Should I respond to this e-mail?

lovebug33

Report cards were due Friday before end of day into my principal. When I got to work, the program we use to do report cards was down, so I couldn't do them. I got sick and left work early, so I never got them into her because the program didn't come up until 2:30. She just wrote to me saying I am the only teacher who didn't turn them in (duh!!!) and that there will be disciplinary action. Should I e-mail back or just call the union?

*sparky*

Inkogneetoh:

I'd email her back and explain the situation and let her know you'll have them in during your lunch break or whatever the earliest possible time is.  Personally, I would have brought it to her attention BEFORE I left early Friday instead of waiting until they were past due.

I know nothing about teachers unions but I don't see why you need to get them involved? 

ITA with all of this.  You missed a deadline, left work early, and did not give her a heads up.  I would absolutely reply with an apology and don't understand why you would go to the union with this.

aelhunt

It's always best to try to solve it first with an email. If she still wants to move forward with disciplinary action then you can talk to your union rep.

hoping4sticky

I don't understand why you would get the union involved? You missed your deadline. I am assuming that Friday was not the only day that you could enter them? Or maybe that someone else could have entered them for you? One way or the other, you definitely should have let your principal know.

honeybee111

I agree with everyone else.  I'm a teacher, too, and you definitely should have given your principal a heads up before.  Also, my district has a 2 week window to enter report card grades.  Does yours have something similar?  If so, you really need to apologize to your principal and let her know what your plan is to get them in ASAP.  I also don't think this is a union matter.  I'm not sure what a union rep would say in this situation, since I think it was you who didn't come through, and not unfair action on the principal's end.

mben1119

*sparky*:

Inkogneetoh:

I'd email her back and explain the situation and let her know you'll have them in during your lunch break or whatever the earliest possible time is.  Personally, I would have brought it to her attention BEFORE I left early Friday instead of waiting until they were past due.

I know nothing about teachers unions but I don't see why you need to get them involved? 

ITA with all of this.  You missed a deadline, left work early, and did not give her a heads up.  I would absolutely reply with an apology and don't understand why you would go to the union with this.

Ditto all this.

MammaBear81

mabenner1:

*sparky*:

Inkogneetoh:

I'd email her back and explain the situation and let her know you'll have them in during your lunch break or whatever the earliest possible time is.  Personally, I would have brought it to her attention BEFORE I left early Friday instead of waiting until they were past due.

I know nothing about teachers unions but I don't see why you need to get them involved? 

ITA with all of this.  You missed a deadline, left work early, and did not give her a heads up.  I would absolutely reply with an apology and don't understand why you would go to the union with this.

Ditto all this.

Another Ditto- My sisters district she can log in from home at enter report cards (I don't know if it is the same everywhere), but even if she is out of school she is still required to meet the deadline.  If you can't enter them form home, I would have absolutely let the principal know before leaving school that you wouldn't be able to get them in and given her at time that you would be completed by.

AsOctoberFalls

aelhunt:

It's always best to try to solve it first with an email. If she still wants to move forward with disciplinary action then you can talk to your union rep.

Why *shouldn't* she be disciplined?  If this happened in industry, you could bet you would be.

pitterpatter129

I'm a teacher and I think you should not email, but go in and talk to her. I definitely wouldn't be calling the union! I think the unions are different here though. If we called over that, the first thing they would ask is what the principal said when we went in to discuss it and then secondly, they would probably say what I'm about to say next. You are a professional. You knew report cards were due and what day and time. You shouldn't have waited until the last minute to do them. When the program wasn't working, you should have said something to the principal then. What's done is done. You should schedule a meeting, go in and appologize and explain what happened and take whatever punishment is handed down. I'm sure you wouldn't accept the excuse from a student that the computer stopped working and so they couldn't type their paper (for example) when it was due that morning. You would say, you should have prepared better. I would say that to a first grader! "Why did you wait until the last minute? You should have been more responsible." I didn't read the rest of the responses and you might find this an unpopular opinion, but that's my two cents.

highlights

What would you say to a student who had the same issue? They were sick and then their computer didn't work so they couldn't hand in their report the day it was due?

iluvmylab

pitterpatter129:

I'm a teacher and I think you should not email, but go in and talk to her. I definitely wouldn't be calling the union! I think the unions are different here though. If we called over that, the first thing they would ask is what the principal said when we went in to discuss it and then secondly, they would probably say what I'm about to say next. You are a professional. You knew report cards were due and what day and time. You shouldn't have waited until the last minute to do them. When the program wasn't working, you should have said something to the principal then. What's done is done. You should schedule a meeting, go in and appologize and explain what happened and take whatever punishment is handed down. I'm sure you wouldn't accept the excuse from a student that the computer stopped working and so they couldn't type their paper (for example) when it was due that morning. You would say, you should have prepared better. I would say that to a first grader! "Why did you wait until the last minute? You should have been more responsible." I didn't read the rest of the responses and you might find this an unpopular opinion, but that's my two cents.

