How do you address elementary school teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever you call them doesn't matter to me as long as you don't act too familiar. I really dislike the school environment, when a parent befriends their kid's teacher. Keep it professional.

+1… I find it very bizarre when I find social media photos of parents and teachers hanging out together outside of school hours. If it’s an event or fundraiser that’s one thing.. but at someone’s private home?

A lot of the teachers at my child's school live in the community. I'm not going to NOT socialize with a neighbor just because they teach at my kid's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I received an email today from my son’s teacher addressed to My First Name. He signed it Mr. Last Name. I’m old enough to be teacher’s mother. I did reply back Mr. Last Name and signed it with My First Name, but was totally annoyed. If you’re going to call me by my first name, then sign your first name. Otherwise, I’m Mrs Last Name and you’re Mr. Last Name.

When my kid's first grade teacher did that, I signed the return email Mrs. Lastname.

[Anonymous]

I always use Ms. Lastname. When I was a teacher (high school in my case, so all the parents were older than me), they always called me Ms. Lastname, which I appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First name, I’m an adult talking to another adult. My kids say “Mr/Mrs” unless the teacher requests otherwise.

No. We aren’t friends. I’m not your employee. When parents call me by my first name I make sure to let them know I go by Ms. Lastname. I am a professional speaking to you as a professional, not your teenage babysitter. And I don’t call parents by their first names either.

When you’ve finished medical school or law school, I’ll call you by your title. Otherwise I’ll call you by your name and you can call me by mine. I don’t call my boss Mr Smith, he’s just John. And he’s just as professional as you are.

You have a relationship with him. You can insist upon it if you want but a) you look like a jackass with no manners or social skills and b) I will remind you each time I’m not Jane to you, I’m Ms LastName.

I’m curious- how do you address parents?

[Anonymous]

I'd much rather the school didn't hire a neighborhood mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Always Mr/Ms unless they sign emails with their first name.

+1

I use their last name until they use their first name. Then I use their first name (to them -- I always refer to them as Mr/Ms when speaking to my kid). And actually, I use their last name when referring to them with someone else (another parent at the school, my spouse, etc.) because then it's totally clear who they are. ("Is your son in Ms. Smith's class?" "I got a note from Mr. Jones that we need to send in more pencils.")

Yes, this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First name, I’m an adult talking to another adult. My kids say “Mr/Mrs” unless the teacher requests otherwise.

No. We aren’t friends. I’m not your employee. When parents call me by my first name I make sure to let them know I go by Ms. Lastname. I am a professional speaking to you as a professional, not your teenage babysitter. And I don’t call parents by their first names either.

When you’ve finished medical school or law school, I’ll call you by your title. Otherwise I’ll call you by your name and you can call me by mine. I don’t call my boss Mr Smith, he’s just John. And he’s just as professional as you are.

You have a relationship with him. You can insist upon it if you want but a) you look like a jackass with no manners or social skills and b) I will remind you each time I’m not Jane to you, I’m Ms LastName.

Nobody is insisting upon anything. If someone said they strongly prefer to be called Mrs Smith, that’s one thing (I’ll call you whatever you want), but you’re implying that by default we should be calling a teacher “Mrs” and that’s a bit ridiculous. Also, I have a relationship with my kids teachers. Most parents in the school do, we aren’t just strangers popping by for a yearly conference.

[Anonymous]

Ms/Mr. Last Name.

[Anonymous]

If I am speaking to my child I say "Mrs. ___". If I am speaking directly to the teacher (and out of earshot of my child) I will say "Barbara"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I am speaking to my child I say "Mrs. ___". If I am speaking directly to the teacher (and out of earshot of my child) I will say "Barbara"

+1

I think this is normal.

[Anonymous]

We get regular emails from our daughter's kindergarten teacher. She signs them with her first name. When she's addressing the kids she refers to herself as Ms. Firstname. So if I'm talking to her in front of my kid I use Ms. Firstname. If it's an email reply from me I'll just use her first name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First name, I’m an adult talking to another adult. My kids say “Mr/Mrs” unless the teacher requests otherwise.

No. We aren’t friends. I’m not your employee. When parents call me by my first name I make sure to let them know I go by Ms. Lastname. I am a professional speaking to you as a professional, not your teenage babysitter. And I don’t call parents by their first names either.

When you’ve finished medical school or law school, I’ll call you by your title. Otherwise I’ll call you by your name and you can call me by mine. I don’t call my boss Mr Smith, he’s just John. And he’s just as professional as you are.

You have a relationship with him. You can insist upon it if you want but a) you look like a jackass with no manners or social skills and b) I will remind you each time I’m not Jane to you, I’m Ms LastName.

I’m curious- how do you address parents?

My first post that is quoted states that I refer to parents as Ms/Mr/Dr Lastname as well. We are not friends!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First name, I’m an adult talking to another adult. My kids say “Mr/Mrs” unless the teacher requests otherwise.

No. We aren’t friends. I’m not your employee. When parents call me by my first name I make sure to let them know I go by Ms. Lastname. I am a professional speaking to you as a professional, not your teenage babysitter. And I don’t call parents by their first names either.

When you’ve finished medical school or law school, I’ll call you by your title. Otherwise I’ll call you by your name and you can call me by mine. I don’t call my boss Mr Smith, he’s just John. And he’s just as professional as you are.

You have a relationship with him. You can insist upon it if you want but a) you look like a jackass with no manners or social skills and b) I will remind you each time I’m not Jane to you, I’m Ms LastName.

Nobody is insisting upon anything. If someone said they strongly prefer to be called Mrs Smith, that’s one thing (I’ll call you whatever you want), but you’re implying that by default we should be calling a teacher “Mrs” and that’s a bit ridiculous. Also, I have a relationship with my kids teachers. Most parents in the school do, we aren’t just strangers popping by for a yearly conference.

You just said you won’t use people’s title unless they’ve graduated from medical school. That’s not up to you. Call people what they indicate to you they want you to call them. No way you’d email the principal or superintendent or school board and be like “Hey Ted.” So show the same respect to teachers.

[Anonymous]

I always call my kids’ teachers Mr/Ms Lastname. It’s how I talk to my kids about them so it’s how I think of them. I’m horrible with names, so I am not sure I can always come up with the right first name on the spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First name, I’m an adult talking to another adult. My kids say “Mr/Mrs” unless the teacher requests otherwise.

No. We aren’t friends. I’m not your employee. When parents call me by my first name I make sure to let them know I go by Ms. Lastname. I am a professional speaking to you as a professional, not your teenage babysitter. And I don’t call parents by their first names either.

When you’ve finished medical school or law school, I’ll call you by your title. Otherwise I’ll call you by your name and you can call me by mine. I don’t call my boss Mr Smith, he’s just John. And he’s just as professional as you are.

You have a relationship with him. You can insist upon it if you want but a) you look like a jackass with no manners or social skills and b) I will remind you each time I’m not Jane to you, I’m Ms LastName.

Nobody is insisting upon anything. If someone said they strongly prefer to be called Mrs Smith, that’s one thing (I’ll call you whatever you want), but you’re implying that by default we should be calling a teacher “Mrs” and that’s a bit ridiculous. Also, I have a relationship with my kids teachers. Most parents in the school do, we aren’t just strangers popping by for a yearly conference.

You just said you won’t use people’s title unless they’ve graduated from medical school. That’s not up to you. Call people what they indicate to you they want you to call them. No way you’d email the principal or superintendent or school board and be like “Hey Ted.” So show the same respect to teachers.

How do you address parents? Or service providers like mid-level medical providers or speech/occupational/physical therapists?