
• Reduced administrative burden and printing needs by replacing paper-based outreach with digital communication
• Built-in translation supporting multilingual families and improving access to school information
• Positioned the school with a reliable family communication channel as cell phone bans expand, helping staff keep parents informed during the school day
• Consistent communication maintained across a complex four-campus environment

Overcoming the High School Mindset with A Proven Communications Strategy

Sarousi brought a unique perspective to her leadership role. Before joining Passaic High School, she spent more than a decade working in elementary schools as both a teacher and administrator, where ClassDojo was already deeply embedded in daily communication.

“I’ve been using it for probably over a decade,” she said.

When Sarousi transitioned to the high school level, she saw an opportunity to bring that same consistency to older students and their families. Her goal was simple: make communication between school and home faster, easier, and more consistent.

The transition, however, required a shift in mindset. Some teachers initially viewed the platform as something designed primarily for elementary classrooms, raising concerns about whether it would resonate with older students.

“The eighth graders bought into it, and the ninth graders are just a few months older,” she explains.

By demonstrating how ClassDojo could support engaging, consistent communication, through direct messaging and school-wide updates, adoption has steadily grown.

Class Story: A Digital Front Door for the School

In the absence of a traditional school website, ClassDojo is becoming a centralized, dynamic “front door” for the school community. One feature Sarousi relies on most is Class Story, which allows administrators to share announcements, updates, and photos in one central feed. “We have found it really amazing to visually bring our school day to life.”

Administrators and office staff use Class Story to share:

• event reminders
• testing schedules
• school announcements
• highlights from athletics, activities, and daily classroom and campus life

Because Passaic High School operates across four campuses, having a single place for families to check updates has become especially valuable—giving families a consistent place to see school communications and increasing overall awareness of what’s happening across campuses. It also gives school and district leaders clear visibility into what’s being shared across campuses—helping ensure communication is consistent, aligned, and no longer happening in silos.

In fact, the platform is beginning to serve an even bigger role as a centralized digital hub for the school community. “We don’t actually have a high school website,” Sarousi explains. “This has become the main place families go to stay informed.”

She even envisions students—such as yearbook staff and event photographers—helping contribute posts that capture authentic moments across the school community.

From Reactive to Proactive Communication

For administrators managing thousands of students across multiple campuses, shifting from reactive to proactive communication is critical.

Sarousi says ClassDojo for Districts has dramatically simplified communication tasks that previously required multiple systems. When the school needed to send state testing letters to families, the new process took seconds. “I can screenshot it, upload it, and it’s done,” she says.

Previously, sending the same communication required navigating a complicated workflow. “The other process is much more complicated. There are 20 buttons to push.”  That speed became especially valuable during a paper shortage, allowing the school to send updates digitally instead of printing hundreds of letters.

“A few hundred copies saved is big,” added Sarousi.

Breaking Language Barriers for Families

Passaic serves a diverse community where many families speak languages other than English.

ClassDojo’s built-in translation features allow families to automatically view messages in their preferred language removing barriers that previously required additional tools or manual translation.

“I just type the message, and parents can translate it into whatever language they need,” Sarousi explains. 

This accessibility ensures that every family can stay informed, regardless of language background.

Preparing for the Wave of Cell Phone Bans

As more states introduce cell phone restrictions during the school day, schools are rethinking how students and families stay connected.

Sarousi believes communication platforms like ClassDojo will become even more essential in this environment.

“If a kid is having a problem in the middle of the day, they’re going to have to go to the teacher and say, ‘Can you let my parent know what’s going on?’” she says.

Having a fast, reliable communication channel allows schools to keep families informed without overwhelming the main office.

Advice for Other High School Leaders

For schools considering a similar rollout, Sarousi recommends investing time early in the school year to train staff.

“If I could do it again, I would have spent time during our first faculty meeting having teachers create their profiles and connect with parents at the outset,” she says.

Helping teachers understand how the platform supports the type of communication families want, and that it is more than a classroom management tool can accelerate adoption and ensure success from the start.

The Bottom Line

With nearly 3,000 students spread across four campuses, communication at Passaic High School could easily become fragmented.

Instead, school leaders have created a centralized way for teachers, administrators, and families to stay informed and connected.

For Sarousi, the value comes down to one simple idea: “It’s a great platform for communication between teachers and parents and between the school and families. In a large high school navigating complex logistics, diverse families, and evolving communication needs, that connection isn’t just helpful; it’s essential.”