Here’s the hard truth: most school calendars are nearly useless.

They’re often buried deep in the website, only available as a downloadable PDF, and impossible to read on mobile. If you’ve ever heard parents say, “I didn’t know that was happening,” your calendar might be the culprit.

The Real Problem Isn’t the Info—It’s the Delivery

Classical schools are incredibly busy. Events, feast days, volunteer requests, conferences—it all adds up. But none of it matters if your calendar is hidden, unreadable, or requires parents to dig through three layers of navigation just to find it.

PDFs Are the Fastest Way to Lose a Parent’s Attention

We get it. Uploading a PDF is easy. But when that PDF isn’t mobile-friendly or is stuffed with tiny fonts and poor layout choices, it becomes friction—something parents avoid unless they absolutely have to check it.

Friction leads to frustration. Frustration leads to missed events. Missed events lead to complaints.

So What Should You Do Instead?

• Embed a live, mobile-friendly calendar on your site (Google Calendar, or if you’re on WordPress, The Events Calendar plugin, for example).
• Place it in the main navigation, not buried in the footer or under “Resources.”
• Offer filters (Academics, Athletics, Fine Arts, etc.) to reduce overwhelm.
• Use colors, spacing, and headers to make monthly views skimmable at a glance.

Want to See a Better Way?

If you’re ready to stop hearing “I didn’t know that was happening,” start by fixing how your calendar is displayed. We broke it all down here:

The Best Way to Display School Calendars Without Frustrating Parents →

Bottom Line

If your calendar is hard to find or hard to read, it’s not doing its job. It’s not about having the most information—it’s about making it accessible. Do that, and you’ll improve communication, reduce frustration, and build trust with families.