Healthy Email Boundaries for a More Balanced School Year for Educators and Children

by Katie Raher, PhD

As the school year kicks off, it’s important to set boundaries that prevent burnout and protect your well-being and ultimately the well-being of the children you support.

In general, boundaries serve to protect your energy and give you time and space for more of what you want in your life - professionally and personally. To set boundaries, it's important to get clear on what's okay and what's not okay, and then to communicate those boundaries. Among the many areas where you can benefit from setting boundaries, emails can be a big one!

When email first came out (yes, I've been in education over 20 years and remember fondly the "good ol' days" without email), I thought that email was going to not only simplify work but save me so much time. Wow, was I wrong?! Emails - and the sheer bulk of them - often left me blurring the line between work and home far more than ever before, making it feel impossible to fully turn off my work brain and recharge during those non-work hours.

From talks with the many educators we support at Constant Love Learning, I know I'm not alone. Work emails can feel like a drain on most educators' time and emotional energy - in part because of the sheer volume of emails often received these days and also because of unrealistic expectations in terms of response times well beyond an educator's work day.

I've come a long way, and while emails can still feel overwhelming, I've learned and experienced some boundary strategies that have helped make things better. 

In good news for you too, every moment is a chance to start again with how you navigate your emails, to get clear on what's okay and what's not okay, and to reclaim the kind of school year you want.

And the back-to-school season is a great time to get clear on email boundaries - so you can protect your energy all school year long and make space and time for more of the wellness and home-life balance that can sustain you and other educators like you.

Here are some tips to help you set healthy email boundaries as an individual educator, within your school team, and as a parent, and tips on what to teach to the children you support.

Boundaries for You as an Individual Educator

1. Set Specific Email Hours

Consider what work hours you think work best for you and your family, and then designate specific times during the day to check and respond to emails. Outside of these hours, consider turning off email notifications to give yourself a mental break. If you feel it's urgent to check something outside these hours, then set a limit on how much time you'll spend, and then recommit to the hours that are aligned with what you value most. 

2. Clearly Communicate Your Availability and Expectations

You might also lay out your availability and expectations in any communication you send to parents and during back-to-school night.

For example, “I respond to emails between 7:30 AM and 3:30 PM Monday through Friday. Thank you for understanding!”

It can also be helpful to explain the limits of your replies and ways to get support if you aren't available. "I try to respond within 48 hours during my available hours, but please know that I work to prioritize the things that will best take care of my students, including my time to recharge. If you should need more immediate assistance, please contact..."

You might want to state your email availability and expectations in your signature. You can also use your email signature as a place to communicate your values to others. Here's the statement I have in my email signature that I often gave excellent feedback about, as it gives others permission to minimize the urgency of emails: "If you receive this email during hours that are not designated for work, please take care of yourself and reply whenever is most nourishing to you."

You can also benefit from putting on an email auto-responder during weekend hours or vacations, with clear information about when you'll return and get back to emails, and who to reach in case of an emergency (such as the principal). 

3. Utilize ‘Do Not Disturb’ Features

To help you honor your set work hours and the expectations you've set, use your phone and computer’s ‘Do Not Disturb’ features during your off-hours to further create that clear separation between work and personal time. It's also ideal to remove your work email from your phone all together. The emails will still be there when you return to your work computer and hours, and you'll be much more centered to respond in ways that are aligned with the kind of school year you desire.

4. Chunk Your Email Time

We are most efficient when we stay focused on one thing at a time rather than bouncing between thing to thing - such as bouncing from one email to a phone call to lesson planning, etc. - which requires transition time and energy for our brains. Therefore, it can be best to set a boundary with yourself. Perhaps you allocate a set chunk of time focused on just email reading and replying on certain days of the week. If someone misses your window, it's fine, because you've already clearly communicated your availablity and values around why you having breaks from email is important.

5. Minimize the Back-and-Forth

We are often so quick to reply to every email we receive. What often happens, though, is that this actually increases the number of emails we receive, because that person replies back right away. This doesn't leave our inbox getting cleared out, but rather just getting filled up with more volume more quickly. If an email isn't urgent, but you want to get the response off your to-do list, reply right away, but use the 'schedule send' feature, honoring the time frame you've told people you'll reply within. That way, when you get a reply, it will be a couple days out, spreading out the volume of emails you get. If it's urgent, consider making a good ol' fashioned phone call (or if this makes you uncomfortable, voice notes via texting) to knock out the details, instead of going back and forth via email. 

6. Practice the 24-Hour Cool Down Rule

If you receive an email that triggers a strong emotional response, give yourself 24 hours to cool off before replying or invite support from helpful administrators if urgency is required. Taking time to regulate your own system and getting help prevent reactive responses and allows you to approach the situation with a clear head and heart. It can also be helpful to ask parents to follow the same approach.

