Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?

I think you missed the part where the assignment still shows as missing, the student has tried to handle this, and it's still not handled. At some point, yes, it still is appropriate for parents to step in. My parents (very rarely) did 20 years ago. Even when my siblings and I were in high school.

+1. I also completely disagree that parents shouldn't be stepping in. Either the assignment is turned in (great) or it's not--in which case parents need to ensure it gets done because it sure as heck doesn't seem like the teacher is helping since she can't even answer the child's emails.

This is MS (7th Grade to be exact) and the start(ish) of the year so some leeway for parents who are trying to help the child get on task should be granted. Schooling happens both at home and at school. It's not just a school thing and in this situation, the parent is trying to make sure their kid is doing the tasks assigned

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Catering to parent emails" when the parent is trying to help the child get the work done should not be seen as a burden. They're literally trying to help you teach their kid. It's not like the parent was complaining about random stuff.

Can you point to where it is seen as a “burden”?

I am one of the teachers who posted above. I never implied that parent emails are burdens. I did say that they compete with over 65 hours of other obligations, so it’s not unreasonable to assume a few may get missed. And these aren’t 65 easy hours, either. I often get to glance at my computer once an hour, and it’s during the 5 minutes 32 students are leaving my room and another 30 are entering. I glance at emails while 3 students ask to go to the bathroom, 1 student claims to have lost a phone, and 4-5 have random questions. (And I usually have to visit the bathroom, but I lost the chance while taking care of 10 students’ needs and glancing at my emails piling up.)

That’s not a “burden”. It’s merely an illustration of the day. Teaching is not like other professions in which you may get 30 minutes to yourself to dedicate to tasks.

Well when a parent emails on three different occasions on the same topic, I find it hard to believe this hard working, diligent teacher missed it. I work 65+hrs too (mostly away from a computer) and I don't miss emails.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?

I think you missed the part where the assignment still shows as missing, the student has tried to handle this, and it's still not handled. At some point, yes, it still is appropriate for parents to step in. My parents (very rarely) did 20 years ago. Even when my siblings and I were in high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Catering to parent emails" when the parent is trying to help the child get the work done should not be seen as a burden. They're literally trying to help you teach their kid. It's not like the parent was complaining about random stuff.

Can you point to where it is seen as a “burden”?

I am one of the teachers who posted above. I never implied that parent emails are burdens. I did say that they compete with over 65 hours of other obligations, so it’s not unreasonable to assume a few may get missed. And these aren’t 65 easy hours, either. I often get to glance at my computer once an hour, and it’s during the 5 minutes 32 students are leaving my room and another 30 are entering. I glance at emails while 3 students ask to go to the bathroom, 1 student claims to have lost a phone, and 4-5 have random questions. (And I usually have to visit the bathroom, but I lost the chance while taking care of 10 students’ needs and glancing at my emails piling up.)

That’s not a “burden”. It’s merely an illustration of the day. Teaching is not like other professions in which you may get 30 minutes to yourself to dedicate to tasks.

Anonymous wrote:"Catering to parent emails" when the parent is trying to help the child get the work done should not be seen as a burden. They're literally trying to help you teach their kid. It's not like the parent was complaining about random stuff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?

I think you missed the part where the assignment still shows as missing, the student has tried to handle this, and it's still not handled. At some point, yes, it still is appropriate for parents to step in. My parents (very rarely) did 20 years ago. Even when my siblings and I were in high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?

Exactly. Catering to this parent email would literally just result in dozens and dozens more similar emails over the year. That's hours of work for just one kid, and it would literally have no benefit to the kid at all. It's not unprofessional to refuse to teach a parent that this kind of email can be a good investment of time...and of course teacher can't be frank about this because they'd be called unprofessional.

I really wish principals would take the lead in proactively communicating with parents about what a time and morale suck email is in the modern classroom. I've been in the classroom, then the corporate world, and then the classroom again, and it's clear that most people don't "get it" in the slightest. They think, "I answer emails like this at work all the time? Why can't the teacher just do this one small thing?"

But the teacher is not at her desk looking at email all day. If she's busy working with kids all day and checks emails after dismissal, and 65 emails are waiting for her, half of which are "little things" like this, when is there time to plan tomorrow's lessons? Grade papers? Finish those spreadsheets for the team meeting tomorrow? Do the paperwork for the IEP meeting? Finish the online training that was due two weeks ago? Write her self evaluation for her meeting with her supervisor next week?

The contract day is already over. Her one planning block today was taken up with IEP meetings. How many hours do you really expect her to work tonight in order to be "professional" and answer every single email in 24 hours? Honestly? What would satisfy your expectations?

Because I've been that teacher and I spent 4-6 hours after contract every single day and still was in therapy because I felt like a failure. I was a great teacher but it was impossible. And then I left teaching and made a LOT more money and had WAY, way less stress. So as a parent now, I've got a whole different perspective.

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the recourse against teachers that don't reply?

You their job is to teach, not to email parents, right? This is why teachers are quitting in droves.

The shortage is going to get so much worse after this year....parents and gatehouse keep burying their heads in the sand. It's not good I know two teachers who said they will be gone after winter break. I'm sure they are not the only two.

They won’t be.

I spent 45 minutes after school today responding to emails. I then came home with about 3 hours of grading to do. I’ll spend 4 hours after work today simply catching up on today’s work.

