I am a principal and I will tell you that in any given day I
may have 75-100 emails to answer. First priority is anything
sent by a central office administrator (let's be honest - I
like my job and want to keep it). Secondly I answer parents.
Some of those emails require full investigations.
At the same time, I am having students delivered to me who
fought on the playground or were defiant to their teachers -
those require investigations and consequences to be assigned.
I have to talk to all involved.
Next I have teachers with major concerns and those with minor
ones. I try to address the majors first which means I don't
always get to the minors.
In the middle of that I am handling recess issues,
transportation issues, building issues, complaints
from "neighbors" to the school, Board members (I stop
everything when they visit), teacher evaluations, IEP
meetings...the list goes on and on
If I had a teacher who was upset or offended that I didn't
answer an email, I would probably just tell them that I am
sorry and to please feel free to bug me. Have you tried
talking to your supervisor?
There are some emails I don't answer because: 1. I have
already answered the question in a previous email.
2. I have had so many emails on the same topic from the same
person that I figure that it would be much easier to have a
conversation.
3. My answer is complex and I figure that it would be much
easier to have a conversation.
4. I don't trust you and think you might forward my email
without permission.
5. It just annoys me (I'm being real here)...for example if a
teacher points out a problem with the schedule I have tried to
fix for 7 days straight and I put out an email with the
words "final schedule" and then they email me with a schedule
concern which is more about their own personal preference and
is not really a problem, I do sometimes just ignore it.
Are your emails about something your principal already
discussed with you? Do you already know the answer or can you
find out from someone else?
Try to think outside the box. I would be concerned about a
teacher who took things personally that weren't personal like
not returning an email.
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