Emails from Kindergarten Teachers - How Long for Response?

Did you ask any specific questions or have any concerns that need a reply? If not, she likely took you email as a "cyber hello" and left it at that.

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she's probably INCREDIBLY busy, and a no-reason-but-hello email is probably at the rock bottom of her list of priorities.
khairete
S.

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Did you ask her something that needed a response? Maybe she just thought you were introducing yourself and that was that.

You might also ask other parents if she even checks email.

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I would not expect a personal response at this point of the year. I would expect a letter from her to all parents introducing herself and telling you something about the class and what to expect. I would also expect a Back To School Night at the end of a month to meet the teacher and see the classroom.

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Unless you asked a question that requires a response, I don't know that a kindergarten teacher at this time of year would take the time to write you back. She might have gotten your email and figured it was just a hello/intro and you didn't need a response. If you have a specific need that you want her to address, send another email. If not, then as long as your son says things are going well, you can relax and plan to meet her in a few weeks whenever you can take a few hours off.

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Here's what your child's teacher is doing. She's working with the kids during the day, and using all her time scrounging supplies, spending her own money, dealing with huge problems, doing lesson plans, reading over everyone's IEPs, memorizing the list of kids with severe life-threatening allergies, working with the nurse to figure out how to manage the children with ulcerative colitis and bipolar disorder, keepings lists and sending emails to all the parents who have not yet provided a change of clothes for kids who have "accidents", learning the children's names, figuring out which kids were sent to school a year too soon and are just miserable crying or so socially inept that they cannot sit in a circle with the other kids, and responding to parents who are parked at the door to make sure she knows that little Jimmy doesn't like cupcakes so if it's someone's birthday can she please call them so they can bring an alternative snack. That's what a colleague of mine deals with every year. You want your child's teacher to spend 5-10 minutes answering your email? Multiply that times 22 kids and tell me again if she has time.

Your child's teacher is probably delighted that you sent an email that required no response and was just an introduction. You told her you knew she was busy and didn't have time to respond.

If you're hearing nothing, be thrilled! Your child is doing well. You will meet the teacher on parents' night. I know it's hard but you have to put some faith in the school system and get used to the idea that the teachers are there to educate and nurture the kids, and they just don't have time (and are certainly not being paid) to send reassuring emails, no matter how much they would like to if there were 100 hours in the week and the school system had enough money to make the classes more manageable in size to allow for these niceties.

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Our district encourages us to touch base with parents within 24 hours after initial contact. I'm not always that on top of it, bc I have kids all day and receive sometimes over 50 emails / day. When just one can take 20-30min to compose, it's not always do-able. Follow up with a phone call if the need is pressing.

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I agree with Diane B. If you don't hear from the teacher it means your child is fine. If there are issues with your child you will hear from her. You will meet the teacher at parent teacher conferences. I would rather the teachers are at this point are concentrating on the children and not the parents.

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I would not expect an answer to an introduction email.
It's not about an issue or a problem or even passing on any information.
It's essentially just chit chat.
You might want to send her a note saying you want to test your Spam/junk blocker, please respond (and make sure her emails are not getting bounced).
First 2 weeks there is a TON of paperwork for each teacher to deal with, forms back and forth from office to teacher to child/parent for filling out and back again.
I think once she has all the parent emails collected and grouped, a general class news letter distributed to all would be her most efficient mode of communication up until there are specific student issues to be dealt with.

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As a teacher, and no offense to you here, but usually when we get emails and phone calls from the parents before shool starts or before back to school night we tend to think they are needy parents who are going to be a pain in our side the entire year. We think it's annoying. Hold off and talk to her on back to school night. Back to school night is where parents introduce themselves to the teachers and the teachers tell parents how they run things and what to expect. Remember this is not a one on one meeting, so don't monopolize her time, there are 20-30 other parents there too! After back to school night, email her only if you need something from her. And coming shortly will be parent teacher conference, and you'll have 15 minutes of her undivided attention, make sure to not miss it.

