One thing he decided was he was going to communicate via email. He would tell the staff every week what was happening in his school and beyond. He would send minutes of consultation meetings to staff every time they happened, and he'd be available to anyone who wanted to contact him. But it was a big school, and collecting everyone's non-DOE email was an enormous task.
Of course he asked for help. One person gave him 30 names and emails, the entire department. This was a great help. While he still had to enter each one manually, it wasn't in his handwriting and he could actually read what was written. This guaranteed fewer mistakes. It took a long time entering those names, along with all the others. Sorting them by department took a long time as well, but once it was done he'd never have to do it again.
He sent out his first email on a Friday. He mostly got good reviews. People said they enjoyed it and thanked him. There was only one exception. He saw her by the elevator.
"I feel like I was RAPED," she said.
"Oh my gosh, what happened?"
"I never gave you my email address," she said. "You sent me email ANYWAY."
"Wow, I'm very sorry," he said. "I'll never send you email again. No problem."
"No," she said. "It's okay. You can keep sending me email."
He was confused. It didn't make sense to him. But okay, hopefully there won't be any more complaints on these lines. There weren't.
Six months later, she was promoted to assistant principal. The first thing the chapter leader did was take her off his email list.
The second thing he did was field complaints about her, almost every single day, about everything from almost everyone.
He was very happy when she transferred elsewhere. Life was simpler.
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