Constant Errors in School Principal's Correspondence!

Grammatical errors drive me a little nuts sometimes too, so you're not alone. Maybe you can write to the schoolboard or attend a schoolboard meeting and speak with one of the members. Sadly, he/she will probably never improve but could stand to use a "proof reader" before sending out notices. As long as he/she operates the school in an outstanding way then you'll have nothing to worry about. Just be thankful he/she isn't the language arts instructor.

It is big deal. Principals should be careful on how they write. Making grammatical mistakes is not a good example for our kids. I am not sure she/he will accept your remarks without repercussions on your child. If she/he is open minded may be you can meet with him/her to discuss this issue

I, too, would find the errors annoying, and agree that allowing such such sloppy work sets a poor example about what is expected in the real world.

I rather doubt the principal is typing the correspondence herself...likely it's done by a secretary whose work is not being proofed.

You would be doing the principal a favor by suggesting that she proof the correspondence before it goes out. The spell- and grammar-check tools available with most word-processing programs aren't fool-proof but they can catch most errors.

I can't tell you how many times I've had the same thing come home in my children's foldres. That's a pet peeve of mine - I can't STAND anything coming from an administrator with grammatical errors. I did talk to the principal at my childs school and told her that I would be more than happy to spell check her memo's (only because I knew her very well). I suggest you send an email to the principal and let her know. She probably doesn't even send out the letters - she's signs them and that's it.

NO - you are not overeacting. It's very unprofessional and makes her look the same way. by the way, my kids were in Catholic school and the principal was my 3rd grade teacher. So, it's just not in public schools.

Good luck.

Dear R.,

I would volunteer at the school and get together with the teachers to create a literacy campaign of some sort. Make it fun. Get the principal on board and start teaching everyone the basics in a fun manner. Start perhaps by the teaching students short forms of communication as they might use in short e-mails starting with salutations and ending with proper farewells, complete sentences and correct punctuation. It could be letters to soldiers serving overseas who are home sick no doubt and could use the support. Emphasize the importance of correct spelling for the benefit of good comprehension and for the future(school related papers and credibility in the work place). It is also a sign of respect in many cultures to address people using wellformed thoughts. My 2 youngest daughters sent me e-mails from university during their freshman years and wrote to me in the broken English which is common on-line. With-in a few months of my always writing to them using correct form and punctuation, they were converted and began to respond in the same format. It's a matter of sticking to your standards and helping others to realize that the practice elevates their level of accomplishment as well. Now, my daughters still send me notes which are cryptic when they are in a hurry(as I do when time dictates it), but that is what makes the complete sentences and correct spelling important in term papers and assignments. One would want to convey some amount of thought and review for corrections.

Another thought would be to have then write their legislators asking them to stop building coal fired power plants as soon as possible because we only have a few years to stop polluting our world before the damage is so overwhelming that planet cannot recover no matter what we do. Enough said. Good luck with that and do try to make it fun. I am sure the principal is overwhelmed. I can only imagine the amount of work that job requires. (And please forgive any of my errors also.)
Best wishes,
L. K.
Columbia, MD

R.:

Hello! I don't know where you live or what county you live in. I sympathsize with your problems, we too are having problems with our Elementary school - spelling words from the teacher coming home wrong, grammatical errors on newsletters from the school and general safety concerns for our children.

YES!! HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!!! Your children are our future! Do you want them going through life learning wrong? NO! You don't have to be critical - try humor first, if that doesn't work - tell him/her seriously that you are concerned about your child's education if they can't get things right. No, you aren't expecting them to be perfect, however, if things are computer-generated, spell checks work! STRONGLY suggest it. Keep all of the errors, etc. as proof should you need to escalate this.

We tried talking with the Principal regarding our issues - all she ever wanted to do was "have a meeting to discuss the issues and concerns" but couldn't simply give us an answer to our questions or address our concerns. We have since elevated our concerns to the Superintendant. Spelling words, homework grammatical errors, the whole thing - she made excuses instead of trying to fix it. For me, that's the wrong answer.

Let me know how things work out! You are your child's advocate - no one else can do it but you. Your child deserves the best education possible whether he/she is going to public or private school. Hold teachers and/or administrators to the fire for errors. Set your level of expectations - because your children are learning from you and the staff at their school....if they see things like that they will ASSUME it's right and copy it.

Take care!

I have to say, I totally totally hear you, and it would drive me nuts (my little ones aren't in school yet, but grammar and spelling are a pet peeve of mine, and I would have no tolerance for this sort of thing from a teacher or administrator)! I do think that the woman who said that the principal is probably not writing her own letters and memos is correct, and that actually gives you your "out"; you can "assume" that that's the case, and approach her from that stance, letting her know that you're concerned about these errors that her secretary is making because they reflect poorly on the administrator and on the school. That way, you're giving her the excuse that it's her staff that's the issue, and not that it's her own grammar, spelling and education. This will, in turn (hopefully), allow her to save face and not be defensive.
One gentle note, and that's that you should be aware that by doing this, you are signing up to have your own grammar and spelling scrutinized from here on out, so you're going to want to be careful. There will be no more shooting off quick emails to teachers or administrators; you'll have to make sure that you model the behavior you're looking for. While I still say that a teacher or administrator ~should~ be held to a higher standard even than a parent, you also don't want to shoot yourself in the foot by having errors in your communications with the person from whom you're demanding a higher standard.