I agree with this.  I'm a teacher too and if we are going to be out when grades are due, we are required to send an email to our supervisor stating why we will be out and who is going to post our grades if we cannot. 

preggersin2011

Was the system available before Friday at 1430? Assuming you had access to the system before Friday, you failed to plan accordingly and waited until the last minute. When that didn't work out you didn't notify anyone either or figure out a back up plan. I would talk to the principal face to face. Why would you want to involve the union right away when you are in the wrong?

LuluP82

I normally just lurk. But this is exactly why teachers and teachers unions get such bad reputations. You basically blew off a deadline, yet you don't want to take responsibility for it and want the union to back you up? If I blew off a deadline, you can bet my boss would be reprimanding me.

Unless you had some sort of agreement with the principal that you were turning in grades late, you just need to apologize and enter the grades ASAP. If you did, before leaving on Friday, explain you would be late turning in your grades and the principal agreed and is still threatening disciplinary action, you should still first go talk to the principal and remind him/her that you were out and will have the grades entered by X time (whatever you agreed before you left). If you didn't bring it up before you left on Friday, then you're completely in the wrong and I'm actually a bit shocked at the unprofessionalism. 

Luckie519

I also agree with most of the previous posters.  I think you should have given a heads up prior to leaving.  I would apologize and promise to get them in as soon as possible.

I hope this keeps you from getting written up, but I don't think the principal is out of line if she does.

Luckie519

pitterpatter129:

I'm a teacher and I think you should not email, but go in and talk to her. I definitely wouldn't be calling the union! I think the unions are different here though. If we called over that, the first thing they would ask is what the principal said when we went in to discuss it and then secondly, they would probably say what I'm about to say next. You are a professional. You knew report cards were due and what day and time. You shouldn't have waited until the last minute to do them. When the program wasn't working, you should have said something to the principal then. What's done is done. You should schedule a meeting, go in and appologize and explain what happened and take whatever punishment is handed down. I'm sure you wouldn't accept the excuse from a student that the computer stopped working and so they couldn't type their paper (for example) when it was due that morning. You would say, you should have prepared better. I would say that to a first grader! "Why did you wait until the last minute? You should have been more responsible." I didn't read the rest of the responses and you might find this an unpopular opinion, but that's my two cents.

Also, I like this response.  How would you also feel if this was your LO's teachers excuse?

lovebug33

I didn't blow off a deadline. The computer program we are supposed to use didn't work. So, I couldn't do them, got sick, and wasn't at work. We can't use the program at home. So, it's not my fault I couldn't do it. They were actually done, just not printed out. That's why I was going to contact the union because she is threatening disciplinary action about something I couldn't control. Maybe I wasn't clear in the beginning.

ETA: They were done except for the attendance. Missed that part. We can't do attendance until the day they are due because it is attendance. Can't do that early. 

*sparky*

lovebug33:

I didn't blow off a deadline. The computer program we are supposed to use didn't work. So, I couldn't do them, got sick, and wasn't at work. We can't use the program at home. So, it's not my fault I couldn't do it. They were actually done, just not printed out. That's why I was going to contact the union because she is threatening disciplinary action about something I couldn't control. Maybe I wasn't clear in the beginning.

ETA: They were done except for the attendance. Missed that part. We can't do attendance until the day they are due because it is attendance. Can't do that early. 

But you were the only one who missed the deadline, so other teachers figured out how to get them done.  I am not saying that you did not have a valid reason for being late, I just would have given the principal a heads up before you left early that you were not going to get them done.  You could have sent a quick message on Friday.  Regardless, I would not go to the union - I would talk to her about it or email her back that you are sorry you missed the deadline.

KathrynMD

lovebug33:

I didn't blow off a deadline. The computer program we are supposed to use didn't work. So, I couldn't do them, got sick, and wasn't at work. We can't use the program at home. So, it's not my fault I couldn't do it. They were actually done, just not printed out. That's why I was going to contact the union because she is threatening disciplinary action about something I couldn't control. Maybe I wasn't clear in the beginning.

