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DON'T PARENTS DESERVE BETTER SERVICE?
Published On 11-29-2008 , 9:24 PM
This is an appeal to the public, although the high school counselor indicated this approach along with seeking assistance from school board members and Pasadena schools Superintendent Edwin Diaz were likely to be counterproductive.
It's been my belief in the years that my six children have attended public schools that families are the clients and that excellent service should be provided us.
While I've never had the opportunity to review job descriptions for teachers and/or counselors, in the name of getting students educated, it seems reasonable that part of the process would include communicating with the home.
Parents and other caregivers of students is an interesting bunch. They come in a variety of ways in which they work with or don't work with the schools. An overwhelming majority of those I know are extremely intimidated by teachers, administrators and by members of the governing body.
My reasoning with parents - though it never seems to work in changing their ability to speak of their dissatisfaction with the educational system - is "Come on, now, if you had just purchased a new SUV and its performance was short of your expectations, wouldn't you be back at the dealer?"
Well, yes, they admit that they would. But the parents I give this sermon to tell me the difference is that their children, the students being shortchanged of the education they deserve, will be singled out and punished because of aggressive parental action.
A parent's pursuit of better education in the classroom for their child should never be seen as grounds for the student reaping unfavorable treatment. Do kids of aggressive parents really suffer repercussions? I don't think so.
I see the situation with an opposing point of view, as I believe parents have to be aggressive or our kids will, indeed, be unjustly punished. What's worse than to continually be educationally shortchanged?
I practice what I preach. On Nov. 18, I e-mailed a group of teachers asking for my child's current grades, any missing assignments and test scores. Two days later, with no response, I forwarded the message to the counselor asking him to reach the teachers. Four days later, with no response, once again an e-mail was sent to the counselor, signed, "A pissed-off guardian."
It took another two days but on November 26, I received the following:
"I will forward the information to the teachers. While I agree that communication with parents is key to student success, resorting to name-calling, inquiries about job descriptions and threats to involve the school board and/or superintendent seem counter-productive to the process. I ask for your patience in receiving our responses. I assure you that we are all here for Brandi's best educational interests. Thank you for your patience and understanding."
I'm not so sure having called myself a "Pissed-off guardian" qualifies for name-calling but that's not a point worth arguing.
Also, I'm not sure saying I was on the wrong path for asking the counselor for assistance and that perhaps the superintendent, board members or the public could help me move the process along qualifies as threatening.
But now that I've chosen to run afoul of the cautionary e-mail pertaining to being counter-productive, I'm asking which members of the public know of a productive path to follow in getting responses from teachers that assists parents in monitoring their student's academic standing?
Once upon a time I had the answer.
Repercussions? I don’t think so.
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This blog can be found in our columns section where you can print a copy or e-mail to someone
http://talkaboutparenting.org/pages/articles.php
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Comment
| | 1. | This blog brought back many memories of working for a school district in the San Gabriel Valley. My job was at the administrative center as a secretary where the worst problems landed for final resolutions.
To answer your questions, yes, parents and students deserve better. A productive path to follow may be to ask for a "Friday Card." In some districts, usually in lower grades, you can request a Friday Card which will give you grades, missing assignments, and conduct for the week. At the high school level, some districts have homework hotlines available for parents to call in and find out what has been going on in the classroom for that particular subject.
To address your closing statement about repercussions, you are very wrong. I have held many jobs in my lifetime and have never, never come across a group of people more controlling, territorial and insecure as teachers. The majority of them have never worked in the real business world. They have lived their entire lives in a cocoon of theory, not practicality. Believe me, your child will suffer because of your actions. Your approach to a teacher has to be so cautious it makes an ordinary person gag. There are precious few teachers who are truly dedicated to the advancement of your child as a human being. And the system beats them to a pulp within a short time. It takes a very strong person to buck the system and remain true to the ideal of meaningful education.
The educational system is broken because the spirits of our teachers are broken by the very manner in which they are programmed to teach and in the way they are treated once they begin working in the classroom. There are so many rules and regulations, I do not know when they find the time to actually teach. The paperwork required of teachers is phenomenal. And that is before they even begin to plan lessons and correct tests.
That counselor was way out of line but his response was a typical of the attitude of people in the school environment. They seem to place themselves so far above everyone else that the lack of oxygen makes them dizzy and unable to think clearly.
my problem.
Please keep advocating for our children, our future. You are doing a wonderful job, dear lady.
Miss Linda
- by Linda, 12-04-2008, 1:51 AM
| | 2. | I am a parent and a Parent Educator teaching parent education classes. In my opinion when it takes several efforts to contact your child's teacher, a servant of tax payers,it's time for adamant parental advocacy. That is, scheduling a teacher conference, a Student Study Team %28SST%29meeting. This a right of parents and involves a gathering of your child's teachers and principle. The process involves a review of class subjects, current performance and a plan of improvement where it is necessary.
