Montreal parent Miguel Tremblay says the total of electronic messages sent by his children’s elementary school in Villeray during 2025 would require around 14 hours of reading time. His count reached 456 distinct emails, which together contain approximately 166,000 words, a length he likened to a Harry Potter novel.
Tremblay compiled the figures by reviewing his inbox over the past year. The 456 messages arrived from the school’s administration, teachers and support staff, covering routine notices, homework assignments, event reminders and other school‑related information. Adding the word counts of each email produced the 166,000‑word total.
The calculation reflects a broader pattern observed by many parents who receive frequent communications from elementary schools. In recent years, families across Montreal have reported growing volumes of school‑issued email, prompting some to track the cumulative amount of information they must process.
While Tremblay’s personal audit focused on a single school in the Villeray neighbourhood, the numbers illustrate the scale of digital correspondence that can accumulate in a typical school year. The 456 emails represent an average of more than one message per day, and the word count matches that of a lengthy novel, underscoring the substantial reading effort required of parents who keep up with school updates.