We had a staff meeting yesterday and I couldn’t get over how much of it was just “administrivia”… Stuff that could have been just as easily done using email. You know the sort of thing… “this event is taking pace at such and such a time. That event requires people to do XYZ. The deadline for so and so is on some particular date…”
I was trying to figure out why we bother holding meetings to tell people stuff that could be done so much more effectively and efficiently using email or other electronic means. Then they have it in writing. They can refer to it at anytime. And we don’t waste an hour waffling on about this stuff when we could actually be doing something constructive.
For a few brief minutes a colleague gave an excellent SMARTBoard demonstration and the rest of the staff were actually engaged and interested. Then it was back to the usual stuff that goes on in most staff meetings in most schools I’ve ever worked in. Dates, events, blah, blah, blah… just email it to me, or better yet, put it on the intranet.
When I asked the obvious question today, “Why don’t we use email for this stuff?” I was surprised by the answer.
“Because not all staff use their email.”
Obvious next question… “But it’s a school email… don’t they HAVE to use it in order to perform school business?”
“No.” Apparently, forcing staff to check their school email is against union policy as not all staff have their own computer. Huh? There are computers in every staff area…
Perhaps there’s logic in there somewhere, but it’s escaping me right now… If schools are going to continue to do the same old things in the same old ways and not take advantage of the benefits of electronic communication right across the board – and that means one in, all in, so everyone is using it – then they could save an awful lot of money by not putting such systems into place to start with.