Is it normal to have no acknowledgement of emails in Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Here are the 2 emails sent with no response
1. Email sent to Principal/Registrar about withdrawing one child from Public school to move him to private - no reply/response - nothing. Not a word !!! They have deleted the student accounts etc. though so we know they have received our email.
2. Email sent to class teacher about collecting the school supplies from the class - not a word back from the teacher again

The first one, it seems like they did what you asked them to do. The person who received your email probably forwarded it to the person in charge of removing the child from their system, and a person got it done. It’s a really busy time, remember, a public school is a huge monster compared to a private school. So the first week or so they’re trying to be as efficient as possible. No need to respond. For the second, how long have you been waiting for the teacher to respond? Today is only the second day of school. Honestly, most of my children’s teachers are extremely fast at responding. My daughter had one older teacher who just didn’t do emails very well. She rarely responded, but she was my daughter’s favorite teacher. I figured out, by speaking with other parents whose children had had her, that the best thing was to send a written note with your child. She would send written notes right back with my child. She was just an older lady who was a fantastic teacher, but just not great with technology. Give the teacher a chance. I would wait a day or so and maybe gently ask again.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Is there an FCPS policy against responding to withdrawal? When I withdrew my son after my family being at a school for six years, we also didn’t hear a peep. Not ever. Not even a message saying we’ve processed your request. It was very difficult to obtain records- they just didn’t respond until I had contacted Gatehouse.

There is more wrong with FCPS than lousy customer service and responsiveness. We kept waiting for things to get better after everyone said the school was so great. I hope that things do improve but I’m not willing to risk my kids education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's kind of funny that OP has two kids who previously attended private school (at least $40K for the two per year), and is sending her kids back to private school (another bill for $40K this year)... and yet, she expects to get $80 of school supplies back.

Stop jumping on her - she wrote above did not want them back.

She says that now, but a few minutes earlier, she admitted that she sent two emails and one was specifically addressed to the teacher(s) in order to GET THE SUPPLIES BACK.

I quote:

Op here. Here are the 2 emails sent with no response
1. Email sent to Principal/Registrar about withdrawing one child from Public school to move him to private - no reply/response - nothing. Not a word !!! They have deleted the student accounts etc. though so we know they have received our email.
2. Email sent to class teacher about collecting the school supplies from the class - not a word back from the teacher again

Her question though was " Is it normal to have no acknowledgement of emails in Public Schools". Am sure she is not crying over $80 of supplies when her kids are in private. Its the lack of response that she is questioning

DP. I don't expect email responses from teachers during the school day. I do expect to receive a response within a day or two, and usually I do.

Sure, you should absolutely expect to receive a response within a day or two from your child's teacher. But this isn't the kid's teacher.
And the teacher in question is probably really annoyed at the family right now anyway. She spent the last few weeks getting the class together based on the numbers and class list she was given, including OPs kids. So the pretty hand drawn locker name tags, and the thought out desk setup to make sure that each desk set has the same boy/girl ratio, and the packets of intro paper with the kids names pre-printed, and the well organized school supplies... it's all slightly off now. Not a big deal. The teacher will quickly and easily adjust, I'm sure. But there was definitely time and money spent to get the classroom ready for OP's kids, that would have been better spent elsewhere. So the teacher is now focusing on her actual students. As it should be.

[Anonymous]

That sounds about on-par with my FCPS experience. We pulled one out after winter break and did online homeschooling for the rest of the year as the privates we looked at didn't have any slots available. This was due to nonstop bullying by just one child on mine with non-receptive parents whose only question/excuse each time it happened was "well, what was your kid going to cause it b/c they had to be doing something?"

Then both enrolled into private school the next year and finished out their elementary school years in private school. We then moved to Loudoun after oldest finished 5th grade and that one enrolled in LCPS without any issues. Kept the younger in private for their last year and then moved them to LCPS for middle school as well. LCPS is much more responsive than FCPS, that's for sure. Emails to teachers are always acknowledged with a quick "I will respond to this during my planning period/later this evening." if it's something they can't quickly answer. Admin at the schools they attended were both very quick to respond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's kind of funny that OP has two kids who previously attended private school (at least $40K for the two per year), and is sending her kids back to private school (another bill for $40K this year)... and yet, she expects to get $80 of school supplies back.

Stop jumping on her - she wrote above did not want them back.

She says that now, but a few minutes earlier, she admitted that she sent two emails and one was specifically addressed to the teacher(s) in order to GET THE SUPPLIES BACK.

