https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/1j7j39b/emailing_the_whole_school/
created by Embarrassed_Canary42 on 09/03/2025 at 22:07 UTC
41 upvotes, 60 top-level comments (showing 25)
I'm a high school teacher in my first year at my current school, having begun teaching high school (after years in adult ed) at my previous job and taught there for four years. At that school, everyone could use the all-staff email address and it was common practice to send emails to the whole school. Sometimes someone would find keys in the bathroom. Often at the end of the year teachers would ask the school if anyone wanted a plant or some particular classroom item. We had an enormous HVAC issue which we kept an ongoing email about (across years) so we could track it; admin actually asked us to keep it going so they had it in writing and could fight harder to get the district to fix it.
Its most important use was arguably for union related matters. Every fall without fail the same admin would send an email about the annual rally held on a particular Friday during 8th (last) period. And every year without fail this admin would encourage even those who had prep to attend. *And* every year without fail one particular teacher would reply all--and these emails included the principal, the 4 AP's, custodians, our computer person- everybody--and reminded everyone that no one was obligated to attend a rally during their prep. To this, the admin would inevitably reply with something to the effect that that's very true but you know, teamwork is great. And the teacher would reply and in so many words agree that indeed teamwork is great but again, prep is prep and no teacher has to do anything other than prep if that's what they want to do. Everyone read this. This was great for new and young teachers.
At my current job, no such thing exists. And Friday I ran it by two people separately (they actually don't know each other)--one 23 year-old first year, one 54 year-old vet. Both were aghast and appalled by the mere idea of such an all-staff email. And I was taken aback by what a terrible idea they thought it was. But my previous school was run so much more effectively (not just because of this, but in general) and there are so many issues with inefficiency at this school, one of which is what little face time teachers get with each other and how bad communication is. What made me think of it was Google LTI 1.3 not working in Canvas and wanting to be able to send an email out to the school asking for help, advice, and tips.
So, among the 1.3 million here, who has all-staff email abilities for teachers, who doesn't, who loves it, who wants it, and who detests it and why?
Comment by Snow_Water_235 at 09/03/2025 at 22:10 UTC
54 upvotes, 3 direct replies
We have all it. We actually have all staff, All teachers, all district and several other options.
Comment by violet_wraith33 at 09/03/2025 at 22:20 UTC
34 upvotes, 1 direct replies
My school does an all staff email & it’s effective, but also the entire school doesn’t need to know to BOLO because Johnny misplaced his Chromebook again.
Comment by peatmoss71 at 09/03/2025 at 22:46 UTC
14 upvotes, 2 direct replies
If I have to email the entire school. I send it using BCC and my email as the main one. So people only reply to me.
Comment by Tonicandjenn at 09/03/2025 at 22:27 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Teachers cannot send “all staff” emails and I am totally ok with that. Mostly because we use Google Chat and have different groups that we are apart of. So I am apart of “2nd grade, elementary, and all staff” chat groups. We are a K-12 school. So if someone does lose their keys, we just post a picture in the “elementary” chat. The only time we get all staff emails is from our superintendent and head of maintenance. Works for us! I wish more schools used google chat
Comment by AltairaMorbius2200CE at 09/03/2025 at 22:57 UTC
5 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I’ll just throw out there that the all staff at my school included the superintendent, and not everyone knew that, so things got awkward multiple times!
Comment by boilermakerteacher at 09/03/2025 at 22:13 UTC
18 upvotes, 4 direct replies
We got rid of it. Definitely for the better. Only the secretaries and admin can all staff, and they filter out all the crap before it gets sent to teachers.
Comment by xSaRgED at 09/03/2025 at 22:15 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I haven’t taught in a school that didn’t have various mailing lists for easy communication. Although, I was always in high schools, which may tilt things.
Comment by Money-Cauliflower330 at 09/03/2025 at 22:29 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We always had whole school email, usually only the admin and secretaries used it. It was important to check your email or risk looking silly and bothering them. We also have all district and teacher only emails.
Comment by ForkCollector at 09/03/2025 at 22:29 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
We have one. I wish we could use it for good but it ends up being one person saying “hey I have XYZ to give away” and 75 reply alls saying “no thanks” or “me please” etc. Our admin often leaves us little treats in our mailboxes. Someone will send an all staff email, and again with the dozens of reply alls. It clogs up my inbox.
Comment by Professional_Sea8059 at 09/03/2025 at 22:37 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Every school I've worked it has it. But how it's used has been different. I appreciate it's use. The last school I was at though I hated it because anytime one went out it was like every person had to reply all. Super super annoying. When replying only reply to the sender unless everyone needs to read it. Please and thank you.
