I was browsing the template library of Office 2007 today when I came across an interesting "academic" letter template: "Complaint about Teacher." The letter is probably what you could expect from a parent whose kiddo isn't making the A's she rightfully deserves. Here's a few snippets from it:

When my daughter started the fourth grade, she was excited about learning and had already established a record as an enthusiastic and diligent student. Her grades last year were consistently As and Bs. Yet in the past three months, Sarah has become extremely negative about going to school. She has told me that she doesn’t like school anymore because she is confused by Ms. Anderson’s lessons and because Ms. Anderson becomes impatient when Sarah asks for clarification on difficult lessons.

The letter does seem to adhere to good letter writing, with a clearly defined thesis, description, and a request for action at the end:

I request that Sarah be transferred out of Ms. Anderson’s class as soon as possible. I also request a meeting with you this week to discuss how quickly this can be accomplished. You can contact me at (425) 555-0199 between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.

It might be worth checking your recent batch of complaint letters to see if any are based on this template. :)

There are also versions of the letter for complaining about a teacher to the principal or the school board.

Ah, leave it to Microsoft to make it easier for people to complain about those pesky teachers.