What is PickupLink?

PickupLink in one paragraph

PickupLink is a website that runs school dismissal. Before the bell, every parent or approved adult who may pick up a student gets an email with a check-in link. When they reach the school they open the link on their phone and tap "I'm here". The phone's location is checked against the school's pickup area, and the student's name lights up on the teacher's live board together with the name of the adult who arrived. The teacher brings the student out, taps once to mark them picked up, and PickupLink records who released the child, to whom, and when.

That is the whole product. There is no app for parents, teachers or staff to install, no account or password for families to manage, no hardware to mount at the curb, and no car tag to print. Everything runs in the browser already on the phone, tablet or laptop each person has.

What PickupLink replaces

Most schools run dismissal with some mix of a paper list at the office, laminated car tags on the dashboard, a staff member reading names into a walkie-talkie, and teachers trying to recognise faces through a windshield. It works until the day a substitute teacher releases a child to the wrong adult, or the line backs onto the street because names are being relayed one at a time.

The usual software answer is a dismissal platform that asks every family to download an app and create an account. Those products work, but the first week is spent answering "which app?", "I forgot my password" and "my phone has no room". PickupLink is built for schools that want the safety of named, verified check-in without asking families to install anything.

What PickupLink does

• Emails a check-in link before each dismissal. By default 15 minutes before the bell, to every guardian the office has marked as allowed to pick up. The link opens without a password and stays valid until the pickup window closes.
• Verifies the parent is actually there. The check-in is accepted only when the phone shares a precise location and, if the school has drawn a geofence on the map, the phone is inside it.
• Shows teachers who arrived, live. Arrivals appear on the classroom and school boards the same second, with the guardian’s name, an optional sound, a browser notification and a spoken announcement of the student’s name.
• Records every release. One tap marks a student picked up and logs who released them, to which adult, and at what time. Reports show attendance, on-time and late pickups and average wait per student.
• Handles the exceptions. Staff can log a parent who turned up without a phone. "Dismiss now" releases a classroom or one student early and emails their guardians on the spot. Siblings with the same dismissal time are one link and one tap.
• Takes attendance on the same board. Students marked absent are skipped by reminders, early dismissal and parent check-in for the day.

What PickupLink does not do

PickupLink only does dismissal. It is not a parent-communication app, so keep Bloomz, ParentSquare or ClassDojo for messages and photos. It is not a visitor-management or emergency-alert platform like Raptor. It does not track buses or read license plates. Schools that need all of those in one contract should look at a broader school-safety suite; schools that want dismissal done well, in the browser, at a published price, are who PickupLink is for.

Who uses PickupLink

K-12 schools that run a car line, pickup line or walk-up dismissal: public elementary schools, private, charter, Catholic and Christian schools, Montessori schools and small multi-campus groups. A school administrator or office manager sets it up; teachers, office staff and parents are added by the school. Parents and teachers never pay and never sign up on their own.

What PickupLink costs

Pricing is published. The Starter plan is $799 per year for one school with up to 300 students, 900 parents and 30 faculty and staff. Growth is $1,999 per year for two schools and up to 1,000 students. Districts and networks get custom Enterprise pricing. Every feature is included in every plan. Schools are billed by invoice, net 30, with the first invoice sent 30 days after activation, so there is no credit card and nothing to pay on day one.