Communication with parents

[Anonymous]

Really, PPs?? One email is sent and you’re ready to go to the top of the ladder?? Geez!

OP, there are heavy spam filters that MCPS uses. Or the counselor could have missed it. Or they are part time. Or they were home sick a few days You can either try sending it again and if that doesn’t work try calling.

Just wait until MS or HS where even the administrators don’t respond and to multiple emails and if you call, they tell you to send an email. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really, PPs?? One email is sent and you’re ready to go to the top of the ladder?? Geez!

OP, there are heavy spam filters that MCPS uses. Or the counselor could have missed it. Or they are part time. Or they were home sick a few days You can either try sending it again and if that doesn’t work try calling.

Just wait until MS or HS where even the administrators don’t respond and to multiple emails and if you call, they tell you to send an email. .

Exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really, PPs?? One email is sent and you’re ready to go to the top of the ladder?? Geez!

OP, there are heavy spam filters that MCPS uses. Or the counselor could have missed it. Or they are part time. Or they were home sick a few days You can either try sending it again and if that doesn’t work try calling.

Just wait until MS or HS where even the administrators don’t respond and to multiple emails and if you call, they tell you to send an email. .

Um like that's what they tell parents to do, so what's the "geez" for? If the staff hasnt responded in a week after two emails, you are supposed to include their department head or the school's assistant principal. -DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some will not will respond at all. Normal is 2-3 days.

That's where you know mcps has crap admins. If you work any other job and decide not to respond to emails, you can kids your ass goodbye but it's 50/50 any given teacher will decide to respond to your email.. especially middle and high school level.

Let's think this through. Suppose MCPS fires teachers who don't reply to email. Then what?

Also, why are you taking one random liar as evidence thet admin sucks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some will not will respond at all. Normal is 2-3 days.

That's where you know mcps has crap admins. If you work any other job and decide not to respond to emails, you can kids your ass goodbye but it's 50/50 any given teacher will decide to respond to your email.. especially middle and high school level.

High school teacher here.

I have less than an hour a day to plan, grade, eat lunch, attend meetings, answer emails, call parents, go to the bathroom, update data, etc. I have 140 students and I’m inundated with emails all day long. Yes, they pile up until I get a chance to breathe and then answer them. That usually happens between 10-12pm every night.

Yes, I respond to emails within 48 hours. But let’s not pretend it’s laziness on the part of the teachers. We are doing the work of 2-3 people with limited time and resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some will not will respond at all. Normal is 2-3 days.

That's where you know mcps has crap admins. If you work any other job and decide not to respond to emails, you can kids your ass goodbye but it's 50/50 any given teacher will decide to respond to your email.. especially middle and high school level.

High school teacher here.

I have less than an hour a day to plan, grade, eat lunch, attend meetings, answer emails, call parents, go to the bathroom, update data, etc. I have 140 students and I’m inundated with emails all day long. Yes, they pile up until I get a chance to breathe and then answer them. That usually happens between 10-12pm every night.

Yes, I respond to emails within 48 hours. But let’s not pretend it’s laziness on the part of the teachers. We are doing the work of 2-3 people with limited time and resources.

I am also a teacher who is inundated with emails. Honestly, it is low on my list of priorities. There are some emails that I ignore. For instance, 'my child said they turned in an assignment (two hours ago), why does it say that is still missing'. Parents can ignore my emails, so I feel like I might as well do the same. Something has to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some will not will respond at all. Normal is 2-3 days.

That's where you know mcps has crap admins. If you work any other job and decide not to respond to emails, you can kids your ass goodbye but it's 50/50 any given teacher will decide to respond to your email.. especially middle and high school level.

High school teacher here.

I have less than an hour a day to plan, grade, eat lunch, attend meetings, answer emails, call parents, go to the bathroom, update data, etc. I have 140 students and I’m inundated with emails all day long. Yes, they pile up until I get a chance to breathe and then answer them. That usually happens between 10-12pm every night.

Yes, I respond to emails within 48 hours. But let’s not pretend it’s laziness on the part of the teachers. We are doing the work of 2-3 people with limited time and resources.

48 hours is reasonable and the point is you DO answer them when you can. Some teachers NEVER answer them from the kids or parents, even when they tell the kids to email. If its not an emergency a few days or even a week is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some will not will respond at all. Normal is 2-3 days.

That's where you know mcps has crap admins. If you work any other job and decide not to respond to emails, you can kids your ass goodbye but it's 50/50 any given teacher will decide to respond to your email.. especially middle and high school level.

High school teacher here.

I have less than an hour a day to plan, grade, eat lunch, attend meetings, answer emails, call parents, go to the bathroom, update data, etc. I have 140 students and I’m inundated with emails all day long. Yes, they pile up until I get a chance to breathe and then answer them. That usually happens between 10-12pm every night.