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Maybe she's not an email person. My son's kinder and 1st grade teachers would respond the same day. Maybe she's planning on sending out a mass email to all parents this weekend or early next week.

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I would think she might not even check her email if she's not one to communicate that way.

One of the kids teachers doesn't even do a page on the school site. All the other teachers have pictures of their families, their pets, their favorite sites for the kids to go to when they get on the internet, what the homework is, etc.... If I sent that teacher an email I would never expect a response.

I think that this is hard. I know I would want to at least meet this teacher. Perhaps now that it's all settled down you can call the school and ask they have her give you a call, tell them it will take about 15 minutes so she can plan on doing it when she's not in a rush. That way you can ask how he's doing and introduce yourself.

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Well, I think in your case, you made a lot of very gracious overtures which suggested that you could go without a reply. ("i acknowledged she is probably super busy right now, and i knew it would probably be hard for her to respond.") If I had an email like this from someone and also had lots of email to look at, I would have forgotten about it pretty quickly to be honest.

Add to this that she's got a lot on her plate right at the moment, and may have family demands at home. She is likely still catching her breath from last week...it sounds pretty intense.

I think *how* we communicate says a lot about how important the exchange is to us. For example, if I want an answer to something relatively soon, I will call people rather than emailing. If it were me in this situation, I'd call to set up a time after school to meet up with the teacher, the way Gamma G suggested. I can completely understand wanting to meet your son's teacher. Good luck!

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My son's kindergarten teacher has been teaching for 20 years, and she does not use her email. It was assigned to her by the school, because everyone was assigned an email account at some point. She told us a couple of times during the year that she was thinking of asking a parent volunteer to input the email addresses for her so that she could do email, but it never happened.

I just mention this because there really are some teachers out there that are still email virgins.

Does your son have a half-day coming up? Could you possibly stop by during your lunch hour just to say hi?

By the way, our son's kindergarten teacher was amazing! She just communicated in more "old fashion" ways.

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I'm sure she appreciated your introduction, but since there wasn't really a question or request or concern she probably didn't feel the need to respond. You'll get a chance to say hello face to face at the back to school night (I hope they have one!) and at the first parent teacher conference, usually around Thanksgiving.
And the way they handle setting up the classes sounds kind of crazy. At our school the teachers meet parents and students individually in the spring, so by the time classes start names are on cubbies and hooks, student charts and lists are printed and posted, portfolios and files are set up, and teachers are well prepped for any "problem" kids they may need to deal with, they've had the whole summer to prepare. Your son's poor teacher must be scrambling to get all of this done the first week of school, in addition to getting to know her kids. That's a LOT of work!

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What was your question to the teacher is there a reason for her to reply back to you?If your wanting to meet her then call the school and ask for a time you can meet her and introduce yourself that way.I personally wouldn't of sent an email introducing myself I would of just went to the school when you knew they had a teacher on the third and walk my child in and introduce yourselves.Then after that do check ups via emails or send a note in his folder to school.Yes being busy has a role in her no reply back give it a few more days i'm sure her inbox is loaded.If your child seems no to be adjusting then I would not send an email but go in at the earliest time to meet with the teacher and ask how things are going.The time limit is very short since they are preparing for the students to come in.

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For an introduction like that, I would've picked up the phone to introduce myself.

Some teachers are old school & don't like to email. DD's Kinder teacher from last year was older & didn't sent one email the whole year. She was good about phone calls, though.

Also, as previous posters have mentioned, she may have read it but thought a reply wasn't necessary right away. She might have a plan to call or email all of the parents. It's a new year, give it some time. If you don't hear from her, give her a call. Emails are pretty impersonal, anyway.

ETA - that is the weirdest Kindergarten set up I have heard of. I probably wouldn't have gone with a school that operated like that, but that's me.

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He is fine. Has he complained or were you addressing a particular concerns? If not, maybe she won't respond to you. If everyone emailed her and she responded, she would be responding to emails for 3 and a half hours, by your calculation.

