School, when you take the time to write a letter (parents, appropriate)

[Sum1Else]

Do you expect the courtesy of a response? Written, telephone, or face-to-face?

For example, I requested my twins to be in the same 3rd grade class*. I wrote the letter the end of the school year and physically handed it to the principal. The letter included my e-mail, physical address and phone number.


Would you expect a reply?





* - We can debate the separating multiples/siblings in school in a different post if you like.

[crazyma]

IMO If you wrote it and the end of last school year, and don't know the answer yet, maybe you ought to stop by the school in person. And ask if they will be in the same class.

[Sum1Else]

I called the school and asked. The principal said she 'thinks' she put them in the same class.

Honestly, I want to know if anyone expects to receive a response when they contact the school for something - especially if you take the time to write.

[I love the Bears]

It is annoying - I have 4 children and I love their teachers and the district as a whole - but I always make sure I put on the bottom of the letter - please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss.......
and then if they ignore that I stalk them(jk) until they get back to me

[jkcoop]

Well, I've never written an actual letter. It was always email communications and I always got responses.

Most likely what happened is that the decision of where kids were placed was only recently made and being that it was a couple of months ago your wrote the letter, and now things are getting busy getting ready for the new school year, it didn't cross her mind. Not that it's okay, but just a possibility.

I would call back to the school and speak to one of the office staff who might be able to give you a better answer. Although if they are inundated with parents requesting where their kids be put or wanting to know where their kids were put, they might not take the time to look it up.

[hypocore]

Knowing how the school district here handles class placement, no I would not have expected a response on a letter of request.

Different schools do it different ways. For instance, I was just talking to my oldest, who teaches 4th grade, and they did registration this week and have a beginning and tentative class list. However it's changing daily.

They start with knowing they will have two sets of two classes, meaning that each student has two teachers-one morning and one afternoon and there are 4 teachers total.

Then since one teacher is the preferred GT certified one that they will place all the GT kids in there to start with, so that is one factor of placement that affects a large amount of spaces.

There is also a teachers child who will need to be in the other class set than their mom's, so there goes one placement.

Next, there is a child being held back and they want him in the same class set as he was in last year, so there's another spot.

Also, there are two kids with special needs that would be better placed in one class set over the other, so two more.

And so it goes.

After all those things are taken care of, come the parent requests along with the remaining students, unless the request meets one of the issues above. Those placements will be made based on last year's teacher's input and who the current year's teachers are and their strengths along with what the parent has requested.

If it works out that there are the appropriate openings and the previous teachers think it will be good for the student and the admin thinks that teacher will be a good match for that student, then the request will be accomodated.

So, the bottom line is that in her school they won't know which class the student will be in for sure until right before school starts. When they post the lists, or make it public in some other manner, that's when I would expect to have a response.

Oh, and as a side note, they require any requests to be in written form and with a valid reason regarding the education of their child for the request, not because they like a particular teacher better, etc.

[cdc3217]

I would not expect a reply to a letter of that nature. In their minds it is how they formally document a request, and their "reply" is the action they take.

Actually, I might only expct a reply if they were going to decline your request.

[121804]

Originally Posted by cdc3217

I would not expect a reply to a letter of that nature. In their minds it is how they formally document a request, and their "reply" is the action they take.

Actually, I might only expct a reply if they were going to decline your request.

Pretty much it.

In the district I taught in, class placement was 2 weeks prior (the 1st day teachers reported back) to the beginning of the year & switches happened throughout that week due to many different reasons and are much more complicated than one would think.

I know that in our handbook the principal wrote that while a parent can "request" a child be placed with a certain teacher or siblings, it would be considered but not guaranteed.

A principal has about 1,000+ plates in the air & about a gizillion parents asking for everything plus admin down their back plus teachers who need a few seconds to talk....it's a tough position.

If so concerned, I would call the office & see about making a sit down appt with the principal to see what can be done, if anything.

Please be aware that there may be a policy in effect for the school your children attend & that if that policy is changed for you, it has to be changed for everyone. Have you called the B of E to see if siblings are allowed to be in the same class?

[121804]

Originally Posted by Sum1Else

I called the school and asked. The principal said she 'thinks' she put them in the same class.

Honestly, I want to know if anyone expects to receive a response when they contact the school for something - especially if you take the time to write.

Depends on the nature of the request.

If your child is being beaten up in the bathroom or punched on the school bus, of course, & immediately.

If your child was offered drugs or saw kids drinking alcohol in the cafetria (happened in my school which was a middle school),of course & immediately.

If your child had a teacher do something inappropriate, of course & immediately.

For basic classroom placement, no.

If there is a serious mental/emotional/physical reason why your children need to be together, than you need to be much more proactive, etc than just a letter & phone call.

[Sum1Else]

Yes, they can be in the same class in this district. They were in the same class before we moved mid-year last year.

I've called the office. I have also offered help getting ready for back to school as a parent volunteer (certified by district).

School starts on 8/18. The postcards will be sent out the week of 8/12. Not a lot of time if you have to try to get something changed.