School Restricting Communication With My Son's Teachers ...

[vja4Him]

School Restricting Communication With My Son's Teachers ...

Yesterday my son started summer school. He just finished 7th grade (failed, but was allowed to pass on to 8th grade). My son came home from summer school yesterday excited! He told me lots of things that happened at school, stories his teachers told the class.

I had sent e-mails to each of the three summer school teachers, reminding them that my son has a 504 Plan, and requesting that they review my son's 504 Plan, and make any necessary accommodations.

Received two e-mails from one of my son's teachers. Both messages were very positive and the teacher told me to stay in contact with him via e-mail, and also told me that e-mail is a great way to communicate. He also told me some strategies that he was already using for my son in the classroom.

This morning I received an e-mail from the summer school principal (whose regular position is the Learning Director, and also was present at the meeting we had last week, going over my son's existing 504 Plan, and talking about evaluating my son for an IEP, rather trying to talk me out of the evaluation and IEP).

Here is her message to me this morning (paraphrased):

Send all communication, including emails, to the principal *** or the summer school principal ***. Send messages to the principal and they will contact the teachers.

[stik]

Have they maybe had some incidents that have created concern in re. parent emails with staff? It sounds like your email was fine, and teachers were responding positively. But maybe some other parent out there went a little nuts and has been sending harassing or bullying messages to the teaching staff, and the principal wants to change the communications route for everyone rather than further aggravating this parent by singling them out?

The only other thing I could think of to account for it would be if your email contained a threat or an implied threat of legal action, the principal would definitely want to be the communication hub from here on out.

Or, maybe the principal is a micro-managing crazy person. It wouldn't be unheard of.

[vja4Him]

My First E-mail to Summer School Teachers ....

Here is a copy of the first e-mail I sent out (to each of my son's three summer school teachers):

Greetings,

I just wanted to send you a reminder that my son, ***, has a 504 Plan. Please make sure to look over his 504 Plan very carefully, and implement the necessary strategies and accommodations to help my son succeed with his academics.

Thank you!

[2boyzmama]

How did you get the teacher's emails? Because if they weren't given to you by the teachers, then I guess I can see why the principal would intervene. But if the emails were given out to all the parents (or given to you in the IEP meeting, or posted publically on the school's webpage) then I think the principal's response was overboard. If there is concern with IEP or 504-type conversations happening over email, then all they have to do is print the email out and put it in the kid's file!

I might respond to the principal and say something like "I'm sorry, did I come across wrong? It absolutely wasn't my intent, I know it's hard to read the tone in emails! I just wanted to have open dialogue with my son's teacher, something I'm sure the school supports 100%. I value your time and recognize that you're very busy, and as this email was simply to check in with my son's teacher, I didn't think it necessary to include you in the dialogue."

[ssh]

It sounds like only one of your DSs teacher wants to communicate by email. The other two teachers may have complained or the policy could be in place because of previous bad situations. I'd continue to email the one teacher who asked you to contact him that way. You could always request a meeting with each of the other teachers who didn't respond to you. It's not appropriate for a teacher to try to avoid communicating with you or for anyone to try to talk you out of an evaluation.

[vja4Him]

Originally Posted by 2boyzmama

How did you get the teacher's emails?

I called the school and asked for the e-mail addresses for my son's three summer school teachers. They gladly gave me the e-mail addresses over the phone! They also gave me the e-mail address for the principals (two). The second principal will be taking over the 4th day of summer school.

Because if they weren't given to you by the teachers, then I guess I can see why the principal would intervene. But if the emails were given out to all the parents (or given to you in the IEP meeting, or posted publically on the school's webpage) then I think the principal's response was overboard. If there is concern with IEP or 504-type conversations happening over email, then all they have to do is print the email out and put it in the kid's file!

I might respond to the principal and say something like "I'm sorry, did I come across wrong? It absolutely wasn't my intent, I know it's hard to read the tone in emails! I just wanted to have open dialogue with my son's teacher, something I'm sure the school supports 100%. I value your time and recognize that you're very busy, and as this email was simply to check in with my son's teacher, I didn't think it necessary to include you in the dialogue."

I sent the principal an e-mail at 9:38 this morning:

"Is there a policy restricting parents from e-mailing the teachers?"

Still no reply from the principal ....

[Linda on the move]

That's wierd. Our middle school gives all the parents a list containing the teachers' email addresses and phone extensions. Communication is encouraged.