I don't know how to put this lightly, but if you pose things in the manner that she must respond to all your emails timely, she will cringe at thought of your questions. It is better for everyone including your son to have a good relationship and trust that he is in good hands.

I had a child that was in school when there wasn't any email and we just had to rely on a note being sent home if there was a problem. Now I have a child in school with email and I can see how this could really tie the teacher up with a full inbox.

Give it some time and before you know it, you will be sitting in front of her at a P/T conference.

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Our teachers only respond to an email that asks a specific question.

"Did you give homework this week? My son says you didn't and that seems out of character. Please advise me, thank you."

"Is my son adjusting well to kindergarten? Have you had any issues with him that I could help with at home?"

You get the idea...I try and keep emails short and sweet...unless I have to write more...my son is going to be out of school for two to three weeks he has mono...that one required a longer email.

Our teachers do not have phones in their rooms and it is hard for them to get voice mail during the day...if you email them they will get right back to you. Sometimes during the day, usually by the next morning at the latest.

You should have an open house in a few weeks where you go and meet the teacher and see the school. Good luck!!

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Their system is so odd! The incoming Kindergarteners here spend a day at the school in the spring of the previous year, and meet the teacher night is the week before school begins.

Not all the teachers at my kid's school use email, even though they all have an address. Some don't even check it.

If you didn't ask a question in your email, a reply isn't necessary. If you did ask a question and don't hear back, send a paper note, or introduce yourself after school one day if you're able.

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If you asked a question I would expect a fairly quick reply (24 hours). But if you just said "Hello! Wanted to introduce myself!" you may never hear from her. This time of year is CRAZY for teachers! Maybe if you're more specific at the end of your email (saying something like "Looking forward to hearing from you...") you'll get a response. That's what I do. And sometimes I actually write "No need to respond, I know you're busy!"

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She probably has more than 20 e-mails... to go through.

If a person does not ask a "question," then, you probably will not get a response. Teachers, are busy. They have to, downsize who/what they actually respond to. It they, responded to EVERY single e-mail, whether or not it was a question or just an introduction or just an FYI... they would be on the computer, ALL day, just to do responses, to their e-mails.

Whenever I e-mail my kids' teachers, for whatever reason... I do NOT expect a response back... UNLESS I have actually SPECIFIED, that I do... want a response back. ie: "Hi Mrs. Smith, my son 'Johnny' is home sick today with a fever. Please let me know, what time I can pick up his homework today. Morning or afternoon? I will await your response or you may call me on my cell phone. Thank you, Susan"
That is an EXACT e-mail, I had to send my sons' Teacher this past week. And you know what? I DID get an e-mail response back from my son's Teacher, right away. AND she also called me to ask what time I could come by.

Then another time, I e-mailed my daughter's Teacher. It was just... to let her know, that I DID get a form which was sent home. But, due to certain things, I could not return it to her this week. So I would do so, next Monday. BUT, I told the Teacher, that if this was a problem to let me know and e-mail me back. To THIS e-mail.... I did NOT get a response back from the Teacher. Why? Because, it was just an FYI. And it was not a problem to the Teacher. She did NOT need to, e-mail me back.

A Teacher, cannot possibly, e-mail back, every single person or parent, that e-mails them.
If they did, they would be on the computer ALL day, during class time, and ALL night, once they are back at home off hours.

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Will your school be having a back to school night? This is where we parents actually met the teacher without our children.. They went over the expectations, what the children would be learning, how best to contact the teacher.. etc..

When you really do need to speak with a teacher, call and leave a message for them to call you back, explain who your child is and what the call is about.

IF email is the way to communicate at your child's schools (thank goodness, we are a high tech city and all of the public school staff and teacher use email) .. in the subject line, child's name and what ir is you need in 3 words. is the best way.

Elementary school here starts at 7:40 am. the teachers arrive at 7:00. After school they have meetings, training etc. and are on campus at least until 4:00.. many times even longer. Can you imagine the teachers that have their own children?

