Start
with your school | If
your school can't help, try your district or School Support Organization |
If that doesn't work, try the chancellor's office
If your son isn't learning how to read, if your
daughter is being teased on the playground, if both complain that
the cafeteria is too rowdy, you may need to get the teacher or the
school to step in and do something. Finding a remedy is sometimes
as easy as sending as a polite, backpacked note to the teacher. Other
times you may have to invoke your child's rights. It's important to
know how to do both effectively.
Make friends before you need them. Establish a
relationship with your child's teacher at the beginning of the school
year. Be sure to go to parent-teacher conferences in the fall and
in the spring. Go on field trips. Volunteer in the library, if you
have time. You want to be perceived as a helpful parent. Teachers
are bound to look favorably on a child whose parents are involved.
Moreover, if the first time you talk to your son's principal is when
she calls you to complain about his playground spats, it's bound to
be more awkward than if you've had a working relationship beforehand.
When talking to your child's teacher, keep
the focus on your concerns and what needs to be done to remedy the
situation. Say, "My son is having trouble finishing his homework"
rather than "You assign too much homework." Keep the focus
on helping your child and avoid the "blame game." Keep your
conversation short and to the point, just state the facts. It is always
a good idea to follow up with a letter stating what was discussed,
and keep a copy for your own records.
Set up an appointment
Probably the worst time to speak to a teacher
is at morning drop-off; teachers are simply too busy getting kids
ready for class. Set up an appointment and avoid "dropping by"
unannounced. Some teachers, especially in high school, will give you
their e-mail addresses to contact them. Arrive for your appointment
with an attitude that says "We can work this out." Listen
to the teacher's version of events. Remember, your child will naturally
have his/her own version of what happened.
If you can't solve the problem with the
teacher, you may informally ask others in the school for help. You
can call the guidance counselor for advice - without making a formal
complaint to the principal. Schools are supposed to make a number
of guidance services available. Indeed, although we commonly associate
counselors with high school career and college advice, guidance programs
must be available to students at every grade level, including elementary
school children. In grades K - 6, state regulation (New
York State Commissioner's Regulation Section 100.2 (j)) specifies
that guidance programs be designed to help students with, among other
things, attendance or behavioral problems and to educate students
about child sex abuse.
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Unfortunately, there is no law that entitles students
to excellent instruction all the time, but state regulations do require
teachers be evaluated yearly. Schools also have a responsibility
to provide regular training -- called professional development - to
teachers.
Teacher quality
New York State education regulations (New York State Commissioner's
Regulations 100.2 (o)) require that teachers be evaluated yearly to see if they have a number of skills essential
to good classroom instruction. Among them: a knack for nurturing "appropriate
teacher/student interaction" and developing "meaningful lesson
plans resulting in student learning."
Schools also have a responsibility to provide regular training --
or professional development – to teachers. And students with trouble
keeping up in class are supposed to receive extra-help services to
make sure that they can meet city and state standards.
Furthermore, many New York schools are eligible for teacher-training
funding authorized by a section (Title II) of a massive federal education
law called the No Child Left Behind Act. The money goes to schools
in low-income areas and can be used for recruiting high quality teachers,
offering professional development sessions, and devising ways to measure
how well the training works.
Teacher is absent often
Teachers are required to be in school regularly, under a local school
regulation, Chancellor’s Regulation C-603. The number of absences
to which they are entitled, however, is vague. Also, because
teachers are protected by a powerful union, principals find it difficult
to discipline them.
Nonetheless, your child is entitled to an education with a qualified
teacher. Because substitutes do not have to have the same level of
certification as fulltime teaches, frequent use of substitutes amounts
to a lack of qualified teaching in a classroom. If you notice a problem
with your child's teacher, you may make a written complaint to the
principal.
- To write your principal using Insideschools, click here.
Teacher is unresponsive to your efforts to
contact her
An ability to cooperate with parents is one of the measures of a good
teacher, according to state guidelines. You have a right, under
the local Parents' Bill of Rights, to participate in parent/teacher
conferences and share concerns regarding your "child's academic, social,
and behavioral progress." In addition, State Education Law 2590-h
requires that parents be given reasonable access to their child’s
school and classroom.
Discipline by teachers
Much of NYC public school discipline policy is spelled out in
a series of regulations that are posted on the Department of Education's
website. Chancellor's
Regulation A-443 covers behavior interventions, guidance conferences,
teacher removals and suspensions. You can also see Advocates for Children's
webpage
about suspensions.
Search and Seizure procedures are described in Chancellor's
Regulation A-432. Chancellor's
Regulation A-420 and A-421
define corporal punishment and verbal abuse, respectively, and outline
how those complaints should be handled.
For State regulations on discipline procedures, see Part
100 of the Commissioner’s Regulations.
In addition to writing a letter of complaint, you may also want to
exercise your right to file a Section 310 appeal to the state education
commissioner. Click here
for more information.
First, know your child's rights. Often when parents
sense that there is something wrong at their child's school, it turns
out that there is a law, regulation, or policy regarding that very
issue. If you can invoke the law, you will find that the school will
be much more willing to listen and work with you. (Some laws and chancellor's
regulations are listed throughout our Basic Information section.)