[2boyzmama]

You know, it sounds like it's the teacher's doing, not the principal's. Because if it was some sort of school policy or principal preference, then the other two teachers wouldn't have emailed you back. So I'm thinking that the third teacher either mis-read your email as something to be concerned with, or just doesn't want to talk to you over email (although for the life of me I can't think of why).

Why the principal responded that way, I'm not sure. If I were the principal and one of my teachers had an issue with a parent emailing, I'd tell that teacher to handle it with the parent via a phone call or a note sent home with the child.

How strange...

[vja4Him]

Seems like the school is penalizing me for my previous e-mail contact with the regular teachers. I had used the word BS in an e-mail, but only after many e-mail messages to the teachers and other school staff. I've been fighting this school to get the necessary help for my son for months, only to have my son fail 7th grade, which is totally unacceptable ... !!!

The principal's final word the last week of school -- my son's grades really don't matter, because he will be passed on to the 8th grade! She told me not to tell my son that! I still haven't told him, but I'm thinking that I should let him know ....

The principal told me that I'm too negative. During the meeting I requested to update my son's 504 Plan and discuss evaluating my son for an IEP, the Resource Specialist told me that I'm too negative and just looking at doom and gloom.

I just received another e-mail this morning a few minutes ago, from the temporary summer school principal (paraphrased):

"The principal *** told you all communication should go through administration."

Actually, I was not told that this pertained to summer school. The summer school teachers are different teachers.

Anyway, I will fight this restriction the principal has placed on me. I sent out a complaint to the California Department of Education via snail-mail this morning. So, they will receive my complaint via e-mail and snail mail.

If the school continues to restrict my communication with the teachers, I might send another complaint via registered mail .....

[stik]

Cross-posted. Sorry.

As you are filing a complaint with the state DoE, your communication with the school should all be going through the principal. This is to your benefit - it means that the principal is your point person and will be aware of all your concerns, and can make sure that teachers address all of these concerns with timely action and communication. The principal has much more power than an emailing parent.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but honestly, it's for the best.

[Kristine233]

Our school posts teacher email addresses on the website and I've contacted with several in this method. If they give it out, it would be silly to restrict it.

I'd feel uncomfortable having to go through ONE person. What if they don't check emails often, or it gets forgotten about or if the principal decided it wasn't important enough to pass along? If such restrictions were placed I'd resort to only phone communication to talk to teachers directly. If they didn't allow that I'd probably email both and BCC the teacher as well. Or talk to the teachers directly to find out how they would prefer to communicate with you and what their suggestions are.

[vja4Him]

Originally Posted by stik

Cross-posted. Sorry.

As you are filing a complaint with the state DoE, your communication with the school should all be going through the principal. This is to your benefit - it means that the principal is your point person and will be aware of all your concerns, and can make sure that teachers address all of these concerns with timely action and communication. The principal has much more power than an emailing parent.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but honestly, it's for the best.

I don't see why it's necessary for me to send my e-mail through the principal. I want to connect with my son's teachers, not the principal.

The principal is NOT in the classroom with my son, and for the most part, the principal does NOT have to deal with my son's issues. The teacher does deal with my son, on a daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute basis.

I could CC the principal, but they don't want that. They want to exclude my direct contact with the teachers, which is not in my son's best interest.

My son's school is nothing but trouble ... They do not care about my son, or at least they are acting as if they do not care about my son, and they have shown their true colors, by ignoring my pleas for help, not complying with my son's 504 Plan, and allowing my son to fail 7th grade, which is totally unacceptable ... !!!

[vja4Him]

Originally Posted by Kristine233

Our school posts teacher email addresses on the website and I've contacted with several in this method. If they give it out, it would be silly to restrict it.

I'd feel uncomfortable having to go through ONE person. What if they don't check emails often, or it gets forgotten about or if the principal decided it wasn't important enough to pass along? If such restrictions were placed I'd resort to only phone communication to talk to teachers directly. If they didn't allow that I'd probably email both and BCC the teacher as well. Or talk to the teachers directly to find out how they would prefer to communicate with you and what their suggestions are.

That's exactly the way I feel. I already tried sending all e-mails to the principal, as they requested, but that didn't work. They were either ignoring me, too busy, or didn't feel that my messages were important enough to pass on. Or perhaps they didn't forward my entire message, but only cut and paste, and the teachers may have thought my messages really weren't that important ...

[vja4Him]

The principal never CCd or BCd to me any messages they sent out to the teachers, so I have no idea what kind of communication the principal had with my son's teachers, if any at all ....