ETA: They were done except for the attendance. Missed that part. We can't do attendance until the day they are due because it is attendance. Can't do that early. 

why wouldn't you have communicated this to your boss before you left on Friday? I understand you were sick and had to go home, but if you were supposed to do something that day and hadn't been able to (for a justifiable reason) you should have discussed it with her before heading out. As a manager, that's what I would expect my employees to do.

MammaBear81

lovebug33:

I didn't blow off a deadline. The computer program we are supposed to use didn't work. So, I couldn't do them, got sick, and wasn't at work. We can't use the program at home. So, it's not my fault I couldn't do it. They were actually done, just not printed out. That's why I was going to contact the union because she is threatening disciplinary action about something I couldn't control. Maybe I wasn't clear in the beginning.

ETA: They were done except for the attendance. Missed that part. We can't do attendance until the day they are due because it is attendance. Can't do that early. 

You didn't communicate with your principal that you would not be able to meet the deadline, hence the disciplinary action.  You can always control communication.

Another solution would be to ask someone to simply enter the attendance and print them out for you.  Not sure if that is an option, but a thought.

lovebug33

I was the only teacher absent, so I assumed she knew that I couldn't do it because of when I went home and the fact that it didn't work. I discussed with her that I was leaving and she was the one communicating the updates on the computer issue with the gradebook. I was going to call the union because in our district the union comes out for investigatory hearings.

honeybee111

Yeah, I don't know about your principal, but mine is EXTREMELY busy and I would not expect him to look at my incomplete report cards and think, "Oh, yeah, I remember Honeybee went home, and the system was down.  That's why the report cards are incomplete."  And there's definitely no way he'd remember without any sort of email update from me about it. So, this is actually going forward to investigatory hearing?  In my district, there's always a chance to fix the situation in house, before taking that step.

Oh, and I think your district needs a new report card system.  So, if you can't enter attendance until the day report cards are due, if they're due Friday, when does everyone input attendance?  During their lunch break?  During class?  Not sure what grade you teach, but is there a prep period?  It just seems kind of last minute to me.  In my district, attendance is entered automatically through the system and it just back-dates it to the end of the quarter which is the week before we complete report cards.

laurakaz13

Wow. I would certainly write up an employee who failed to meet a deadline and wasn't even professional enough to communicate what the issue was with me. 

This is exactly the reason I hope unions are done away with and public school teachers are kept in their jobs based on merit in the near future.  You screwed up, OP.  Own it.  Apologize to your principal and give her an exact time they will be done.  Then DO YOUR JOB!

rockychryslerb2010

I didn't read all the responses, but a deadline is a deadline, I don't care what industry or field you are in.  If I had a deadline at work and couldn't do it, but also got so suddenly sick I needed to leave, I would tell my boss before I left that I still had XYZ to do.  Together we could decide if it was so urgent that someone else had to do it for me, or if it could wait until later to do.  Although, I have never been this ill that I would willingly leave a major milestone incomplete, with no backup plan or coverage to make sure it was completed on time.

BoeingBabies

From your response, it seems you may be a young teacher.  Perhaps you could could learn something from this situation.  First, you need to accept responsibility.  In each of your responses, I'm taking from it that you are looking for people to back you up and understand your side.  That's not happening, so I can feel you are frustrated.  Step back, and look at the situation and take something from what happened and move forward.  Disciplinary action is coming, and you need to start a process to learn from it while moving forward.  Going in with a positive attitude that you understand why she is upset, the steps you have taken to fix it, and how you will move forward in the future is probably your best step now.

 I'm hoping you don't go in with excuses.  I would check those at the door, and go in with responsibility.

iluvmylab

laurakaz13:

Wow. I would certainly write up an employee who failed to meet a deadline and wasn't even professional enough to communicate what the issue was with me. 

This is exactly the reason I hope unions are done away with and public school teachers are kept in their jobs based on merit in the near future.  You screwed up, OP.  Own it.  Apologize to your principal and give her an exact time they will be done.  Then DO YOUR JOB!

Just to clarify- unions are very different in various parts of the country.   I live in a a right to work state.  In Texas, public school teachers are members of what is considered more professional groups.  They are a good source of legal protection and liability insurance.  They do not have any power over contracts, there are no strikes or collective bargaining.  The "unions" in Texas lobby on behalf of public education and provide members with legal protection.  I have used my union twice in 7 years and both times, it was just to ask a question and get an answer from a lawyer.

And sadly, most good teachers will leave the profession after 10 years or so because they aren't financially valued.  The additional pay you get for your experience is seen as just extra money the districts have to spend, at least in my state.  They'd rather hire teachers fresh out of college and pay them less.