|
Thanks for posting this Cathy. I don’t think parents realize how one sided the process is until they experience it. Parents enter the process alone and with no experience or idea how it works.
The idea that parents are allowed to complain, but are not told how the complaint will be dealt with is insulting to say the least. It extends the code of silence into the complaint process. It removes a parent’s ability to object, within the process, to the way a complaint was represented or handled because the parent is not able to witness the process.
It can be degrading, frustrating and scary to be told that although the details of ‘your’ complaint concerning ‘your child’s wellbeing’ have been verified you will not be told how the situation will be handled. You are left standing there stripped of the right to have any input, or to know how your child will be protected, or if the teacher has a previous record, as the process disappears behind closed doors. But this is not considered to be bullying or maligning parents?
It sure feels like it and it greatly reduces the respect you have for those who have forced you into a subservient role in the protection of your own child. It makes parents feel powerless and professionals must know this will be the response.
Keep in mind that this is the same process that has allowed some very serious offenders to go from school to school. Why should parents have faith that concerns will be addressed properly? I can’t believe that educated people are this embryonic in their understanding of human nature. Shut the door in a parent’s face. Tell the parent he or she has no right to know how a problem will be dealt with and then expect compliance and respect? The profession should model compliance by strictly enforcing their own code of ethics. This would eliminate 99% of complaints.
I suspect the way professions handle complaints is intended to be respectful, compassionate and constructive toward the professional. The problem is they forgot to afford the same respect and compassion to the public. If professionals expect respect and compassion they should provide the public with respect and compassion first. They set the tone. It is not respectful or compassionate to treat members of the public like second class citizens. That is how it can feel to a parent.
| 
The Schools We Need
