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A school calendar chatbot: answer "Is there school on Friday?"

Date questions fill every front office inbox. A chatbot that reads your school calendar can answer them at any hour, with a button to add the date to a family's own calendar.

School Compass team · · 4 min read

An illustration of a red-brick school building with a flag, trees and a front path.

"Is there school on Friday?" "When is winter break?" "What time is early dismissal?" "When are conferences?" Every school office hears these questions every week. The answers are already on your calendar. Families just cannot find them quickly on a phone.

Why calendar questions are hard for most chatbots

Most chatbots read web pages. But school dates usually do not live on a web page. They live in a calendar system, and the website shows them with a calendar widget. A chatbot that reads only page text often sees an empty box where the calendar is.

Calendar questions also need today's date. "Next Friday" means a different day every week. A chatbot must know the date and your school's time zone to answer correctly.

Test this with any vendor

Ask the chatbot "Is there school next Friday?" on a week with a day off. Then check the answer against your real calendar.

How a calendar chatbot works

  1. Connect the feed. Most school calendars can publish a Google Calendar or iCal (.ics) address. You give that address to the chatbot once.
  2. The chatbot reads it every day. When your office moves a date, the next read picks it up. Nobody has to tell the chatbot.
  3. A family asks in plain words. "When is the next day off?" works. So does "Is there school the day after Thanksgiving?"
  4. The answer shows the event. It includes the date, the time, and a link back to your calendar.
  5. The family saves it. An "add to calendar" button puts the event in their own phone calendar.

Where to find your calendar feed

  • Google Calendar: in the calendar's settings, find "Integrate calendar". Use the public address in iCal format. The calendar must be public.
  • Your website platform's calendar: many platforms offer a "subscribe" or "iCal" link next to the calendar. That link is the feed.
  • Not sure? Ask your web vendor for "the iCal feed for our public calendar".

Many schools have more than one calendar: one for the whole school, one for athletics, one for each division. Connect each one families use.

Calendar questions School Compass answers

  • Days off, breaks and holidays.
  • Early dismissals and late starts.
  • Conferences, back-to-school nights and open houses.
  • Concerts, plays and other events.
  • Game times and places, from EventLink athletics schedules.

Each answer includes "add to calendar" buttons. School Compass also answers from your website pages, PDFs, lunch menus and newsletters, so one chat covers most family questions. Read how to add a chatbot to your school website.

Ask our demo a date question

Try "When is winter break?" or "Is there school on Friday?" with Brightwater Academy, our made-up demo school.

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