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Need help with a reply e-mail

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MamaMootz:
BG: I am on my school's PTO board. I am the e-mail and technology guru and elected Secretary, and it seems that some of the PTO members beside me have an issue with getting back to parents in a timely manner. One of the PTO members in particular (R) is very disorganized and in fact caused me a great deal of trouble with our fundraiser, so I had a lot of angry parents yelling at me for something this person did. I ended up fixing the issue but I had to put in a lot of extra time and effort to fix everything. I have a reputation for being the responsive one on the PTO board, as teachers and parents alike will try to contact other members and get no response - but I always try to get back to them as quickly as I can. We are supposed to be improving communication this year.

Today I got an e-mail from a teacher stating that she wanted to add some items to a project R is running next week. I replied back to the teacher, letting her know that R was in charge of that and she needed to contact R directly because I have no idea what is going on with project and cannot help her. The teacher has now e-mailed me back asking me to contact R. on her behalf as she left R. a voicemail 2 days ago and has received no response.

I am not responsible for being R.'s secretary. Not to mention the fact that there are times when I call R. and either don't hear back from her or only hear back from her 3 days later. She's just very disorganized. I do not want to get in the middle of this but I also don't want to alienate the teacher. How do I reply to her e-mail, telling her politely but firmly that she needs to contact R. herself?

Merry Mrs Martin:
who is in charge of R ? is there a subcommity she's on with a lead person.  It depends on your PTO timelines if 2 days is too long then the problem is with R not the teacher if 2 days is reasonable then the other parents and teachers need to know what a reasonable time is.  If R is the problem then tell people to contact the PTO head if R can't met her responsibilities then she needs to be teamed up with someone willing to return calls/e-mails ect. or just not be in a position where she needs to return calls ect.
If people want return calls too quickly then part of the next newsletter to the whole school needs to include how long to wait.

Hanna:
I would reply passively, not acknowledging that she requested you to contact R.
"If you didn't get a reply to your phone call you might try emailing her."

MamaMootz:

--- Quote from: Merry Mrs Martin on November 21, 2009, 12:14:19 AM ---who is in charge of R ? is there a subcommity she's on with a lead person.  It depends on your PTO timelines if 2 days is too long then the problem is with R not the teacher if 2 days is reasonable then the other parents and teachers need to know what a reasonable time is.  If R is the problem then tell people to contact the PTO head if R can't met her responsibilities then she needs to be teamed up with someone willing to return calls/e-mails ect. or just not be in a position where she needs to return calls ect.
If people want return calls too quickly then part of the next newsletter to the whole school needs to include how long to wait.

--- End quote ---

No one is really "in charge" of R. We're all officers - R is the treasurer of the PTO. Our president has been out due to surgical issues. It was an problem because the teacher needed a response by Monday and I guess was trying to get hold of someone who would answer her and R wasn't. But the thing is, I can't hold R's hand and make her return calls. She's running the event, she's been on the PTO board for 2 years, and she's capable - it's just that she will wait til the last possible minute to do things.

Merry Mrs Martin:
  Then I'd just go with "I'm afraid I can't do that"  if you don't think this would be gossipy I'm sure R will get back with you before the deadline but she does tend to wait till the deadline. If I think your going to call on by Monday on the Thursday before I may get antzy but if I know your going to call on Monday I'll wait till Monday.

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