📎 Tool

School Communication Log

Every email, phone call and meeting with school in one list, with the date, who you spoke to, what they said they would do, and how many days you have been waiting since. It is not about being difficult. It is that "I asked about this in October" carries no weight, and "here are the four dated contacts since 3 October, two of which had no reply" carries a great deal. Everything stays on this device: no account, no login, nothing sent anywhere.

Add a contact

A record, not legal advice. What counts as a reasonable response time, and what your rights are when it passes, depends entirely on where you live and which framework your child sits under — IDEA and Section 504 in the US, an EHCP or SEN Support in England, an IEP in Ireland or Scotland, and so on. This tool records what happened and counts the days; it does not know your deadlines. For those, talk to a parent advocacy organization or an education lawyer in your own jurisdiction.

Write it the same day

A note written on the day is a contemporaneous record, and it carries far more weight than one reconstructed three months later — including with you, when you are trying to remember whether they said they would check or said they had already checked. Keep it factual and unemotional even when the conversation was not. "Was told the sessions are being covered by the TA when the therapist is absent" is usable. "Fobbed me off again" is not, and it makes the whole log easier to dismiss.

The column that changes conversations

Days waiting. Most people do not track it, so requests quietly age out and everyone forgets who was supposed to do what. When you can say that three separate requests have been open for more than three weeks, you have moved from a feeling to a pattern — and a pattern is something a principal, a district office or a due process hearing can act on.

Frequently asked questions

Why keep a communication log at all?

Because the thing that decides most disputes is not who was right in the meeting, it is who can show what was asked, when, and what happened next. A log turns "we have been asking for months" into a dated list with names on it. It also protects the relationship: most requests are not ignored on purpose, and a polite follow-up on day fourteen is easier to send when you know it has been fourteen days.

Should I log phone calls too?

Especially phone calls. Email leaves its own record; a call leaves nothing unless you write it down. Log it the same day while you still remember the wording, note who you spoke to, and if anything was agreed, consider following up with a short email confirming it — that turns your note into a shared record.

Is this stored online?

No. It stays in this browser on this device, with no account and no server. Export the PDF whenever the log matters — before a meeting, before an escalation, or just monthly, so a cleared cache cannot take the record with it.