It takes a lot of time and commitment to be a fervent child advocate but is well worth the time. This is an assertive way of letting the teachers know they are accountable and your child's interest is of foremost importance. This is not a process to ridicule teachers or students but an opportunity to form an alliance to strengthen the T. E. A. M.%28Together,Everybody, Achieves,More support to your child's individual educational needs. robert
- by robert allen, 12-04-2008, 1:40 AM
| | 3. | Before going to the school board, et. al. I would see the principal and point out the failure of the teachers to respond quickly, for whatever reason, and the counselor's inability to get to the point, which was to ensure that the teachers got back to you in a timely manner. His job description, I can assure you, does not include adopting a condescending tone about how a parent should not proceed in an attempt to communicate with teachers. For example, he might have suggested ways, other than email, to be in touch with the teachers. Though in the age of the Internet, I can't imagine what such an alternative might be. But then, what do I know?
- by Beverlee Bruce, 11-30-2008, 2:00 PM
| | 4. | Shirlee,
The fact that you would be "chastised" for being aggressive about the educational welfare of your child, indicates a lack of "understanding" on the part of the "system". Keep them on the ball.
We need more "pissed off guardians" to react as you did.
Hank
- by Hank Wilfong, 11-30-2008, 9:38 AM
| | 5. | Boy, was I glad to read your article today regarding the arrogance of local public schools in the face of their failed responsibility to parents. Glad is probably an unfortunate choice of words; the situation is a pretty sorry one though real, but it's the fact that you're writing about it that is the good thing. I'm the mother of three, now-grown children, two of whom were students in local public schools. In talking with teachers and administrators I frequently found it alarming and infuriating how prevalent was the attitude that I was "butting in" when I sought information on, or wished to become involved with, some aspect of my child's education. Sometimes my inquiries were academic why does my 9-year old daughter, a good student, have three hours of homework every night, which I must supervise and sign-off on, sometimes they were something else my third grade daughter was punched in the face by an angry boy on the playground and I wasn't notified until the end or the day. My inquiries were always polite and friendly at least at the start. I always assumed that the person to whom I was speaking also had /the best interest of my child/ at heart, although after actually talking to them for a few minutes I often came away with a different idea; how could it be in t/he best interests of my child/ to keep me, her mother, pushed to the outside of this huge part of her life? Why is a PARENT being treated like an uninvited guests actually, I make uninvited guests feel more welcome? After numerous opportunities to interact with staff and administrators, and seeing that my child was unhappy, no longer interested academically, and was being treated with less respect by students and staff than she received at home nothing personal, this was just the accepted behavior in that group, I became disabused of the possibility of being a participant in my daughter's education. The irony of this wasn't lost on me; I'd often heard schools officials and teachers blaming"the home" as the source of their own failures educate our children. With my child's enthusiastic agreement, I took her out of our neighborhood school and enrolled her in a small, private school in La Canada, one I couldn't afford. I went to work to pay for it. What a different experience! Please continue to draw attention to this situation, Shirlee. It's outrageous that schools and specifically teachers, would be non-reponsive to you as a parent. At the very least there is a professional responsibility to respond to your communication in a timely manner, if only to say "We received your email and we've started doing something about it." By K.O.
- by K. O., 00-00-0000, 12:00 AM
| | 6. | As a retired teacher who taught in a local school district for 34 years, I read with interest your guest column in the Sat, Nov 29 Pasadena Star-News. While I believe it is unrealistic for parents to expect an overnight progress report from their child's teachers, there is no excuse for teachers not returning a courtesy email telling the inquiring parent that a report will be forthcoming. I would recommend that a parent who is being ignored by a teacher should first bring this to the attention of the school principal. In my experience, counselors are so busy counseling students their #1 role, attending meetings, visiting feeder schools, etc., that they truly don't have time to follow up on this kind of parent request. Only if the principal does not respond should a parent resort to the district administration. When I was teaching, I used a computer electronic gradebook to record my students' grades. I gave students weekly progress reports and required that they bring it back signed by a parent/guardian within 3 school days. These reports listed every assignment–handed in or missing,–every test, and the points/grades earned. If the student failed to return the signed progress report on time, I would assign 1-hour after school detention and I would phone the parent/guardian. Students who returned the signed progress report the next school day were given a token amount of extra credit. I was as over-worked as the next teacher, but I found that with an electronic gradebook, I could actually prevent students from "falling though the cracks" and failing the class. The students who failed my classes did so with their knowledge, their parents', their counselors', and mine. Teachers need to build parent-contact time into their days, even at the expense of linstruction. In my experience, parents responded favorably to these progress reports, and students found them valuable in catching teacher grading errors that too often negatively affected their grade. As a bonus, students took these records of their progress less personally and emotionally than the vague traditional progress reports.
- by Dan, 00-00-0000, 12:00 AM
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