The intracacies of school communication...

Communicating with a school community can be like walking a tight rope. We may wobble. We may stumble. We hopefully get to the other side with the satisfaction of a job well done. The way educators approach delicate discussions is probably the single-most important facet of communication. When it is good news, corresponding with parents can be the most satisfying part of a teacher's job -- that proverbial pat on the back, so to speak, can always be a pick-me-up. Yet often parent-teacher conversations have the potential for being complicated, and fraught with emotions on all sides. Will I offend this person? What if they get upset with me? We are not always telling parents exactly what they want to hear. Teachers are sometimes confirming a suspicion that a parent hasn't quite come to terms with.

Teachers at LGA pride themselves on being receptive and open to feedback from parents. But we also hope for the same in return. The faculty does an exceptional job communicating one-on-one with parents. However, we at times have fallen short on getting the message out about what our students are doing in the classrooms on a weekly basis. Over the summer, the administration decided that this was an important topic to tackle with our faculty. During work week, faculty spent an entire session talking about and developing a plan for parent communication. Some plans are creative (e.g., a blog from the kindergarten team). Many plans are traditional by today's standards

(e.g., weekly email journals exploring topics from the week). Teams discussed how and when completed student work should go home. There were a lot of really good conversations happening during that session.

Parents at LGA have a job to do, too, and many of you already do it really well. Keep us informed when something doesn't feel right to you -- contact a teacher or an administrator. Don't let things fester. Be constructive, not just critical. Be concerned, yet optimistic. Be patient, and have realistic expectations.

Most importantly, find the right time to communicate. Arrival and dismissal are usually not the right times. While this may feel like good air time for teachers and administrators, as they aren't teaching, these times are designed for transitioning our students from one situation to the next, and our focus has to be on them. I know this can be confusing, because a faculty member may approach you during one of these times to discuss something they need to connect with you about. Please take their lead at these transition times, and understand that just because they approached you about something at that time, that may not always work.

Our faculty is always happy to meet with you at a time that makes sense. I am struck when I hear a story about a teacher who spent their free evening talking to a parent over the phone, or when I walk around the building at 5 PM and there are parent meetings going on well after teachers are contractually obligated to be here. It’s because of this dedication, on both the parents’ and teachers’ parts, that our school is the special place it is.