General Information: Communication - School to Parent and Parent to School

Communication Between Parents and TES Administration,

Faculty, Staff and Parents’ Association

Guidelines for Communication

Trinity Episcopal School believes strongly that communication among all members of our community is critical in working toward our School’s success. Through consistent and meaningful communication, an atmosphere of trust, openness, respect, honesty and understanding is created, thereby supporting the principles upon which TES was founded.

 

The following are some general guidelines, which, if practiced, will support a strong and positive relationship between families and the faculty/staff of Trinity Episcopal School. They complement the communication guidelines provided to teachers in a similar document – The Trinity Expressway.

 

1. Familiarize yourself with the Recommended Channels of Communication (p. 17), and Parents as Partners (p. 18) guidelines that TES has established for effectively communicating specific issues or concerns.
2. Always speak with the person closest to the situation first. In most cases, this will be the classroom teacher/Koinonia leader or special area teacher; other “first persons” include the Academic Dean, Dean of Student Life, room parents and lower or middle school coordinators.
3. Attend meetings and events. Examples include the Heads Up meeting (October 28), monthly Parents’ Association Leadership Team (PALT) meetings or Parents’ Association meetings (September and April), State of the School Address(January), curriculum nights, Open House nights, education offerings and conferences.
4. Communicate specific or individual concerns. Approach interactions with teachers with a positive intent and respectful attitude. Be clear and specific in describing concerns. Be cooperative when seeking an appropriate solution or plan to address issues and to set a follow-up date if necessary.

Communications Tuesdays

In order to keep you well-informed about the myriad events and happenings at Trinity, we have designated Tuesday as the day on which all TES news is sent home to parents. We have established several communication vehicles to provide consistent information to students and families. Please check your email inbox (Middle School) and/or your child’s backpack (Lower School) for news.

TES Publications

Good News: a weekly e-publication from TES that provides updates regarding calendar, curriculum, extra-curricular events, reminders, etc. Each Tuesday before noon, you will receive an email prompt alerting you to the posting of Good News on our Web site. As this is the one all-encompassing vehicle for communication, we encourage you to take a few moments to visit and read, or print out the newsletter. A copy is posted at our front desk and on the Communications bulletin board around the corner from the front desk for your added convenience.

The Trinity Voice: a publication produced thrice-annually by the Parents' Association and TES Advancement and Communications Office that provides information about Trinity and its mission, including academic, spiritual and student life activities, to TES stakeholders. This publication will arrive in your mailbox.

Various Communication Avenues

TES Web site (www.tescharlotte.org): used for marketing, student recruitment, keeping parents informed of upcoming special events and recent news, displaying photos of the daily life of the School and making available school publications electronically. There is a password-protected parents' and faculty/staff portal for which each family needs a username and password. In this area, you will find the mater events/activities calendar, Parents' Association information, important messages from Fr. Smokey, handbooks and directories, faculty bios, information on volunteering, student trips, spirit wear, athletics, etc. If you did not receive or have misplaced/forgotten your username and/or password, please contact the front desk or Advancement and Communications Office.

TES Email System: designed to support internal and external communication. All Trinity faculty/staff email addresses consist of, in most instances, a first initial, followed by the person's last name and ended with "@tescharlotte.org" (e.g., soats@tescharlotte.org). Please see pages 9 and 10 of this Handbook or visit the faculty directory of our Web site (within the parents' portal) for specific indivudal addresses and links.

TES Voicemail System: enables you to leave voicemail messages for Trinity staff during and after school hours. (It is our hope that dialing Trinity during school hours will always lead to a live and cheerful voice answering your call. If your call comes at a particular busy moment, however, the recorded voicemail system may become activated. In addition, calls to classrooms will be restricted in order to honor instructional time. If you are calling with a time-sensitive or critical message involving your child, we ask that you not leave this communication on voicemail. Please call back so that a Trinity staff member may manually record your message and ensure its timely delivery.)

Classroom Communication

In addition to the general information provided to you about Trinity, teachers have established communication expectations for their classrooms. At the outset of the school year, teachers will convey specifically what, how and when they will be communicating so that parents know what to anticipate for regular and meaningful communication throughout the school year.

 

Inclement Weather Communications

In the event of inclement weather, Trinity will determine the need for the School’s closing and/or delayed opening. The School will send out a non-emergency AlertNow message (sent to only primary phone numbers and emails) early in the morning if the School will be closed or operating on a delayed opening schedule. If the School is closing early for inclement weather, we will send out an emergency AlertNow message (sent to all phone numbers and emails and appearing as 411 on caller ID) so that you will know to pick up your child(ren) as soon as possible.

 

In addition, you can watch for announcements on local news stations (WBTV, WCNC, WSOC, News Channel 14), call the School’s answering machine for a recorded message or look at the red alert on the Web site homepage.

 

The School will attempt to open Trinity’s Extended Day program when access to the campus is possible. Information will be recorded on the general school voicemail system, in the ALERTNOW notification message and on the Web site.

 

 

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