This came Friday:
Mrs. Johnson,I don't know what to make of this. Initially I thought someone had seen the light; someone had said to Christopher's guidance counselor — the guy who's supposed to be guiding our son — or, perhaps, to the principal, "We don't need another fight with these parents."
I spoke to Ms. T and Christopher received a XX on the CTBS test. I hope you have a nice weekend.
G.
Then I heard from the school attorney I mentioned (who will be writing posts for ktm-2 one of these days):
The penalty for violating the crap out of a parent's FERPA right is that the Feds "threaten" to withhold Federal funds. We know of no instance in which this has ever been done. There is no private right of action to sue under FERPA. However, it is a PITA to deal with OCR, so schools usually roll over and quick rather than have that time suck occur.So now I'm thinking the school actually did intend to withhold Christopher's CTBS score until acceptance and rejection letters had gone out for Earth Science no matter how much it fanned the flames.
Worse yet, school authorities thought acceptable professional behavior for a guidance counselor means telling a parent to send a followup request one week later instead of recording the first request on whatever calendar program taxpayers have purchased for his use.
Step behind the yellow line.
Come back next week.
Highest taxes in the country & I'm sending my kid to middle school at the DMV.
Anyway, I cited FERPA in the spirit of "see you and raise you"; I wasn't thinking tactically. My attitude was: If you can't send me my kid's science score today, then you can give me every last scrap of paper in his school file 45 days from now.
This wasn't a threat; I wasn't planning to "win." Parents never win. We ask for stuff; district says no to stuff. It's the Prime Directive.
All of a sudden, voila. Score arrives.
So.... I guess we haven't seen an outbreak of common sense. I must have just happened to stumble onto a threat that works.
It's always worse than you think.
.......................
On the other hand.... a threat that works.
Good to know.
I'm looking forward to Thinking Out Loud's posts.
news from nowhere part 14
news from nowhere part 16
news from nowhere part 17
news from nowhere part 20
Hey thanks for passing on the tip. I'll look over the FERPA stuff, it might come in useful.
ReplyDeleteFor what its worth, open record laws and sunshine laws can also be your friend.
I'm getting tons of useful advice from Thinking Out Loud.
ReplyDeleteI can send via email -- very useful.
One of the most useful pointers is that you don't actually need to make a threat.
You simply need to apprise administrators of the fact that you know your legal rights.
TOL also says we should all read our district's school board policy, which I intend to do.
Well, my son's principal is either incredibly stupid or totally email illiterate.
ReplyDeleteToday, I sent the followng email to a prospective fourth grade teachers
Hello Miss XXX,
I have a rising fourth grader and I am actively seeking advice from a few fourth grade teachers on their teaching styles and personal expectations for their students.
First, a little bit about my son, he is very curious and asks lots of questions. He is sweet kid (I think all mothers think this whether it is true or not) with a competitive nature. He takes academics seriously and enjoys learning about social studies and science.
According to your bio, you have minor endoresements in mathematics and language arts. I am curious about this.
Any comments you may have would be extremely helpful in assisting me with making a decision for a fourth grade teacher for my son.
Thank you for your time!
At the top of the email is the principals email address. This is the email:
Here is what I would say in response to the email:
Dear Mrs. Vxxxx,
I understand that Mrs. Hxxx has been accepting written thoughts from parents up until June 1st regarding the teaching styles best suited for their children. I play no part in the placement of the rising fourth grade students.
I think Mrs. Hxxx's main objective is to provide the parents the opportunity to offer valuable feedback. Unless I am mistaken, I don't think you are expected to be able to name teachers that you want.
I have high expectations....... (continue with a BROAD philosophy) .......... send the final version to me before sending it to her if you don't mind.
Okay. It looks like the teacher emailed the principal and the principal responded. I do not think the principal meant to send this to me.
Interesting. Anyway, the prinicpal called because I emailed back letting her know I received this. She said she doesn't like parents talking to teachers because it puts them in the middle.
THE MIDDLE OF WHAT????????
How can I know about teaching styles if I don't know the teacher personally? I don't know anyone who know this teacher. How will I know she is right fit for my son if I don't ask?
ReplyDeleteSurely, the principal does not intercept or direct teachers what they should and should not say? Right?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the prinicpal called because I emailed back letting her know I received this. She said she doesn't like parents talking to teachers because it puts them in the middle.
ReplyDeleteThey muzzle teachers all the time.
We were told - directly - by the two principals back in 6th grade that the reason teachers don't write comments about our kids, but instead punch in Canned Comments, is that they just never know what a teacher will say.
They probably didn't use those words precisely, but the message was clear: we don't trust them to write messages. They might say the wrong thing to a parent and then there would be trouble.
Of course C's teachers last year proceeded to punch in the wrong Canned Comments ("finds subject matter difficult" etc.) AND the principal timed delivery of the reports for Chrismas eve.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE THE COMMENT ABOUT BROAD PHILOSOPHY!!!
ReplyDeletedidn't George Orwell have something to say about that????
You've got a smoking gun there; that's what you've got.
ReplyDeleteYou've got your principal telling a teacher to b*s a parent.
We were blind copied on something we weren't supposed to get today (this wasn't a leak - it was an accident).
ReplyDeleteIt was an email about the Civil War Museum the 7th grade social studies kids are supposed to be constructing.
We have the **only** child in the entire school who is not creating an artifact.
Instead he's downstairs with Ed, trying to write a paragraph about two bullets that smashed into each other in the Civil War.
He was yelling at Ed a couple of minutes ago.
Beats constructing an artifact.
ReplyDeleteI desperately want to post the principal's letter on the front page.
ReplyDeleteBut ....I better not.
Broad philosophy, indeed!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!
I'm glad you stuck to your guns and Christopher is the "only" one not doing the artifact project.
Yes, probably not a good idea to post the principal's letter on the front page.