Comment by ZarBear14 at 09/03/2025 at 22:51 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I work at a K12 school, so we have all staff that includes every freaking employee, plus sub groups such as HS Teachers, MS Teachers, etc. We also have ongoing messenger chats for each level, where we can post questions and issues, although I don't think there's one of these for all chat. Every once in a while someone clicks reply all and gets chewed on a bit, but they learn. It's a very helpful tool.
Comment by ValuableDragonfly679 at 09/03/2025 at 22:52 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I run the EL Lab so I’m allowed to send all staff emails about the EL lab/testing/etc. but other things are to be sent to the school secretary to blast out.
Comment by mhiaa173 at 09/03/2025 at 23:00 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
We have all staff, and all district. It's mildly annoying, but a little funny when someone hits reply all to one of the district ones...
I have used the all staff one on occasion, and it's pretty handy. I also created my own distribution list for just the teachers.
Comment by fourth_and_long at 09/03/2025 at 23:07 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
You are describing my situation. I don't mind having all staff email because it’s not abused. I think it’s helpful to keep staff connected. I kind of hate that *everything* becomes the mentor’s job to relay (like the pep fest in prep not mandatory), or, hey, the union rep could just reply all the friendly helpful reminder for all.
Comment by CalculusManAnUnicorn at 10/03/2025 at 00:28 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Out of curiosity, how many staff did the previous school have? My current district has school specific and district wide email lists. Technically we have to ask permission to use it- but we all have access. Usually for good, but there is 75+ staff and so many will reply "no thanks" or "cool!" to all can be annoying.
Comment by CampsWithDogs at 10/03/2025 at 00:30 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have all school and all staff (to all 22 schools in the district) emailing privileges and I wish they would take them away. Probably a decade ago we had a strict rule that you needed permission to send an all school or all staff email from your department chair person. That rule is gone and now I probably get 30 to 50 emails a day from staff within the district, some at our school most at other schools and I will miss the 2 or 3 emails that are actually important.
I don't need to be told about the different musicals at each school multiple times, or that a first grade teacher at the elementary school in the town next door unfortunately is grieving the loss of her grandmother. I am sorry that she had a loss in her family, but I am at the high school on the other side of the district.
I need to see that my IEP student had their plan updated so I can see the changes, or the email from a student that is at home sick asking for the work they missed.
We need a digital bulletin board where people can post announcements that we can go read on our own time when it is convenient. Our email system should remain unclogged so we don't miss important emails from staff, students, and parents.
Comment by [deleted] at 09/03/2025 at 22:41 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
[removed]
Comment by jljoyce at 09/03/2025 at 22:42 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have it, but it's not abused in any way. It's used from more of a team aspect, and for professional needs only.
Comment by Maybe_Fine at 09/03/2025 at 22:43 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We do. In my former district, we had to get it approved because it was such a large school and they didn't want it abused, but approval was easy - send it to the secretary, then she sent it to everyone.
At my current school we don't even need approval and I haven't noticed anyone abusing it. This school is about half the size of my last school.
Comment by TexB22 at 09/03/2025 at 22:47 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have an all-staff email. We use it all the time.
Comment by texinchina at 09/03/2025 at 22:50 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Bad admin the last few years: lots of uses of the all-staff function for petty things. Good admin this year- most of that gets shouted out at meetings.
Comment by MagisterFlorus at 09/03/2025 at 22:52 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have an all staff email. We need to get permission from the principal before using it as it emails the board as well
Comment by Specialist_Owl7576 at 09/03/2025 at 22:53 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have it, it can be both helpful and annoying. My last school used Microsoft Teams and it was also useful but slightly less annoying.
Comment by dauphineep at 09/03/2025 at 23:05 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have it, but we now have to get permission to use it. One too many people not understanding the difference between reply all and reply just to the sender and request after request to be deleted from a never ending cycle of people requesting to be removed from the chain.
When I do all sends I use the BCC feature to avoid the above, but I don’t fault my system for not letting people know how to use all send, even though it’s pretty easy to access the lists.
Comment by welchasaurus at 09/03/2025 at 23:05 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We have it, and we use it frequently. I'm in a boarding school with fewer than 300 students though, so it's not like those emails are going to a whole lot of people.
It's a mixed bag, tbh. While I could do without the emails at 9pm letting everyone know that the JV basketball team is back on campus, it's very helpful for locating missing items and students who are not where they are supposed to be. You just have to learn to ignore the emails that aren't relevant to you. I would call all staff emails a net positive.