Backpack BriefRequest service
For parents with children in school, and anyone sharing the pickups

Everything the school sent this week, in one five-minute read

Teachers, the office, the PTA, the coach and three different apps all send messages, and the one about picture day is buried under fundraising reminders. Backpack Brief collects them in one place, writes a short Sunday-evening brief of what actually needs you, and puts the dates on your family calendar. Both parents get the same brief, so nothing depends on who happened to read the email.

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  • One forwarding address for school email and app notifications from ParentSquare, ClassDojo, Remind, Google Classroom and others.
  • A Sunday brief per child: what's due, what to bring, what to pay or sign, and what you can safely ignore.
  • Deadlines and events added to Google, Apple or Outlook calendars, with a reminder the evening before.
No card needed to requestSet up within 2 business daysCancel any time
Dates on your calendarDeadlines and events added to your shared family calendar…
56%

In a Yahoo and Censuswide survey of over 2,000 US parents, 56% said school email is too much and 29% found it more stressful than their work email.

Source: mother.ly
62%

62% of the parents and caregivers in the same survey said they had missed an important event or detail in their inbox.

Source: mother.ly
5–6

More than two-thirds of school districts rely on five to six channels to reach parents, according to a national survey cited by Romper.

Source: romper.com
Why now

Schools send more than ever, through more channels than ever

A typical family now hears from school through several channels at once: district email, a class app, a teacher's newsletter, sports and club apps, and a parents' group chat. Each one is reasonable on its own. Together they produce dozens of messages a week, and the important ones, a form due Thursday or a field trip that needs a packed lunch, look exactly like the rest.

Parents report school email as a genuine source of stress, and many say they have missed an important event or detail in the noise. The usual fix is one parent becoming the household's full-time message reader, which is invisible work and still fails when they're busy.

Backpack Brief does the reading. You forward everything once, set up a few rules, and get one short brief a week plus the dates on the calendar you already use.

Without it

  • Reading everything yourself: Free and thorough, and it takes several hours a week across inboxes and apps. Backpack Brief does that reading and…
  • Email filters and folders: Good for keeping the inbox tidy. They don't tell you what's due, they don't put dates on the calendar, and important…
  • General AI email assistants: Some summarize your inbox, but they don't know which class is your child's, they don't read app notifications and they…

With Backpack Brief

  • One forwarding address for school email and app notifications from ParentSquare, ClassDojo, Remind, Google Classroom and others.
  • A Sunday brief per child: what's due, what to bring, what to pay or sign, and what you can safely ignore.
  • Deadlines and events added to Google, Apple or Outlook calendars, with a reminder the evening before.
  • One address for everything
  • Per-child brief
How it works

How it works

  1. 1

    Forward once

    Set your school emails and app email notifications to forward to your private Backpack Brief address. We send step-by-step instructions for each app your school uses.

  2. 2

    Tell us about your kids

    Names, grades, teachers and activities, so messages are matched to the right child and the brief ignores other classes' news.

  3. 3

    Get the Sunday brief

    Every Sunday evening: per child, what's due, what to bring, what to pay or sign, upcoming dates, and a short 'safe to skip' list.

  4. 4

    Dates on your calendar

    Deadlines and events added to your shared family calendar as they arrive, with a reminder the evening before. Urgent changes, like a snow day, are sent the same day.

What it does

Features

One address for everything

School email, app notification emails, newsletters and club emails all forwarded to one private address. Screenshots of paper flyers work too.

Per-child brief

Each child's section lists only what concerns them: their class, their teams, their deadlines. Siblings' briefs come in one email.

Action list first

Forms to sign, money to send, things to bring, with the due date and a link to the original message, before any general news.

Calendar sync

Events and deadlines added to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook with location and what to bring in the notes.

Same-day urgent alerts

Closures, early dismissals, schedule changes and anything due tomorrow sent as a short text the same day, not saved for Sunday.

Both parents, same picture

The brief goes to every adult you add: co-parents, grandparents who do pickups, a nanny. Nobody has to forward anything.

Ask about anything

Reply to the brief with a question like 'when is the science project due?' and get the answer from the original messages.

