Need help with a reply e-mail

[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]

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.

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.

[mnbunny]

Maybe reply back with, "I don't know of any others ways to reach her, other than phone # 123-4567, or email address <<whatever her email address is>>."

[Lisbeth]

"I'm sorry that you've been having trouble reaching R, but I cannot ask her to return calls or E-mails to others.  I can only contact R on projects that I'm directly in charge of.  When R is the person in charge, she needs to be contacted directly."   

[CluelessBride]

I think it might also be appropriate to mention to R that people are having difficulty getting in touch with her and have expressed frustration.  I mean, if she doesn't realize there is a problem (and sometimes disorganized people don't), its tough to fix. 

I wouldn't become her secretary, but a friendly mention that people have been contacting you trying to get in touch with her because they never hear back from her might be helpful.

[Salvage3]

I agree with above posters as to this particular situation.

However, as this request came from a teacher and apparently there have been other similar situations with R --and, possibly, others on your board --I believe it may be time for a meeting with the principal or some other school representative and your board to outline such things as communication, planning of activities, etc.

The fundraising board I am on has some pretty strict guidelines on when certain aspects of each project must be completed.  We had to go to this type of situation, as we, too, had procrastinators, non-responders, etc.

It really is something that IMHO needs to be addressed.  Not doing so can start a conflict between all parties involved.

[JenJay]

There must be somebody who would pick up where R left off if she was ill or suddenly quit and moved across the country or something. I would reply to the email with something like "I'm sorry you're having a difficult time getting ahold of R. I'm afraid that I don't know anything about the project and can't be of much help. You might try "BackUp Person instead." Even if that back up person is the Principal?

[Hmmmmm]

I'd respond back to the email and cc R on the reply saying:
Teacher, I'm sorry, but you'll need to deal directly with R on this issue, as I'm not engaged with that activity.
R, please get back in touch with Teacher as it seems this issue is time critical.  Also, if you are having problems checking this email account on a daily basis, I can assist you with setting up auto forward to a different account you do check on a daily basis. 

Some times, if someone knows others are aware of how lax their behavior is, it will prompt better behavior. 

[immadz]

I'd respond back to the email and cc R on the reply saying:
Teacher, I'm sorry, but you'll need to deal directly with R on this issue, as I'm not engaged with that activity.
R, please get back in touch with Teacher as it seems this issue is time critical.  Also, if you are having problems checking this email account on a daily basis, I can assist you with setting up auto forward to a different account you do check on a daily basis. 

Some times, if someone knows others are aware of how lax their behavior is, it will prompt better behavior. 

Pod. I would also say something like. If R is unavailable, you might try contacting President for assistance. I am ccing her on this email.

Thanks

[MamaMootz]

Hi, OP again.

For those who have asked about making R more aware of her behavior, I have. And not just me, the VP and the principal have spoken with her about it as well. I have been telling her people are trying to get in touch with her, she needs to answer them, and she either just laughs or blows it off. (Lack of communication has happened before with our fundraising outside rep, the school custodian, the owner of a local business, other parents, and me).

I'm scaling back my involvement with them because of how disorganized it all is - no one is really assigned any projects, whoever feels like it takes them on, and nothing is communicated to the other officers about who's doing what and what's getting done.  I'm expected to do flyers and write articles for the school newsletter on what we're doing, and I get either no info or info on the date the article/flyer is due. I won't even go into what happened to me with the fundraiser items because then I will need to take a blood pressure pill and have a lie down.

Anyway, long winded post short - I e-mailed the teacher back and told her that I'm not involved with this project and my best suggestion for her was to call R again and to send her an e-mail.  I got a reply from her this morning that said "Will do! Thanks." so I guess that's that.