It is pretty much a shame that parent concerns often become categorized as complaints. It becomes a battle of emotional and personally engaged parents wanting to get the best for their child and a teacher trying to keep their head above water. There are days that teachers become swamped with managing the day to day activities and teaching. Listening to parents is really just one more thing to deal with in the day.
I feel caught in the middle in this discussion because I have seen this scenario played out time and time again. After 16 years in education customer service as a school board trustee, I have heard stories of chairs being thrown at administrators and parents driven to tears. Desperate parent driven to frantic encounters with educators who seem to be uncaring. Teachers who feel threatened and harassed by parents not willing to take no for an answer. Teachers and principals share stories about parents threatening them over marks for their students. I have heard of restraining orders placed on parents who fail to respect the school environment.
Research has described the phenomena of an entire school climate degrading because one unhappy parent could not resolve the situation and in vocalizing the concerns had parents who had no previous concerns with the school turn against the school and the staff. Like all things that get bad press, one bad apple can flavour the school environment and set the tone.
There is a school of thought that not dealing with parent concerns is dealing with parent concerns. There is some merit in this approach because some concerns are emotionally charged with sometimes incomplete information. Letting the dust settle can give parents a chance to calm down and collect their thoughts. Not an easy task when its their child that is involved.
Over time, a laissez-faire approach will start to grate on parents and do little to building a community reflective of the needs of the entire school. It takes a concerted effort on the part of the school principal to find a balance between parent concerns and a stable school environment.
Ah the Principal – the all knowing – broad shouldered individual whose role changes by the minute. Just let me get it straight there is no such thing as a perfect Principal. Too often the target – the person whose fault it is that things aren’t going well – a real human being stretched to the limit – frequently parenting parents – can easily translate one more question into a complaint.
And so it goes on day after day. ” ya, all I need is more parent involvement” slips from the lips of a teacher. The problem of what to do when a parent complains is not going to go away.
Here is a checklist for parents and a checklist for teachers to help you when you struggle when asking question and giving answers.
Compiled by a focus group of parents and educators at the Niagara Catholic District School Board, consider using them when helping you work together supporting students.
