Dear Mrs. McVeigh,
I am a teacher at a local elementary school. One of my co-workers decided to have a birthday celebration for another teacher. She used everyone’s work email to send the invitation. Because she used school email, most people assumed everyone was invited. As it turns out, everyone was not invited, and feelings got hurt. The host got defensive and said she has the right to invite anyone she wants, and in addition, they could not find a venue to host all teachers and staff. A lot of teachers are mad! Who do you think is right?
C.M.
Dear C.M.
First of all, work email should not be used for a personal event. Secondly, when my children were in preschool and elementary school, I specifically recall the teachers sending home notes stating that we should not pass out invitations at school if everyone is not invited in the class. Some teachers went a step further and asked that if a child decided to have a birthday party and wanted to include any classmates, to please include the whole class. It seems ironic to me that an elementary school teacher does not apply this simple rule. I understand why feelings were hurt. This teacher was wrong, and should apologize to all staff for abusing work email, as well as not including everyone for the party.