Key Findings
- 68% of questions are about basic logistics (schedule, attendance, lunch, buses)
- 53% of questions come outside school hours (evenings and weekends)
- Sunday evening is the single busiest time for parent questions
- Most questions have answers already on the school website—parents just can't find them
The Data Behind the Questions
Every school knows the feeling: the phone rings constantly, the front office is overwhelmed, and parents are frustrated because they can't find basic information. But what are parents actually asking about?
We analyzed 10,000 questions submitted to K-12 schools across the United States to find out. The results might surprise you—or confirm what your front office staff has known all along.
Top Question Categories
What Parents Ask About Most
e.g., "What time does school start?"
e.g., "How do I report an absence?"
e.g., "How do I enroll my child?"
e.g., "Where is the lunch menu?"
e.g., "What is my bus route?"
e.g., "What is the dress code?"
e.g., "What sports are offered?"
e.g., "How do I contact my child's teacher?"
e.g., "Where do I find forms?"
1. Schedule & Calendar (23%)
Nearly a quarter of all questions are about timing. Parents want to know when things happen: school start times, holidays, early release days, and event schedules.
Common questions:
- • "What time does school start and end?"
- • "When is spring break this year?"
- • "What are the early release days?"
- • "When is the next parent-teacher conference?"
2. Attendance & Absences (18%)
The second most common category involves reporting and managing absences. These questions often come early in the morning when parents realize their child is sick.
Common questions:
- • "How do I report my child absent?"
- • "What is the tardy policy?"
- • "How many absences are allowed before truancy?"
- • "Do I need a doctor's note?"
3. Enrollment & Registration (15%)
Questions about enrollment spike at predictable times—spring for the upcoming year, and whenever families move into the district. These are often complex, multi-step questions.
4. Food & Lunch (12%)
Lunch menus, account balances, and free/reduced lunch applications generate constant inquiries. Many schools still struggle to make this information easily accessible.
When Parents Ask
Here's what might surprise school administrators: the majority of parent questions don't come during school hours.
When Questions Come In
Planning for the week ahead
Morning rush questions
After work, before bed
Urgent same-day needs
Sunday evening (7-9 PM) is the single busiest time for parent questions. This makes sense—families are planning for the week ahead, checking calendars, and realizing they need information before Monday morning.
But here's the problem: no one is there to answer. The front office closed at 4 PM on Friday.
The Information Gap
Perhaps the most striking finding: over 80% of the questions we analyzed had answers already published on the school's website. Parents weren't asking because the information didn't exist—they were asking because they couldn't find it.
This represents a massive opportunity. Schools don't need to create new content—they need to make existing content findable.
The Insight
Parents don't have a content problem—they have a findability problem. The information exists; it's just buried in PDFs, outdated pages, or confusing navigation.
What This Means for Your School
1. Audit Your Top 5 Question Categories
Look at your school's website through a parent's eyes. Can you find the school start time in under 10 seconds? Is the absence reporting process clearly explained? Is the lunch menu easy to locate?
2. Consider After-Hours Support
If 53% of questions come outside school hours, what's your strategy for those families? An AI chatbot can provide instant answers at 8 PM on Sunday when no staff is available.
3. Track What People Ask
Are you capturing the questions your community asks? This data is gold—it tells you exactly what information is missing, confusing, or hard to find on your website.
4. Update Your FAQ
Most school FAQs are written by staff guessing what parents want to know. Use actual question data to build an FAQ that answers real questions—not hypothetical ones.
Methodology
This analysis is based on questions submitted through school communication channels including website contact forms, email inquiries, and AI chatbot interactions. Data was collected from K-12 schools across the United States, anonymized, and categorized by topic and timestamp. Schools ranged from small private institutions to large public districts.
See What Your Community Is Asking
SchoolChatbot helps you answer parent questions 24/7 while tracking exactly what your community wants to know. Start free and see the insights within days.