Boundaries for Your Whole School Team

1. Create a Team Email Policy

I've had the privilege of being part of a school where this was the norm, and I was so grateful! It can be great to suggest creating a school-wide email policy that sets boundaries for when emails should be sent and responded to. For example, the norm might be no emails after 4:30 PM on weekdays and no emails on weekends unless it’s an emergency. By having a schoolwide policy, staff can collectively create a healthier culture. Plus, it's much easier to communicate to parents that the expectations you have as an individual are universally used by the staff and aligned with the overall goal of having regulated, healthy educators who are able to best support children's well-being all year long.

2. Encourage Use of Email Scheduling

Encourage your team to use the ‘schedule send’ feature, so emails composed outside of work hours are delivered during appropriate times. This way, you can manage your workload during whatever work hours work best for you without intruding on others’ preferred work hours and personal time. This is yet another simple way to cultivate collective care.

3. Support Boundary Setting Collectively

Regularly remind each other that it's important to be mindful of the "reply all" feature and that it’s okay to not respond immediately to non-urgent emails. Building a culture of understanding and mutual respect around email boundaries can truly reduce stress for everyone.

4. Set Up an ‘Urgent’ Communication Channel

Establish a clear protocol for urgent communications that doesn’t involve constant emailing, such as a designated group chat, text tree, or "on call" system. This helps ensure that emails are only checked during working hours while urgent matters are still handled. Make sure that distribution of "on call" time is divided up equitably and any time spent by anyone outside of contract hours to support this system is financially reimbursed (and reimbursed very well, such as paid double time), to ensure educators aren't expected to do unpaid labor. Additionally, make sure that the urgent communication channel you set up is not abused and that there's a way to communicate if things become challenging; if there is too much work outside of hours, then there may be a need for additional staff and/or a deep examination of systems-level problems and more innovative problem solving.

Boundaries As a Parent

To contribute to collective shifts in how we respect and honor educators' time beyond the school day, it's important for parents to be mindful of email boundaries. These tips may be helpful if you yourself are also a parent and/or for any parents.

1. Be Mindful of Timing

Before contacting a teacher or school staff, consider whether it’s something that can wait. If it’s not urgent, use the ‘schedule send’ feature to ensure the message arrives during work hours.

2. Acknowledge Their Boundaries

When emailing, let the educator know there’s no need to reply immediately. For example, include a note like, “Just wanted to share this with you—no need to reply until next week (or at all).”

3. Express Appreciation

Recognize the hard work educators do and respect their time. A simple message like, “I appreciate everything you’re doing, and there’s no rush on a response,” can make a big difference.

4. Promote a Culture of Well-Being

By setting an example of respecting boundaries, you can help shift the culture towards one that values educator well-being over constant availability. This not only supports teachers and other school staff but also helps create a healthier school community for children, because the educators are more likely to come in recharged daily, ready to give the best of themselves and not just what's left of themselves.

Teaching Kids About Setting Boundaries

Kids can and should be taught the power of email boundaries as well! I will proudly report that my own middle school-aged daughter came home to tell me how she encouraged her friend to quickly communicate a question to a teacher in person rather than to send another email. She told her friend that the last thing a teacher needs is yet another email to respond to when it could take them only five seconds to answer the question in person - and give them an opportunity to share the answer with the whole class in person. Enjoy these ideas for helping kids develop a positive relationship with setting and respecting email boundaries. 

1. Setting Their Own Email Boundaries 

Encourage kids to set specific times to check and respond to emails, just like adults. Teach them that it’s okay to not be constantly available online and that it’s important to take breaks from screens.

2. Respecting Others' Boundaries

Help kids understand the importance of respecting their teachers' personal time. Teach them to think before sending an email late at night or over the weekend, and to understand that their teachers also need time to rest and recharge.

3. Honoring Teacher Boundaries

Encourage kids to appreciate their teachers by acknowledging when they say there’s no need for an immediate reply. Reinforce the idea that respecting these boundaries helps everyone—teachers and students alike—stay balanced and healthy.

Setting Healthy Boundaries to Create More Well-being for Educators, Children, and Schools: Final Thoughts

Ultimately, setting and maintaining healthy email boundaries helps create more harmony between work and home. This gives you more of the space needed to be present with your own family, which will be supportive of more well-being for all of you. Healthy email boundaries aren't just about protecting your own well-being though—this is about creating a sustainable work and school environment for everyone. By being intentional about how you manage your time and energy, and supporting others in doing the same, you’re not only reducing the risk of burnout for yourself but also helping to cultivate a healthier culture for your entire school community, including your students.

Remember, it’s okay to take care of yourself and set the limits you need to thrive this school year, and we're here to support you in living into your core values and in passing down the kind of humanity-centered patterns you know kids deserve. 

If you're an individual wanting to stay connected for more well-being tips and support, you can subscribe by grabbing our free mini breathwork series or our free self-compassion break posters.

If you are wanting more ideas and support in preventing burnout and optimizing well-being for your whole staff (and in turn, students), let's find a time to connect so we can discuss the ways Constant Love and Learning can help you solve the challenges you're facing.