For elementary schools · A managed service, not five subscriptions · Free to start
The elementary office runs the directory, memory book, and family updates as one service.
A small elementary office should not juggle five subscriptions that do not talk to each other. This is the managed service that covers the everyday work — the family directory, the keepsake memory book, family communication, and picture day — on one login and one shared roster, free to start, with nothing to install.
The directory, memory book, and family updates are live today. The picture-day store and texted reminders are in early access, and money is honest-off — the store settles no money on this page.
DirectoryFamily & class listLive
Memory bookThe keepsake bookLive
UpdatesFamily communicationLive
Picture dayRoster-matchedEarly access
One login · one roster · one service
The directory, book, and updates on one servicenot four separate subscriptions billed and logged into on their own
One roster shared across every piececorrect a name once and it is correct in the directory, the book, and family updates alike
Free to start, nothing to installthe directory, memory book, and family updates settle no money to run
A gentle picture daya permission-checked roster lookup, never a face scan turned on without a parent’s say-so
One service, not five subscriptions
A small elementary office ends up the same way most small offices do: a directory app for the family list, a separate tool for the newsletter, a photography vendor's own portal for picture day, and maybe a fourth app just for texting families a reminder. Each one has its own login, its own copy of the roster, and its own bill — and the moment a family's phone number changes, the office has to remember which of the four places to fix it in first.
elementaryschool.services is built to be the one login instead: the family directory, the keepsake memory book, family communication, and picture day, all reading from the SAME shared roster, under the SAME sign-in. It is not a new product a school has to learn from scratch — it is the same everyday work this platform already does, delivered as one running service rather than a stack of tools an office has to assemble and keep in sync by hand.
What the service runs
Five pieces, one login, each labelled honestly
Live means it is shipped, free to start, and settles no money. Early access means it is being opened up gradually and money is honest-off. We never sell a planned piece as if it shipped.
One login and one roster, not five subscriptions
The family directory, the memory book, family updates, and picture day all read from the same class roster and the same sign-in -- so the office stops re-keying the same list of five-year-olds into four separate tools that drift apart the moment a name is corrected in one and not the others. Sign in the standard ways the school already logs in, or import the roster once; every piece of the service reads from that one list from then on.
Live · free to start
The keepsake memory book, included in the service
The school's memory book runs as part of the same service, tied to the same roster, so a name spelled correctly once in the directory is spelled correctly on the book's class pages too. This is the bundled memory book; when a school wants the full drag-and-drop production editor, a print check, and a read-only online edition, that dedicated tool lives at the sibling site, elementaryschool.press -- cross-linked, not duplicated here.
Live · free to start
Family communication, sent from the same place
The classroom newsletter and family updates go out from the same login as the directory and the book, so a small staff is not juggling a separate app just to reach families. A room parent or office volunteer sends the update to the class list that is already current, instead of exporting an email list from somewhere else first.
Live · free to start
Picture day, run as part of the service
Picture day runs on the same roster and the same login as the rest of the service: a parent finds only their own child by a permission-checked roster lookup, never a face scan turned on without a parent's say-so. The consent-gated process is described here today; the live parent storefront -- where a card is actually charged and a school earns a share -- is a separate product still in early access. There is no checkout on this page and no card is charged here.
Plan described here · live store in early access
A text reminder for the parent an email never reaches
Some families read every newsletter; others only ever see a text. A short text-message reminder -- the picture-day date, the field-trip deadline, the half-day dismissal -- is meant to reach that second parent through the same service, without asking the office to run a separate texting app. This is honestly in early access: described here as a coming piece of the service, not something a school can turn on today.
Early access
The shared roster
One roster, read by every piece of the service
The class roster is entered once -- the school signs in the standard ways it already logs in, or imports the list a single time — and that one roster becomes the spine the whole service reads from: the family directory, the memory book's class pages, the newsletter's mailing list, and picture day's name-matched lookup. Correct a name in one place and it is correct everywhere, because there is only one place, not four.
A room parent handed a task can be given a permission-scoped slice of the directory — just their own class — never the whole school's records. The roster is owned by the school, not by us, and it is shared or sold only when the school's own permissions allow it.
The keepsake book
The memory book, bundled into the same service
The school's keepsake memory book runs on the same login and the same class roster as the directory and family updates, so the names on the book's class pages are spelled the way the front office already spells them — nobody re-types a class list a second time just to start the book.
This is the BUNDLED memory book, included as one piece of the service. When a school wants the full drag-and-drop production editor — layout control, a print check that catches a broken job before a reprint, and a read-only online edition families can follow on a phone — that dedicated tool lives at the sibling site, elementaryschool.press. The roster carries straight over; nothing is re-entered moving from the bundled book to the full editor.
Family communication
The newsletter and family updates, sent from the same place
The classroom newsletter and general family updates go out from the same login as the directory and the book — not a separate app the office has to open, sign into, and keep its own copy of the family list in. A room parent or office volunteer sends the update to a class list that is already current, because it is the same roster every other piece of the service reads from.
A text-message reminder for the parent an email never reaches — the picture-day date, the field-trip deadline, the half-day dismissal — is planned as part of the same service. It is honestly in early access today: described here as a coming piece, not something a school can switch on yet.
Picture day, run as part of the service
Careful with young children, described honestly
A parent finds only their own child
Picture day runs off the same roster and the same login as the rest of the service. A parent reaches only their own child — matched by a permission-checked roster lookup, not a face scan run across every student. Facial recognition is off by default.
