Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How do you communicate with teachers/school staff?

Are they contracted to work there til a certain time? Do you tell the teacher ahead of time or send in a note saying you will be stopping by? The few times that I've done this I feel like they are rushed and I'm keeping them from getting to wherever they need to be. Plus there are random meetings scheduled, or they are on bus duty that day, or something else.
For drop off, parents can't enter the school building unless they sign into the office, show ID, get a name tag, etc (big hassle). And then there is the issue of a bunch of kids being right there and the teacher attending to them while you are trying to talk.

The teachers hand out these calendar books every year that they have to write their HW in, and the teacher and Parent write notes back and forth

We have those "planners" but there is no room to write more than a few words. Plus I don't think the third grade teacher ever looks at it. DS's first grade teacher does that ridiculous color chart system so we have to initial that we saw their color in the book (half the time there is no color, I don't initial, and then his teacher circles the spot where I was supposed to initial!). DS's teacher is pretty good about replying to emails, at least within a few days, although usually it's just a one sentence reply and it comes across as blunt or dismissive (even though that's probably not the intention).

I always communicate in the way that the particular staff prefers, which has varied from teacher to teacher. Sometimes they prefer phone calls or notes in the planner (signed or initialed by both parent and teacher daily). Thank goodness, most of the them nowadays prefer email. The only exception is when I wish to leave a paper trail, in which case I used email, going so far as to highlight phone conversations in the guise of thanking them.

I generally get a response within a day, but only if I make it clear that I expect a response. Of course, sometimes they can't respond that fast because what I am requesting may take a week to execute. There are many times when a response is not necessary as I am sharing something or thanking them; in that situation, I do prefer not to have my email box inundated by inane responses.

Good point about the paper trail. The advocate I talked to suggested email as much as possible so that I have documentation of conversations.

One thing I don't like about email is that teachers seem to forward it on to whoever they feel like forwarding it to without asking or telling me. So what might be meant as private information for them could end up circulated all over the school (or district). Every time I send a message to DS's IEP manager (the SLP for the school) she forwards it to about 5 other people and doesn't even tell me when she's doing this or who is getting the message. Some of the teachers have done this as well. Some of my emails contain personal information about my children that is not meant to be circulated that way.

Meh-- I use the phone for conversations where I think that the other party is likely to be more forthcoming without the paper trail.

Doesn't bother me because I'm a master at the letter of understanding (that is, the e-mail follow up on the phone call that is superficially a "thank you" but actually documents the parts of the conversation that need to go on the record).

Many times teachers are well aware that their e-mails are NOT PRIVATE. And they aren't. So they may be willing to identify problems verbally that they won't put into writing.

What about the other way around? Teachers forwarding on emails that parents have sent? The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am getting at the fact that my emails with personal info about my kids keep getting forwarded. A week or two ago I called the person in charge of the gifted/talented program. She never called back. So I decided to send an email in hopes of actually getting a reply. In the email was very detailed info about both of my kids, including info about test scores and their disabilities. She responded saying "I'm including X, Y, and Z in this discussion" (high level admin people). So my email was forwarded to at least 3 other people in the district, and I had no say in it. It was at least nice of her to tell me she was forwarding it and who she was forwarding it to, because normally that doesn't happen with DS's IEP manager. I know she is forwarding my messages, but I'm never quite sure to whom or which messages are forwarded.

Our charter specifically says they want parents to drop off/pick up their children in order for them to be accessible to the teachers and vice-versa.

Recently, my husband and I had a question about the class procedures and requested (by phone message) a convenient time for DS' teacher to meet with us. She asked us to come to the school fifteen minutes before class.

We came with DS and while he got ready for his day (sharpening his pencil, etc.,) we talked with his teacher. It was comfortable for us.
But if we had had a larger issue to discuss, perhaps right before the beginning of class wouldn't have been optimum. We would have requested more time at her convenience.

But this is our charter's way of doing things in general, I believe. They really emphasize the parent/teacher connection. The school expects parents to be an active participant in their child's education. (And states so on their website.)

I've dealt with that by being VERY aggressive in 504 meetings about "need to know" and my child's right to medical privacy. They know better than to cross me there.

I've flatly told administrators and attorneys in meetings that if they circulate the information about my child widely, or otherwise paint an identifying target on her back-- they are handing other people the means to kill her-- without necessarily also ensuring that those people understand the gravity of the information they've just been handed, or believe it. I was particularly testy when they were distributing such information to other parents. Bad, bad juu-juu.

So they are mostly afraid of me. Sorry-- that probably doesn't help you.

I basically assume that unless I specify confidentiality, ANYTHING that I put into an e-mail is at least hypothetically going to be circulated.

That's how I've learned to operate, though.

Disclaimer: I am not attorney and this is not legal advice:
Thinking of sharing information under the "need to know" principle brings FERPA to mind. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is discussed online at ed.gov (U.S. Department of Education) and uses the terms "school records", "legitimate educational interest" and "school official" which are to be defined by the educational institution. There is language about information obtained from others not being protected (this may apply to e-mails from parents?). FERPA also discusses access to student records, requesting to amend student records, not requiring student records, and allowing the destruction of student records.

Being open records, anyone may request public school e-mails. Some institutions may redact the name of a minor, some may redact all personally identifying information. FERPA may be one of several laws/codes/policies to consider.

That being said, information posted on a public forum may also be widely read, e-mailed, and otherwise circulated.