This one is quite baffling to me - our daughter's high school just sent an email to all parents and students, basically instructing everyone that emails should only be sent to staff members during work hours (8.20-4.20pm Monday to Friday). At first, I thought they meant that staff are only expected to respond to emails during work hours which is a fair and reasonable request. But no, they literally say "if you email a staff member, please ensure you schedule send it, so they receive it during work hours."
I remember last year when my daughter sent an email request for assistance to her maths teacher over the weekend, she was received a stern reply in the email to the same effect as above. That time I gave the teacher the benefit of the doubt (maybe she was having a bad weekend or whatever) but it looks like this is their policy.
I am all for work life balance, nor do I expect teachers or staff to be working outside of hours. But working in corporate where people work in different time zones, or basically fire off emails from their phones at all hours, or those night owls that squeeze in an hour of work at night so they can leave an hour early for school pickups etc. - the usual expectation is that email is an "offline" medium and the recipients are free to respond during their usual working hours. It would be ludicrous to inform my customers and suppliers to please schedule emails so I receive them during MY working hours.
Anyway, just wanted everyone's thoughts… has the world gone mad?
Edit: has anyone seen this kind of policy in other schools or unis?
I've pasted the communication below.
Communication guidelines for parents
Dear Parents/Guardians,We value open communication between our staff and families within our School community.
The demands on schools are ever increasing and it can be difficult at times to put in place work boundaries. We have developed communication guidelines for our school community in an attempt to find ways to support staff wellbeing and sustainable work practices. We are seeking your support with the following guidelines:
If you email a staff member, please ensure you schedule send it, so they receive it during work hours (8:20 - 4:20 pm Monday - Friday). Staff may choose to respond to your emails outside of their work hours, but you should not expect them to do so.
A response within 2 working days (if a staff member is not absent) is the expected time frame. Staff members will activate an ‘Out of Office’ message if they are absent from work, so that you are aware their response may be delayed and it will direct you to where you can seek assistance for urgent matters.We have also communicated this to students.
A copy of these guidelines will be on the parent portal for future reference.
Thank you for your assistance with this.
Kind Regards,
xxx xxxxx
Acting Principal.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to change schools? Certainly in Sydney, public schools only accept enrolments from a particular geographic area with almost no exceptions made anymore.