Honest about face data
Where a parent does opt in to face grouping, a face template is created — it is held on a limited retention window (about a school year) rather than kept forever, and is used only to group that one family's own photos. Face grouping is off by default, and a parent can withdraw it at any time.
The process is described here; the store is early access
This page describes how picture day is meant to run as part of the service. The live parent storefront — where a card is actually charged and the school earns a share — is a separate product still in early access. There is no checkout here and no card is charged on this page; money is honest-off.
Records and family contacts are consent-gated: who can see them follows the access permissions a school sets, and they are shared or sold only when permission allows it -- not handed to outside companies or advertisers without it. A family's information is not made public without consent, and consent can be withdrawn at any time. A room parent handed a slice of the directory sees only the class they were granted, never the whole school's records.
On photos, the honest posture holds throughout: facial recognition is off by default; find-my-child is a permission-checked roster lookup, not a face match; and a photo is sellable only when permission allows. Where a parent opts in to face grouping, the face template is held on a limited retention window (about a school year, not forever) and is used only for that family's own photos.
What is live and what is early access — plainly
The directory, memory book, and family updates are live. The picture-day store and texted reminders are early access, and money is honest-off.
Live today, free to start: the family directory, the keepsake memory book, and family updates. In early access — built, but being opened up gradually: the picture-day store and text-message reminders to families. Money is honest-off across all of it: no live billing, no checkout on this page, and no card charged. “A parent buys their own child's portraits” describes the future store, not a live payment today.
elementaryschool.services is a for-profit software product for elementary schools — not a school, not a district, and not a nonprofit; this site sells software, not donations. There are no invented adoption numbers, endorsements, or named schools on this page; it describes what the service runs, not who is using it. We never sell a planned piece as if it shipped, and nothing here is legal advice.
elementaryschool.services is the managed-service door; the rest of this platform's elementary-focused sites pick up from here. elementaryschool.software is the year-round product front door, sold as software a school configures and runs itself, one piece at a time. elementaryschool.center is the resource hub of starter templates a school browses before deciding to run this as a standing service. elementaryschool.site is the transactional family front door — online enrollment, the free records tier, permission slips, and the consent-gated portrait store, built around the parent as the signed-in account. elementaryschool.press is the full publishing editor for the memory book and the newsletter, once a school outgrows the bundled basics included here. elementaryschool.technology is the quiet IT-stack this service runs on top of. homeroom.software is the school publishing platform all of it runs on. It is a for-profit product — a software vendor serving elementary schools, not a school, district, or nonprofit itself.
Why would we use elementaryschool.services instead of elementaryschool.software?
They run the same underlying work, sold two different ways. elementaryschool.software is software you configure and run yourself, one piece at a time. elementaryschool.services is that same directory, memory book, family updates, and picture day delivered AS ONE MANAGED SERVICE -- one login, one roster, nothing to assemble. If your office would rather sign in once and have it already running together, this is the door for that.
How is this different from elementaryschool.center?
elementaryschool.center is a resource hub -- a shelf of starter templates and a directory a volunteer browses and takes only the pieces that fit this year. elementaryschool.services is not a hub you assemble from; it is the standing service that already runs the directory, the book, family updates, and picture day together, every day, under one login.
Is this the same as elementaryschool.site?
No. elementaryschool.site is the transactional family front door -- online enrollment, the free records tier, permission slips, and the consent / COPPA portal, built around the PARENT as the signed-in account. elementaryschool.services is the OFFICE's operations layer: what the front office runs day to day to keep the directory, the book, updates, and picture day working as one service.
What's actually live today, and what is early access?
Live today, free to start: the family directory, the keepsake memory book, and family updates (the classroom newsletter). In early access: the picture-day store (the live parent checkout) and text-message reminders to families. The consent-gated picture-day description on this page is how picture day is meant to run; it is not a claim that the storefront itself is open. We never sell a planned surface as if it shipped.
Is elementaryschool.services a school, a district, or a nonprofit?
No. elementaryschool.services is a for-profit software product -- a vendor whose product is this managed service for elementary schools. It is not a school, not a district, and not a nonprofit. Elementary schools are (mostly) public schools; the software that serves them is a for-profit product. There is no charitable or write-off framing here because none would be honest.
How does the shared roster keep our family data safe?
The class roster and family contacts are consent-gated: who can see them follows the access permissions a school sets, and they are shared or sold only when permission allows it -- not handed to outside companies or advertisers without it. A family's information is not made public without consent, and consent can be withdrawn at any time. A room parent handed a slice of the directory sees only the class they were granted, never the whole school's records.
Do you use facial recognition to find a child on picture day?
Not by default, and not without a parent turning it on. Find-my-child is a permission-checked roster lookup -- matching a parent against the class list they are allowed to see -- not a face scan run across every student. To be honest rather than reassuring: we will not pretend a face template is never created. Where a parent does opt in to face grouping, a face template is created; it is held on a limited retention window (about a school year) rather than kept forever, and is used only to group that one family's own photos. Face grouping is off by default, and a parent can withdraw it at any time.
Can a parent buy picture-day portraits from this page right now?
No -- and we will not pretend otherwise. This page describes how the consent-gated process is meant to work; the live parent storefront where a card is actually charged is a separate product still in early access. There is no checkout on this page and no card is charged here. When it opens, a parent buys their own child's portraits directly and the school earns on the sale.
What does it cost to start, and do we have to run all five pieces?
The family directory, the memory book, and family updates settle no money to run -- there is no live billing and no checkout on this page. And no, nothing here is all-or-nothing: a school can run the directory and the book this year and add picture day and texted reminders once those open, or skip a piece entirely. The point of one service is fewer logins, not a forced bundle.