There seems to be confusion in how to go about trying to solve concerns some people may have. I want to try and address this here without pointing any fingers at anyone. When your child has some kind of an issue at school that you may need resolved, the first step is to go to the teacher and discuss it with him or her. If it can not be taken care of this way or at least to your satisfaction then you need to go to the building principal. I would hope that in most cases the principal can properly take care of whatever problem your child may have. But if things are still not resolved then contact Mr. Tubbs. He is the administrator over the principals, all the teachers and other staff. It is his job to make sure school policies were properly followed. If you still feel like your issue isn't resolved then you can bring it to the attention of your board member, or I would think any board member you would feel most comfortable discussing the issue with. Your board member will then most likey ask you if you have followed these steps as I just described, and may have further recommendations for you to follow.
It is very important to follow these steps for many reasons. The teacher knows your child better than anyone at the school, so they should know best how to deal with whatever concern you have. I would think the level of knowledge about the student decreases at each level. But this is also why we have policies, so for many issues the school administrators can refer to what is written in our policy manual. We as board members are cautioned not to get too involved with most issues. If there is say a suspension or other punishment given the student has the right to appeal to the board. We should try to stay unbiased so if there is an appeal, we can then hear the facts from all sides, and then as a board issue what I hope would be a fair judgement of the situation. Knowing too much before this would make it more difficult, and perhaps a board member may need to recuse themself by knowing too much.
I know it may be tempting to go right to your board member and expect that board member to solve you problem right away. It is also important to know an individual board member has no authority to take action by themselves. We are a board of five, and there has to be a majority to make any decision. I personally know very few of your children or even very many of the teachers. It is very hard for me to make a fair judgement of the situation. But saying this doesn't mean I think issues should go unresolved. There have been times when a parent talks to a board member about an issue they want delt with, but will indicate they don't want their name used. This is also a very hard situation to deal with. It's not fair to the teacher or administrator to be blamed for a situation that they may have no way of defending themselves over. I have also heard some teachers or aides may be afraid to openly express a concern they may see at the school over fear of being fired. I really don't think this would happen. If ever a teacher or anyone were to feel like their job was in jeopardy over speaking up on anything, as long as their concerns are honest and valid, I would like to know. I could just add from my other board experiences, I have experienced this situation myself and I won't except it at our school.
I would also like to ask for your help. There are some issues with discipline at the school that are very hard for the teachers and administrators to deal with. Please make sure your children of all ages are following the dress code, and for those who have cell phones please talk to them about when to use them. We have new policies addressing both of these issues. I have also heard there is a lack of respect given to some teachers and others. The halls are filled with crude and vulgar language at times. I hope there is a way for this behavior to change.
So to summarize if you have a problem, please follow these steps. Please don't just complain about something without trying to do what you can to solve your issue. It isn't an easy job to be a teacher or administrator, and our budget limitations putting more responsibilities on our administrators make it more difficult also. I hope I didn't offend anyone writing this. I just hope you better understand how to follow proper procedures. Thank you. Brian
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