I’ll repeat this tomorrow, and then whatever I can’t get done during 5 days of 10-12 hour days will get done this weekend.

OP, sometimes I can’t respond to all the emails I get. I have 150 students, and by the end of the day I may have 30 emails that need detailed, crafted responses. I also have to plan for my next day, grade papers, and visit the bathroom for the first time in 5 hours.

My intention is ALWAYS to do the right thing, but this job pulls me in too many directions simultaneously. Right now, it’s pulling me to the exit door.

You probably should head for the exit. Maybe you don't need the money or know you can find a better job somewhere else. And that's fine. Teaching isn't for everyone and if you find that the only way to manage the work is by clocking in for 60 hours of work a week every week then it probably isn't for you.

I’ve been at this 20 years.

Please explain to me, since you know my job better than I do, how I can do the following in 4.5 planning hours a WEEK:
1. Constructively comment on 280 papers, mostly multi-paragraph responses
2. Respond to approximately 75 emails
3. Plan 10 1-hour long presentations
4. Update all records (grading, attendance, discipline, etc)
5. Attend 2 1-hour meetings
6. Eat lunch and attend to personal needs
I’m eagerly waiting to hear how to do this in under 5 hours. Please tell me!

OP, to get this back on track:

Just email the teacher and CC the assistant principal. That will likely work.

I agree with everything you say except escalating to the AP. It is literally IMPOSSIBLE for a secondary teacher to do all that with even double the amount of planning, and specially if it is English as the field. This is why I'm not a HS English teacher anymore. I worked 20-30 hours beyond contract each week. And was never done.

It is NOT uprofessional for a teacher to prioritize other tasks over non-urgent emails. They are not a 24 hour customer service organization. They're just not, through they are treated worse. I respect my child's teachers as professionals and certainly would expect a quick response to something non-urgent like this. If it was absolutely imperative that I get an answer...like actually more important than the lessons I knew he teacher had to plan and other urgent issues I know come up, I would email again and say something like, "I know you are likely swamped so I am just plumping this back up in your inbox. If you had a chance to check on the status of the assignment I would be grateful, as my child's weekend plans hinge on completion of this task. I'm sorry to create more work for you but just need to confirm that Xander doesn't owe you anything else."

You have an impossible workload. I don't judge.

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the recourse against teachers that don't reply?

You their job is to teach, not to email parents, right? This is why teachers are quitting in droves.

The shortage is going to get so much worse after this year....parents and gatehouse keep burying their heads in the sand. It's not good I know two teachers who said they will be gone after winter break. I'm sure they are not the only two.

They won’t be.

I spent 45 minutes after school today responding to emails. I then came home with about 3 hours of grading to do. I’ll spend 4 hours after work today simply catching up on today’s work.

I’ll repeat this tomorrow, and then whatever I can’t get done during 5 days of 10-12 hour days will get done this weekend.

OP, sometimes I can’t respond to all the emails I get. I have 150 students, and by the end of the day I may have 30 emails that need detailed, crafted responses. I also have to plan for my next day, grade papers, and visit the bathroom for the first time in 5 hours.

My intention is ALWAYS to do the right thing, but this job pulls me in too many directions simultaneously. Right now, it’s pulling me to the exit door.

You probably should head for the exit. Maybe you don't need the money or know you can find a better job somewhere else. And that's fine. Teaching isn't for everyone and if you find that the only way to manage the work is by clocking in for 60 hours of work a week every week then it probably isn't for you.

I’ve been at this 20 years.

Please explain to me, since you know my job better than I do, how I can do the following in 4.5 planning hours a WEEK:
1. Constructively comment on 280 papers, mostly multi-paragraph responses
2. Respond to approximately 75 emails
3. Plan 10 1-hour long presentations
4. Update all records (grading, attendance, discipline, etc)
5. Attend 2 1-hour meetings
6. Eat lunch and attend to personal needs
I’m eagerly waiting to hear how to do this in under 5 hours. Please tell me!

OP, to get this back on track:

Just email the teacher and CC the assistant principal. That will likely work.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here and this is unprofessional. I always email back within 24 work hours even if it's to say that I will need more time to fully answer all questions.

Anonymous wrote:The reasons why the teacher is not responding is because you as the parent shouldn't be emailing the teacher about this issue. No way your parent ever sent in a note to the teacher saying,

"I want to make sure my daughter turned in the right assignment. Can you write me a note back telling me she turned in the correct assignment? I know you already spoke to her and she submitted it but I just really wanted to make sure."

Please call your parents and ask them. They are going to be completely puzzled why you would contact the teacher.

You wrote, "My student has emailed teacher twice about a missing assignment (2 weeks ago). Teacher didn't reply. Student talked to her in class and then submitted the work."
Your student sees her teacher all the time. The teacher should not have to go out of his or her way to email a student back who is missing an assignment. The student should be staying after class, going before school, at lunch, etc. to inquire.

So your student finally understood this and went to speak to the teacher in person AND then submitted the work.

So the issue has been solved. Why do you think the teacher needs to use her valuable time to send you a special email?

Under the no good deed goes unpunished category is teachers responding to nonsense emails. Instead of quickly responding and then never hearing from the parent, teachers who respond to ridiculous emails like this are then bombarded with MORE emails from the parent.

The best tactic is now not to respond to emails that are just pestering teachers over something your child should be doing. So go ahead and CC the principal and superintendent. Do you really think there are qualified teachers lined up waiting to teach middle school?