So keep this in mind. They want to know the parents, to be able to visit, etc.. But they are professionals in a career, that has lots of paperwork.. so their time is very valuable.

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I have been teaching for 16 years. The beginning of the school year is very demanding. From reading your post, I can't tell if you actually asked the teacher any questions in your email. If you didn't ask her any questions, you may not get a response.
You should check with the office and ask about the school's policy regarding teachers responding to emails. Most schools will have a set protocol for teachers to follow.
I hope the school year goes smoothly!

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While it would have been polite, and expected in my mind, that she introduce herself to you via email as you did, she may have thought because there was no question involved she didn't need to reply to you.

I have always responses back from my kiddos teacher either that morning (if I emailed before school started), that afternoon during her break (if I got it in before her break), or after school.

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I agree with some of the others. Since your email didn't ask a question or require a response, she probably just took it for what it was and doesn't plan to respond. Personally, I would have responded "thanks looking forward to meeting your son!" And maybe she meant to but got caught up in other emails that had questions or time sensitive stuff.

You also pretty much gave her permission NOT to respond when you said your whole "I know how busy you are this time of year" thing.

I'm a counselor and I get a lot of emails at the beginning of the year, plus the ones that came in over summer when I wasn't working. I could easily bypass a not pressing one and never get back to responding to it this time of year.

I'm sure she read it though :)

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My daughter started last Monday. I emailed her teacher Wednesday morning and received a reply Thursday night. Which, honestly, I was starting to wonder by then if I had put the wrong address or something.

This is my first in school, but I do know my friends ans family with children tend to get an answer same day or next. I do think you should have heard back by now. If you don't get a response by tomorrow, I would just call.

Also, we have daily folders and her teacher suggested putting a note in it as a quick way to communicate.

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That's a very weird way to do kindergarten. Here they are treated like all of the other kids and go right to their classrooms. The whole grade does so many things together that it really doesn't matter which teacher your child gets, they will really have all of them. I would expect a response within 48 hours and either call or email again. Our school pushes email and I prefer to have it (especially if there is a problem) so I know what happened and have it written down.

I would try to take a little more time off and go in with him tomorrow if possible.

So odd that they do that...

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Response should not be longer than 48hrs. This also depends on the system that was set up between parents and teacher. If your teacher established an e-mail routine with parents, what did she promise as a response time? At my daughter's school, when e-mail was implemented, something called edline, the teachers all addressed the new system on parent/teacher night and they advised us that there would be a response no later than 48 hrs. If you were not advised, speak to the teacher, or perhaps the principal even, and ask what is the usual wait for a response.

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Did you clearly ask a question that required an answer? If not, I wouldn't expect an answer at all. It's also possible that the email went astray somehow. If you haven't heard from her in a week, I'd email agaim, asking if she received your previous email.

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Our teachers tell us 24-48 hours. But I would expect it more quickly on an introduction, as I think the teacher would understand your nervousness (with a kindergartener) and would also want to make a good first impression on you. If you're talking last Tuesday and here it is Sunday, yeah, I'd be frustrated. I might send a kind follow-up asking to respond because you're wondering if you have her email right.

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My sons middle school has said they would reply within 24 hrs.

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Protocol dictates she should respond in a day or two but reality is that it might be a week.

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Look like you rec'd lots of answers. I'd say at least within two days.
If not, email her again.

Her e-mail might not be set up yet or she might not be an e-mailer. Call and leave her a voice mail. Some teachers prefer one mode of contact over another.

Two of my girls had kindergarten teachers that were older and didn't use their e-mail at all. It did take a week or longer for them to remember to check their e-mail, but they would check their voicemail two or three or more times a day. My middle daughter had a young teacher who preferred using her e-mail and would do most of her communicating that way.

I would also call the school office and see if they're planning an orientation night where the parents come in and do a meet and greet of the teachers with the children.

If you didn't ask her a question that requires a response, I doubt that you'll hear from her.

Every teacher, just like every person is different. Since we have no idea who often she checks e-mail, we have no idea how long she might take to respond.