Effective home-school communication is essential to each student’s academic success and social-emotional wellness. In addition, input from parents, students and the community ensures that your schools are responsive to the needs of our community. Recognizing that it can be challenging for our community members to know to whom input, questions or concerns should be directed, we have developed the following communications protocol to serve as a guide. 

This chart is designed to help parents, students and community members connect with the appropriate staff and understand who is responsible for answering questions or resolving issues or concerns. This protocol is built on the foundational assumption that answers to questions or resolutions to problems are best found at the level closest to the issue or concern. In most cases, it is the classroom teacher or specialist at the school who should be the first person to whom a question or concern is directed.

Under ordinary circumstances, all inquiries should be acknowledged or responded to within 24 business hours by telephone or email, depending on the medium of inquiry. If an inquiry is only acknowledged (if, for example, additional research is required before a complete response can be made), the acknowledgement should also include a reasonable date by which a complete response should be forthcoming. If you are not satisfied with the outcome/response that you receive, you may elevate your concern to the next level contact, until the contact list for your topic has been exhausted.

Recommendations for Successful Outcome:

1. Please follow the recommended protocol and allow for the initial (first) contact to resolve the issue.
2. All parties should recognize that “tone” is difficult to read in an email and emotions can sometimes interfere with the goal of working together to resolve an issue.
3. Carefully separate fact from opinion and confirm information received through others before considering it a “fact.”
4. Recognize that flexibility, compromise and collaboration are essential to effective problem resolution. 
5. Remember that educators are prohibited by privacy laws from discussing student-related issues with anyone other than the student’s parent/guardian.

Staff directories can be found on each school’s website found at www.holliston.k12.ma.us All staff members can be emailed using their last name and first initial @holliston.k12.ma.us (ex: the email address of “John Smith” would be smithj@holliston.k12.ma.us

Contact List

Staff Directories are provided on each school’s website or contact information can be obtained by calling the main office in your child’s school.