Yes, I respond to emails within 48 hours. But let’s not pretend it’s laziness on the part of the teachers. We are doing the work of 2-3 people with limited time and resources.

I am also a teacher who is inundated with emails. Honestly, it is low on my list of priorities. There are some emails that I ignore. For instance, 'my child said they turned in an assignment (two hours ago), why does it say that is still missing'. Parents can ignore my emails, so I feel like I might as well do the same. Something has to go.

A lot of assignments don't show up as turned in and some of us are trying to make sure our kids do the assignments and turn them in as they wouldn't if we didn't hold them accountable. If you set it to show it was submitted and graded within a reasonable time frame. Or even sent out a bulk email to parents if the assignment wasn't done that would help. Or, a email saying what the assignments are this week, especially the paper ones with a pdf of the assignment as kids lie. I've never ignored a teacher's email and if they have a concern about my kid it is handled at home promptly, behavior addressed, consequences and an apology to the teacher (which you probably don't get if you don't read emails).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really, PPs?? One email is sent and you’re ready to go to the top of the ladder?? Geez!

OP, there are heavy spam filters that MCPS uses. Or the counselor could have missed it. Or they are part time. Or they were home sick a few days You can either try sending it again and if that doesn’t work try calling.

Just wait until MS or HS where even the administrators don’t respond and to multiple emails and if you call, they tell you to send an email. .

The admin are the worst. Or, the principal did email me and told me he didn't care when I was concerned about something HE did when I signed the form saying NO. The school staff have no accountability so they do what they want even if it hurts the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some will not will respond at all. Normal is 2-3 days.

That's where you know mcps has crap admins. If you work any other job and decide not to respond to emails, you can kids your ass goodbye but it's 50/50 any given teacher will decide to respond to your email.. especially middle and high school level.

High school teacher here.

I have less than an hour a day to plan, grade, eat lunch, attend meetings, answer emails, call parents, go to the bathroom, update data, etc. I have 140 students and I’m inundated with emails all day long. Yes, they pile up until I get a chance to breathe and then answer them. That usually happens between 10-12pm every night.

Yes, I respond to emails within 48 hours. But let’s not pretend it’s laziness on the part of the teachers. We are doing the work of 2-3 people with limited time and resources.

I am also a teacher who is inundated with emails. Honestly, it is low on my list of priorities. There are some emails that I ignore. For instance, 'my child said they turned in an assignment (two hours ago), why does it say that is still missing'. Parents can ignore my emails, so I feel like I might as well do the same. Something has to go.

A lot of assignments don't show up as turned in and some of us are trying to make sure our kids do the assignments and turn them in as they wouldn't if we didn't hold them accountable. If you set it to show it was submitted and graded within a reasonable time frame. Or even sent out a bulk email to parents if the assignment wasn't done that would help. Or, a email saying what the assignments are this week, especially the paper ones with a pdf of the assignment as kids lie. I've never ignored a teacher's email and if they have a concern about my kid it is handled at home promptly, behavior addressed, consequences and an apology to the teacher (which you probably don't get if you don't read emails).

DP. I love these suggestions. As a parent of a high-needs kid with executive functioning struggles, I’d love to know when assignments aren’t submitted. As it is, I usually find out 2 weeks later when the zero is put in the gradebook.

But I’m also a teacher. I know that my DS’s teacher is spending her day trying to stay upright, slammed with 100 different demands for her time and energy. I know her first true break is at the end of the school day, when she can take stock of the many, many things she needs to do at home to get ready for the chaos of the next day.

A teacher/mom wrote me a couple of years ago about her DD’s grade in my class. She started by acknowledging my workload and saying she didn’t need a reply. She then shared her concern, and ended with a “thank you for taking a look at this when you get the chance!” I felt a great sense of gratitude because she gave me just one task (fixing an error in my gradebook) instead of two (the gradebook and an email). I was able to get it done quicker, too.

This is now how I write every email to my own kids’ teachers. I suspect they feel the same relief that a reply isn’t necessary. When you get 50+ emails a day and no time to respond, it makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Usually you get emails toward the end of the semester saying basically - what can my misbehaved, phone addicted, truant kid do to inflate his grade to an A after a semester of neglecting their studies bc their angel needs to get college scholarships etc. Then they start he said she said crap to get the overworked teacher in trouble and ousted as some sort of helicopter pta leverage to make our job even harder and many times we don't even know about this passive aggressive corruption before our admin are retaliating against us for not being willy nilly with rules and grade inflation to get the entitled kids and parents off their back- until we are getting put through the ringer then fired and no renewed because the admin have no spine to protect us, rules, fair practices, and overall integrity of our profession and institution.