I quote:

Op here. Here are the 2 emails sent with no response
1. Email sent to Principal/Registrar about withdrawing one child from Public school to move him to private - no reply/response - nothing. Not a word !!! They have deleted the student accounts etc. though so we know they have received our email.
2. Email sent to class teacher about collecting the school supplies from the class - not a word back from the teacher again

Her question though was " Is it normal to have no acknowledgement of emails in Public Schools". Am sure she is not crying over $80 of supplies when her kids are in private. Its the lack of response that she is questioning

DP. I don't expect email responses from teachers during the school day. I do expect to receive a response within a day or two, and usually I do.

Sure, you should absolutely expect to receive a response within a day or two from your child's teacher. But this isn't the kid's teacher.
And the teacher in question is probably really annoyed at the family right now anyway. She spent the last few weeks getting the class together based on the numbers and class list she was given, including OPs kids. So the pretty hand drawn locker name tags, and the thought out desk setup to make sure that each desk set has the same boy/girl ratio, and the packets of intro paper with the kids names pre-printed, and the well organized school supplies... it's all slightly off now. Not a big deal. The teacher will quickly and easily adjust, I'm sure. But there was definitely time and money spent to get the classroom ready for OP's kids, that would have been better spent elsewhere. So the teacher is now focusing on her actual students. As it should be.

OP here - sorry to bust you bubble but there was nothing of this in the class except a Name card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what you've learned about yourself, OP: you value feeling seen, heard, acknowledged, and remembered as much as you value the quality of your child's education. You will be better-served by paying for a smaller school system and student body.

However, it might also be worth taking to heart that it didn't even occur to you that there could be an occasion when acknowledging you, when you're doing just fine, might be a disservice to others who need resources more than you. This will come up again sometime when you are involved with a large organization of some kind. Work on thinking the best of people, and projecting outward, instead or wondering why they don't seem to care enough to make you feel good.

OP here. Thank you - to say it again, it was not about making us feel good. We were just looking for a simple "Thanks for letting us know" kind of acknowledgement from the registrar/principal/someone - nothing else. We understand now the differences in the public and private school system are a LOT, in every sense. Not to imply in any sense one is better than the other - but we were just used to one and expected the same from the other.

DP. But why? You could already see for yourself that they'd done what you asked, it's not like you were left in the dark. The insistence on also getting an email back is about your ego, not practical need.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is messed up. When DC Left it 2 years back we got weekly emails from his class teacher all through the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what you've learned about yourself, OP: you value feeling seen, heard, acknowledged, and remembered as much as you value the quality of your child's education. You will be better-served by paying for a smaller school system and student body.

However, it might also be worth taking to heart that it didn't even occur to you that there could be an occasion when acknowledging you, when you're doing just fine, might be a disservice to others who need resources more than you. This will come up again sometime when you are involved with a large organization of some kind. Work on thinking the best of people, and projecting outward, instead or wondering why they don't seem to care enough to make you feel good.

OP here. Thank you - to say it again, it was not about making us feel good. We were just looking for a simple "Thanks for letting us know" kind of acknowledgement from the registrar/principal/someone - nothing else. We understand now the differences in the public and private school system are a LOT, in every sense. Not to imply in any sense one is better than the other - but we were just used to one and expected the same from the other.[i][u]

But why in the world would you expect the same thing from a small private school for which you are paying tens of thousands of dollars as you would from a large school that is free? A large part of what you are paying for is acknowledgement and hand holding. That is something you value, and that's fine if you have the money to spend to ensure you get that.
But expecting the experiences to be the same is like expecting the cashier at Target to give you the same service as the stylist at Nordstrom. It's just not going to happen, and it's a little unusual to expect that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is messed up. When DC Left it 2 years back we got weekly emails from his class teacher all through the school year.

Totally off topic, but why in the world is a weekly class email "messed up"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is messed up. When DC Left it 2 years back we got weekly emails from his class teacher all through the school year.

That's just lousy IT. They didn't do a good job of updating the class email list. Not a ding on the teacher or school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what you've learned about yourself, OP: you value feeling seen, heard, acknowledged, and remembered as much as you value the quality of your child's education. You will be better-served by paying for a smaller school system and student body.

However, it might also be worth taking to heart that it didn't even occur to you that there could be an occasion when acknowledging you, when you're doing just fine, might be a disservice to others who need resources more than you. This will come up again sometime when you are involved with a large organization of some kind. Work on thinking the best of people, and projecting outward, instead or wondering why they don't seem to care enough to make you feel good.

