Stupid question. What do you call your kids’ teachers / principal / other school employees in emails?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and honestly, I don’t care what you call me. Mrs Smith, Ms Smith, Smith, Anne Smith, Anne. Like who cares, I am going to answer regardless of how you address me.

That's gracious of you, but aren't you privately annoyed by the parents who call you by first name?

[Anonymous]

Clearly I'm in the minority, but somewhere along the line I transitioned to using first name, like I would with any other adult in nearly all professional settings. Teachers hold an authority role over my kids, not me. The kids obviously use Mr/Ms/Mrs, but to me you are Larla Jones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I initiate with Ms/Mrs/Mr but if they respond with Sally or Bob I call them by their first name.

+1 This. I'd add please use "Dr." if appropriate. My kids have a teacher who also holds a PhD in her content area, and they appropriately corrected me when I accidentally referred to her as "Mrs."

Good god this is obnoxious. I would keep using mrs.

I would call them Dr. if they preferred, but yeah…when a PhD insists on being called “Doctor” I assume there’s something off about them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly I'm in the minority, but somewhere along the line I transitioned to using first name, like I would with any other adult in nearly all professional settings. Teachers hold an authority role over my kids, not me. The kids obviously use Mr/Ms/Mrs, but to me you are Larla Jones.

This is a weird attitude to have . It’s not abide teachers having authority. It’s about the fact you’re not a coworker and you’re addressing them in a professional context, not a friendship one.

[Anonymous]

There is also to me the need to maintain that distance because you never want parents to get the idea that they’re special friends with you which could affect how they perceive how you treat their child. I’m warm, we are in this together, but I’m never going to call you Heather, I’m always going to use Ms. Smith and I prefer parents do the same.

This. And especially the part about NOT becoming friends. It was such a negative if teachers seemed to be in a clique with certain parents. What names are used is not so important but certain parents seem to move-in to become special friends when there is less professionalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I initiate with Ms/Mrs/Mr but if they respond with Sally or Bob I call them by their first name.

+1 This. I'd add please use "Dr." if appropriate. My kids have a teacher who also holds a PhD in her content area, and they appropriately corrected me when I accidentally referred to her as "Mrs."

Good god this is obnoxious. I would keep using mrs.

I would call them Dr. if they preferred, but yeah…when a PhD insists on being called “Doctor” I assume there’s something off about them.

What till you meet the admin! An EdD degree is not in the same league as a STEM PhD or MD, but all the EdD admins insist on being called Dr. and no they will not extend the courtesy to parents who are actual doctors, LOL. Like Jill Biden making people call her doctor in contrast to Rand Paul who is an actual medical doctor.

[Anonymous]

I prefer to be called by my first name but don't really care. I call parents by their Mr./Ms unless I know them pretty well (because I forget first names sometimes and don't want to mess up!)

[Anonymous]

I generally use the name they ask the kids to call them. So for some it's Ms/Mr/Mrs. FirstName and others it's Ms/Mr/Mrs. Last. They're just a few who generally are called FirstName by everyone.