Ask your AI assistant

Connect Backpack Brief to Claude, ChatGPT or another assistant through MCP and ask in plain language, for example "what's due this week for Maya?". Read-only by default; revoke access any time.

A look inside

A look inside

What you see day to day: the working view and the monthly summary.

The working viewNames, grades, teachers and activities, so messages are matched to the right child and the brief ignores other classes' news.
Your monthly summaryWe set up your forwarding address and family profile within 2 business days of your request.
Built for

Who it's for

Busy working parents

You read work email all day and don't want to read school email all evening too.

Separated and co-parenting families

Both homes get the same information at the same time, so nothing depends on passing messages along.

Families with several kids or schools

Elementary, middle school and a travel team means three systems; Backpack Brief makes it one.

Works with

Plans

Pricing

Monthly, cancel any time, with a free first month. Prices are per family, not per child. Founding customer pricing is locked for 24 months.

Brief

$3 per month

One weekly brief for the family

  • Up to 3 children
  • Sunday brief by email
  • Action list per child
  • Calendar sync for one calendar
  • Free first month
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Recommended

Family

$6 per month

Everyone who helps, kept in the loop

  • Up to 5 children
  • Brief to up to 6 adults
  • Same-day urgent text alerts
  • Calendar sync to several calendars
  • Ask-anything replies
  • Free first month
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Class or PTA

$29 per month

Class parents and PTAs sharing one brief

  • One brief for a whole class or team
  • Up to 40 families
  • Shared calendar feed
  • Room-parent edit before sending
  • Translation into families' home languages
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Compared with the alternatives

Reading everything yourself
Free and thorough, and it takes several hours a week across inboxes and apps. Backpack Brief does that reading and hands you the result.
Email filters and folders
Good for keeping the inbox tidy. They don't tell you what's due, they don't put dates on the calendar, and important messages still end up in the folder unread.
General AI email assistants
Some summarize your inbox, but they don't know which class is your child's, they don't read app notifications and they don't share a brief with the other parent.

What changed

  • In a Yahoo and Censuswide survey of over 2,000 US parents, 56% said school email is too much and 29% found it more stressful than their work email. Source: mother.ly
  • 62% of the parents and caregivers in the same survey said they had missed an important event or detail in their inbox. Source: mother.ly
  • More than two-thirds of school districts rely on five to six channels to reach parents, according to a national survey cited by Romper. Source: romper.com
Getting started

Your first week

We set up your forwarding address and family profile within 2 business days of your request.

  1. Day 1: Request the service; we send your private forwarding address and app instructions.
  2. Day 2: Add your children, schools and activities; connect your calendar.
  3. Day 3–6: Forward school messages as they arrive; urgent items are sent the same day.
  4. Day 7: Your first Sunday brief.

Security and data

  • We never log in to your email or school apps; you choose what to forward.
  • Forwarded messages are encrypted at rest and deleted after 90 days, and briefs are sent only to adults you add.
  • Children's information is never used for advertising, sold or used to train public AI models.
  • You can export or delete everything at any time from your account page.

Questions

Which school apps does it work with?

Any that can send email notifications, which includes ParentSquare, ClassDojo, Remind, Google Classroom guardian summaries and most sports and club apps. We send instructions for turning those notifications on.

Is my children's information safe?

Forwarded messages are stored encrypted, used only to write your brief and calendar entries, and deleted after 90 days. We never sell data or use it for advertising.

What if the brief misses something?

Each item links to the original message, and you can reply with a question at any time. If something was missed, tell us and we adjust the rules for your family.

Can grandparents or a nanny get it?

Yes. On the Family plan the brief and urgent alerts go to up to six adults you add.

What about paper flyers in the backpack?

Take a photo and send it to the same address. The details are read and included in the brief and calendar.

Do I need to give access to my email account?

No. You set up forwarding rules; we never log in to your email or the school apps.

Does it work with Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes. Backpack Brief includes an MCP connector, so Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP-compatible assistants can answer questions like "what's due this week for Maya?" from your data. It is read-only by default and you can revoke access at any time.

Ready when you are

Tell us about your setup. We confirm by email and get you running within 2 business days.

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