Original Question:
The teachers in my district are moving to communicate with parents via e-mail. The
director of
technology is looking for some sort of protocol or guidelines of what teachers
should/should not communicate in an email. Since emailing is really new to us she
doesn't want any teacher to mishandle communication. I told her how wonderful this
group is and that I was sure I'd have something in a
day or two.
Hit:
This site is one of the most comprehensive I have found:
http://www.pearlandisd.org/ngc/email.pdf - Pearland Independent School District
School Personnel to Parent Email Usage Guidelines:
http://www.cfisd.net/dept2/staffdev/online/HealthSafety/personnel_to_parent.htm
Haldane Central School District:
http://www.haldaneschool.org/parentinfo.htm#Philosophy%20of%20E-mail%20Communication
Our administrator does not have guidelines, but did have all employees add a
confidentiality statement to the bottom of their emails this year.
Try to set up a phone conversation ...that way, you KNOW you are communicating with
the parent and the e-mail isn't just being read by the child.
We remind teachers that by law, email is an official form of communication and
copies of emails are to be archived for up to 5 years and can be used in court
cases - in other words, be careful what you send - it is a written document and it
is not guaranteed to be private.
State just the facts, no emotions and no cutesy email lingo. Also, request a
response just to be sure the email has been received.
Notification that a child is having major problems with keeping up in school should
not be solely communicated via email. Our district has always had parents emailing
teachers about their student's progress in class, a particular grade or assignment,
etc. And vice versa with staff letting a parent know an assignment or assignments
have not been turned in. The local high school does a mass emailing out every
Friday with its Friday Focus. No official notifications are ever solely done by
email.
We started doing this, this year. We use a school program called RenWeb. It is
wonderful. The teachers can send individual emails or group emails. The parents
can log in and see the lesson plans for the week and even their child's grades in
real time.
Try to have a colleague read over email communication with parents or
administrators before actually sending it. When you are speaking to someone by
phone or in person, tone of voice and/or facial expression and body language play a
big part in getting your message across. You might be saying something negative
about a child's performance in your class, but if you have a sympathetic or
friendly facial expression, a nice tone of voice, and positive body language, you
are conveying to the parent that you are on his or her side in helping the student.
An email cannot convey those things, so it's important to be careful how you word
things so as not to give an impression of impatience or lack of caring. Another
person reading it can point that out to you before you send it.
I do know that we were advised several years ago to not mention any other child's
name in any communication with the parent due to privacy laws. So, in an email or
a personal conversation you would refer to a classmate as "a student in the class"
or whatever. We were also told not to put any student names in emails to
colleagues, as parents who are having a dispute with the district can subpoena any
communication containing their child's name.
I think adding a line to the student information card is a great idea; it's less
paper to keep track of, you're certain of 100% return and it is an easy way for
parents to opt in or out.
It could read something like: "If you are interested in being able to communicate
with your child's teacher(s) via e-mail regarding grades and other school matters,
please check this box ____ and provide an e-mail address here:
________________________________."
Our school district attorney informed us that a generic confidentiality statement
at the end of an email had little or no value. It is only when special efforts are
made to protect student information that are considered. Students are only referred
to by initials. A second caveat for our staff is that we only send and receive
e-mail about students within our intranet...where the date is better protected. An
inexpensive data sniffer can capture in formation sent via our web-based e-mail,
since it is not encrypted.
Our district (Anchorage School District) requires parents to sign a release form
before teachers will communicate via e-mail regarding grades. Additionally, when we
are discussing a student via e-mail with other teachers/staff for any sensitive
reason (grades, conduct, abuse/neglect, fines owed, etc.), we try not use the
student's name in the e-mail - instead we use his/her student ID# (not a SSN#)
and/or initials.
The reason for a netiquette policy is more than appropriateness. It's also about
space. Every district only has so much bandwidth. Uses of it that are not
directly related to school is a waste of bandwidth and takes up space that could
otherwise be used for professional communication and resources. This would include
any program that is used through the internet such as e-mail, webpages, podcasts,
and using the internet for research.
Obviously the typical email netiquette applies. You can find those "rules"
anywhere online. The comments you received are on the mark--emails are
permanent and may get used when you least expect it. The guidelines for
communicating with parents via any means apply here as well. Look at sites
that give advice: http://content.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=35,
or http://www.wcs.edu/fhs/StaffDevelopment/communicatingwithparents.htm or
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/providerparent/Parent-Provider%20Relationships/CommunicatingSensitively.htm
Karen Manassa-Walstein
Teacher-Librarian
Old Bridge High School - Grade Nine Center
Old Bridge, NJ
mets53@comcast.net
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