Where We Are
A working mom posted this on Reddit some time ago (but it could have been today):
“I am so overwhelmed with the amount of emails that are sent by my child’s school, along with the fact that the information is scattered between them!”
[Read the thread here]
She’s drowning in emails because her school is using email as the catch-all solution for scattered information.
But aren’t we all?
When the athletics director posts the game schedule on the website but parents don’t check it regularly, someone sends an email. When the PTO shares volunteer signups on Facebook but families miss it, someone sends a follow-up email. When the calendar gets updated but nobody notices, the front office sends a reminder email.
Perhaps email isn’t the problem. It’s the symptom. It’s what happens when information doesn’t have a reliable home.
Parents get flooded with emails because the school is inadvertently trying to compensate for poor information architecture.
If you’re a school leader, you’ve probably apologized for this exact thing. Maybe to a parent who missed spirit week. Or someone who showed up to a parent coffee on the wrong morning. The teacher who booked a flight during a last-minute school calendar change.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: we didn’t set out to create confusion. But somewhere between trying to communicate everything and actually communicating clearly, we built a system that makes missing important information inevitable; and then we try to fix it by sending more emails.
The question isn’t whether this is happening at your school. It’s whether you can see clearly enough to fix it.
Why the Emails Keep Multiplying
Most school communication doesn’t follow a designed system. It follows whoever created the information.
The athletics director posts schedules on the website. The PTO shares signups through WhatsApp. The front office sends dismissal notices via email. Everyone is solving their own problem in the most logical way possible.
In many schools, divisions operate as separate worlds. Elementary doesn’t know what Middle School is doing. No one has a bird’s-eye view of what parents are receiving.
So parents face a daily scavenger hunt: Check email for the principal’s message. Check the cafeteria website for the lunch menu. Check the LMS for homework. Check Facebook for volunteer signups.
They can’t trust any single source, so they check everything. And when they inevitably miss something? You send another email to make sure it gets through.
Where We’re Going
One way to solve this: the Single Source of Truth principle. Every type of information lives in one predictable place, every time.
This principle comes from software developers who learned that when the same information exists in multiple places, it diverges. One version gets updated, another doesn’t. Nobody knows which is current.
Schools face the same problem. And when parents can’t find reliable information, they email you to ask. When information conflicts, they email you to clarify. When they miss an update, you email them to remind them.
The cycle continues. Your inbox explodes.
The fix isn’t better emails. It’s a Single Source of Truth that makes most emails unnecessary.
How to Get There
But before we can fix a problem, we need to see it.
That’s where process mapping comes in. Not as another task on your list, but as the moment you finally make the invisible visible.
Two ways to learn this:
📺 Watch the 5ish-minute video where I map a real school scenario (Parent-Teacher Conference dates gone wrong) and show you one way to fix it;
or
📝 Read the steps below the video (takes about 2 minutes) for the quick written version.
Your choice. Both work.
If you’re reading:
Process mapping is simple: track one type of information from creation to parent receipt, writing down every step, every person involved, every platform used.
Once you see the maze on paper, the exit becomes obvious. Bottlenecks announce themselves. Redundancies wave at you.
You don’t need a committee or a full-day workshop. You need 15 minutes and a whiteboard.
Pick one recurring information type that generates multiple emails. Spirit Week, early dismissal announcements, picture day.
Ask at least three people: “Walk me through how you currently find out about [Spirit Week]. Every step.”
Write down what they say. Every platform, every email, every announcement. Don’t organize it yet. Just capture it.
Look at what you’ve written. Circle anywhere someone said “sometimes” or “I think” or “usually.” That’s where information gets lost.
Pick one place for this information to live. The place parents already check for something else that works.
Train everyone: “From now on, [Spirit Week] details live [here]. Nowhere else. If you need to email about it, send the link, don’t duplicate the information.”
That’s it. When parents know where to find information, they stop emailing to ask. When information lives in one place, you stop sending reminder emails.
If You Don’t Control the Whole System
If you’re thinking, “I don’t control what the [fill in the blank] director does,” you’re right.
But here’s what you can control: your own channels.
Map one workflow where you’re the primary communicator. Find the duplicate work. Pick the most effective channel and let the others go.
When someone complains they missed it: “That information is always in [specific location]. Let me show you where to find it.”
You’re creating one reliable pattern users can learn to trust. And every reliable pattern means fewer emails in your inbox.
What This Unlocks
Parents stop asking where to find things. Fewer emails asking “Where do I find...?”
Your team stops doing duplicate work. Fewer “just in case” reminder emails.
You get time back. Time that used to go to “Can you resend that?” emails.
You stop playing defense. Instead of apologizing for confusion and sending corrective emails, you start building trust through consistency.
Your inbox quiets down. Not because you’re ignoring communication, but because the system finally works.
This Week’s Move
Choose one type of recurring information that generates follow-up emails.
Map every place it appears. Circle the one place parents most reliably check. Make that the single home for this information.
Tell your team. Tell parents. Stick to it for three occurrences.
Watch what happens when people know exactly where to look.
Want help getting started? I’ve created a free Process Mapping Toolkit for school leaders with a step-by-step guide, AI prompts, and a template you can use. Download it here: ekgcollective.com/toolkit
Your Experience
What’s one type of information at your school that reaches parents through at least three different channels and generates multiple clarifying emails? Hit reply and tell me! I’m collecting real examples to help all of us design better systems.
Systematically yours,
G
About the Author:
G (short for Gitane) is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at EKG Collective, helping international schools turn communication complexity into systematic clarity. Learn more at ekgcollective.com.
Really appreciated this, Gitane👏
I’ve been working with international schools for years now, and you’re one of the first people I’ve seen talk about systems and information design so clearly.
It’s exactly what we work with schools to solve at SkoolSpot; build sustainable systems for hiring, onboarding, growth and development.
Subscribed and looking forward to more.
The single source of truth! I love this!