You're Invited: What Happens When You Join?

A parent invites you to Carpool.School. Or your organization's staff sends you a personal invite. What's actually waiting on the other side?

Most families join looking for help with one thing: a morning drop-off, an afternoon pickup, or a regular activity run. Setup takes a few minutes. After that, you can see nearby families heading the same way and start building a carpool that works for everyone.

Getting started

Whether your invite came from a parent or your organization's staff, the process is the same:

1. Tap the invite link. You're joining the community that invited you.
2. Create your account.
3. Add your child, their activities, schedule, and the rides you need.

You can update any of this later as schedules and activities change.

Before you finish setup, it's worth knowing that your exact address never appears to other families. Nothing you enter is visible outside your community. What stays private →

Finding other families

Once you're set up, the Home tab shows families nearby who are heading the same way at similar times.

You can:

• Browse families in your community directory
• Post a request for a drop-off or pickup
• Browse requests from other families
• Message families directly
• Join activity groups
• Create a private group for a dedicated carpool

There is no public feed. Everything stays within your community.

Building a carpool

When you've found families you trust, you can connect with them. Connecting is mutual and unlocks phone contact and coordination tools. Carpool.School doesn't decide who rides with whom or vet families. Those decisions stay with parents.

Once you're connected, your carpool lives in one place:

• Manage recurring drive schedules
• Get reminders before each run
• Follow driver arrivals live
• Push schedule changes to everyone at once
• Handle school dismissal pickup, if your organization uses dismissal management

The goal is simple: help families find each other, coordinate rides, and stay organized. The carpool itself happens however you want it to: "I'll drive Mondays, you drive Wednesdays."