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.
