I teach 10th grade and there is a parent who emails be after EVERY assignment, questioning why her son received the grade he did. I provide various forms of feedback for my students that include rubrics, detailed feedback, checklists, organizers, etc., so it is easy to see and understand the point breakdown. How do I get this parent to trust my grading procedures and politely tell her to only contact me with serious concerns. I have also asked her to have her son see me after class when he has questions, but that has never happened. It appears that she likes to dominate the conversation regarding his performance in class and my grading.
I agree that face-to-face communication is best. Particularly over email and other impersonal forms of communication, the parent may not be fully comfortable trusting the teacher; it can be easy to see it as just a form letter with fill in the blanks. This will also help the teacher to understand the parent while establishing boundaries.