Going up the chain of
command
Once you know the law, go to the person closest to the problem. That usually
means the teacher. Then start climbing the chain of command: the assistant principal
and the principal or their equivalents -- and on up.
There are two reasons you want to go step-by-step.
The first is simply that if you go straight to the principal, he or
she will most often tell you that you need to first talk to the assistant
principal or teacher anyway. The second and perhaps more important
reason is that any time you go over the head of someone in the school
system, you risk making an enemy when you could have had an ally.
Put your concerns in
writing
When you have a serious concern about your child, put it in writing.
Repeat: put your concerns in writing. Next, be sure to make a copy
of the letter for your files and send your copy certified mail return
receipt requested. A letter provides documentation of your efforts
to solve a problem. It also prevents confusion about what you said.
In other words, school officials can't argue that you never complained
or that your complaint was unclear. See writing
a letter for tips on how.
Meeting with school
officials
Often a letter alone will not suffice. Instead, you need to meet with
people in the school to work out a resolution. Request a meeting in
writing, state your concerns, explain why you want a meeting, and
list the people you would like in attendance. Also, give a deadline
for the meeting (e.g. within the next week). If the person you wrote
to refuses to schedule a meeting, you will need to go up to the next
level and make your request there, including a copy of the letter
you sent to the first office.
Conducting the meeting
Arrive with an outline of your concerns and with copies of any laws or related
regulations. Go with possible resolutions to the problem and a willingness to
listen to the school's concerns and ideas. Assume the best and approach people
as if they are reasonable and want to help you. Take good notes. Let everyone
state his or her concerns. Once everything is on the table, keep discussion
focused on a plan you and the school can develop to address the problem. If
the discussion gets heated, shift it to what can be done now to work toward
a common resolution. If all goes well, the meeting will result in a plan describing
actions to be taken and clearly defining who is responsible for each action.
Review the plan with the group before going.
If the meeting does not result in a plan, you will need
to go to the next level and request a meeting with that office. Send a copy
of your first request for a meeting and a note explaining that this effort was
unsuccessful.
"Thank You"
notes and persistence
Whenever you have a successful meeting or a conversation follow up with a "thank
you" note. For one thing, it's the polite thing to do and will help you
keep allies. For another, the note serves as documentation. It is harder for
a school official to forget a promise if it is recorded in a note he or she
receives.
Keep in mind that schools are overburdened. Often
when schools give you the run-around, they are hoping you will run
out of energy and stop. By following up persistently, if politely,
you send the message that you are not going away until you get action.
Each school’s parent coordinator
is also on hand to help parents work out problems in the school. The
coordinator is responsible for addressing parent concerns and for
getting parents involved in the school. Coordinators also work with
the district family advocates to address issues
that cannot be resolved at the school level.
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If you're interested in rolling up your sleeves
and bringing about positive change in your school, consider getting
involved in your PTA (Parent Teacher Assocation) or Parents Association
(PA). PAs do much more than hold the odd bake sale. They write grants
to bring in added funding, arrange workshops on curriculum or help
coordinate after-school programs, for example.
Every public school must have a PA, which functions
as semi-independent organization, run by parents but supported by
the school. A PA can be creative with its activities as long as they
support the educational, social or cultural programs of schools.
If you are already involved in your school's PA, but have questions
about how it is supposed to work, there is a regulation on parents'
associations you can read. (Consider yourself warned: it's 50 pages
long).
If you have time to volunteer in your child's
classroom, great. One way to become a volunteer is to sign up for
training with Learning Leaders.
It's an organization with volunteers in hundreds of New York City
schools that issues ID badges for regular access into a school. Parents
must present ID when entering a school building. Learning leaders,
PTA and school leadership team members are regularly welcomed in schools.
School Leadership Teams (SLTs) bring together
parents, administrators, and teachers to create the school’s
education plan and write its budget. Representation on the team must
be balanced: 50% parents, 50% school personnel. Required members of
the team also include the school principal; the chapter leader from
the teachers' union, the United Federation of Teachers; and the president
of the parents' association. Other members are chosen by election.
SLTs should develop, or revise, the school's Comprehensive Educational
Plan, a document written yearly that spells out the educational direction
of the school. The team also should write the school's budget.
SLT members can also create special opportunities for their school.
For example, parents on the leadership team
may apply for a grants to win funds for art workshops for parents and
kids.
How effectively these teams work and how meaningfully parents are
involved in the teams depends on the school. Many school teams flourish,
but many parents complain that their team meetings are not taken seriously
by principals who continue to make decisions on their own. If you
are an SLT member who feels parents are not valued members of the
team, there are people and groups who can help empower parents on
the team. Start with your district's family advocates team and then, if necessary,
reach out to the central Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy.
If you want to find out more about the SLT at
your child's school, begin attending its meetings, which are supposed
to be open. The Department of Education's website
has useful information about SLTs, including a link to Chancellor's Regulation A-655.
Title I teams exist in many schools that
receive Title I money – federal funds for schools that have
many low-income students. These teams are charged with planning how
to use Title I funds for school-wide programs. Because the law allows
School Leadership Teams to take on the role of Title I teams, many
schools choose to have one team rather than two.
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