OP here. Thank you - to say it again, it was not about making us feel good. We were just looking for a simple "Thanks for letting us know" kind of acknowledgement from the registrar/principal/someone - nothing else. We understand now the differences in the public and private school system are a LOT, in every sense. Not to imply in any sense one is better than the other - but we were just used to one and expected the same from the other.[i][u]

But why in the world would you expect the same thing from a small private school for which you are paying tens of thousands of dollars as you would from a large school that is free? A large part of what you are paying for is acknowledgement and hand holding. That is something you value, and that's fine if you have the money to spend to ensure you get that.
But expecting the experiences to be the same is like expecting the cashier at Target to give you the same service as the stylist at Nordstrom. It's just not going to happen, and it's a little unusual to expect that.

New poster here. Well, to be fair to OP, we *do* always hear how wonderful, how vaunted, how absolutely terrific the Fairfax County public school system is. But now everyone is saying, "Whoa, settle down now! It's so big! There are so many kids! They're so busy! Lower your expectations!" So, which is it?? (?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what you've learned about yourself, OP: you value feeling seen, heard, acknowledged, and remembered as much as you value the quality of your child's education. You will be better-served by paying for a smaller school system and student body.

However, it might also be worth taking to heart that it didn't even occur to you that there could be an occasion when acknowledging you, when you're doing just fine, might be a disservice to others who need resources more than you. This will come up again sometime when you are involved with a large organization of some kind. Work on thinking the best of people, and projecting outward, instead or wondering why they don't seem to care enough to make you feel good.

OP here. Thank you - to say it again, it was not about making us feel good. We were just looking for a simple "Thanks for letting us know" kind of acknowledgement from the registrar/principal/someone - nothing else. We understand now the differences in the public and private school system are a LOT, in every sense. Not to imply in any sense one is better than the other - but we were just used to one and expected the same from the other.[i][u]

But why in the world would you expect the same thing from a small private school for which you are paying tens of thousands of dollars as you would from a large school that is free? A large part of what you are paying for is acknowledgement and hand holding. That is something you value, and that's fine if you have the money to spend to ensure you get that.
But expecting the experiences to be the same is like expecting the cashier at Target to give you the same service as the stylist at Nordstrom. It's just not going to happen, and it's a little unusual to expect that.

New poster here. Well, to be fair to OP, we *do* always hear how wonderful, how vaunted, how absolutely terrific the Fairfax County public school system is. But now everyone is saying, "Whoa, settle down now! It's so big! There are so many kids! They're so busy! Lower your expectations!" So, which is it?? (?)

It ain't private school.

We have been satisfied with our FCPS ES, we see no reason to switch to private. But we don't get any hand-holding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what you've learned about yourself, OP: you value feeling seen, heard, acknowledged, and remembered as much as you value the quality of your child's education. You will be better-served by paying for a smaller school system and student body.

However, it might also be worth taking to heart that it didn't even occur to you that there could be an occasion when acknowledging you, when you're doing just fine, might be a disservice to others who need resources more than you. This will come up again sometime when you are involved with a large organization of some kind. Work on thinking the best of people, and projecting outward, instead or wondering why they don't seem to care enough to make you feel good.

OP here. Thank you - to say it again, it was not about making us feel good. We were just looking for a simple "Thanks for letting us know" kind of acknowledgement from the registrar/principal/someone - nothing else. We understand now the differences in the public and private school system are a LOT, in every sense. Not to imply in any sense one is better than the other - but we were just used to one and expected the same from the other.[i][u]

But why in the world would you expect the same thing from a small private school for which you are paying tens of thousands of dollars as you would from a large school that is free? A large part of what you are paying for is acknowledgement and hand holding. That is something you value, and that's fine if you have the money to spend to ensure you get that.
But expecting the experiences to be the same is like expecting the cashier at Target to give you the same service as the stylist at Nordstrom. It's just not going to happen, and it's a little unusual to expect that.

New poster here. Well, to be fair to OP, we *do* always hear how wonderful, how vaunted, how absolutely terrific the Fairfax County public school system is. But now everyone is saying, "Whoa, settle down now! It's so big! There are so many kids! They're so busy! Lower your expectations!" So, which is it?? (?)

It is a great school district over all.

Expecting a gold plated response immediately after you email the school over your decision to pull your kid after one day of school is completely unrealistic and has nothing to do with the quality of the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is messed up. When DC Left it 2 years back we got weekly emails from his class teacher all through the school year.

Totally off topic, but why in the world is a weekly class email "messed up"?

Because the child had left the school and continued receiving the emails for the complete school year

[Anonymous]

New poster here. Well, to be fair to OP, we *do* always hear how wonderful, how vaunted, how absolutely terrific the Fairfax County public school system is. But now everyone is saying, "Whoa, settle down now! It's so big! There are so many kids! They're so busy! Lower your expectations!" So, which is it?? (?)