[stik]

At the school where I work, teachers are supposed to respond to email messages within 2 work days. Principals ans assistant principals, on the other hand, are required to respond to email messages within 24 hours, seven days a week. Perhaps you could get some reassurance from your building principal on this front?

Seems like the school is penalizing me for my previous e-mail contact with the regular teachers. I had used the word BS in an e-mail, but only after many e-mail messages to the teachers and other school staff. I've been fighting this school to get the necessary help for my son for months, only to have my son fail 7th grade, which is totally unacceptable ... !!!

This part of your post looks like a brief history of what the school would probably consider an extremely contentious situation (the school that I work at would see it that way). Situations like these are associated with high levels of teacher burnout and staff turnover. They burn parents out too, but parents can't quit. It makes sense that the school would want to shield their staff to minimize their HR costs, and make sure that all your concerns are being tracked by one person.

The school is likely also trying to protect itself from possible litigation and prepare to deal with your formal complaint by making sure that an administrator is aware of all your concerns and knows how they have been communicated to teachers and how they are being responded to. FERPA can make dealing with lawsuits while protecting student privacy rights very complicated. By sending all your email through one person, the school can try to limit the number of people whose email accounts may be subject to subpoena. It's likely that the principal isn't sending your email to the teachers, but is communicating with them in face-to-face conversations. That's what my administrators would do.

It's highly likely that, having restricted your communication once, the school will continue to do so until your son moves to high school. You have filed a complaint with the state Department of Education. It sounds like you are intensely dissatisfied with your son's school. Does your area have school choice? Have you considered looking for a charter that might fit him better?

[fullofgrace]

Originally Posted by stik

The school is likely also trying to protect itself from possible litigation and prepare to deal with your formal complaint by making sure that an administrator is aware of all your concerns and knows how they have been communicated to teachers and how they are being responded to. FERPA can make dealing with lawsuits while protecting student privacy rights very complicated. By sending all your email through one person, the school can try to limit the number of people whose email accounts may be subject to subpoena. It's likely that the principal isn't sending your email to the teachers, but is communicating with them in face-to-face conversations. That's what my administrators would do.

I was going to say this, too. Now that legal recourse (the DOE complaint) is in progress, the School District (I'm talking over the principal's head) is going to do everything by the book to protect themselves legally. Part of that is requiring that all communication go through someone in the District with administrative authority so it is all 'on record' and legally documented. Once issues hit a certain point teachers are not allowed to get involved (again for legal reasons) and it sounds like it's at that point there with due process being started. So that would explain the stop of the emails.

I'm not saying that's right or fair - it's just how it is.

I think the best you can do now if you want to open the lines of communication is call the state DOE and request mediation.

[vja4Him]

Originally Posted by stik

Does your area have school choice? Have you considered looking for a charter that might fit him better?

I contacted the only charter school in our district, but have not heard back from them yet. I sent an e-mail and called and left a message. It is highly unlikely they would consider my son as a candidate though, since my son failed 7th grade.

There is only one other junior high, and my son's therapist highly recommended against transferring to that school. I respect his advice, and have decided to give my son's present school a try ....

[vja4Him]

I just got off the phone with one of the administrators. He has been mediating for us before, and looks like he may have resolved the issue. There seems to be a huge misunderstanding, and huge communication gap within the district, between teachers, administrators, and parents (and students as well).

Just one example of more negligence on the part of my son's school. I was told by the principal that my son could have a "Front of the Line Pass," which would be good for the entire school year. However, when my son went to the front of the line to get his lunch early, they took his pass away. He tried to get it back, but they told him it was only good one time. He told them that they principal told him the pass is good for the entire school year, but they refused to give him his pass back ... !!!

I complained about this, so did my son, but to no avail. At our meeting last week, they assured me that they would provide my son with a "Front of the Line Pass," that would be good for the entire school year, including summer school.

Guess what happened? They took my son's pass away again .... So, we complained, only this time a little louder .... My son came home today with his new "Front of the Line" pass that is an official plastic card with his picture!

This is only one example of many .... showing sheer negligence.

When trying to resolve the problem of how to help my son, it was obvious that the principal did not know what was really going on with us.

I'm guessing that maybe the school has had to deal with many dead-beat dads (very common in our area!), and so perhaps they already assumed that I was just another dead-beat dad, just out to cause trouble.

I told the administrator that I have over 21 years experience as an educator, which he admitted that he never knew! I understand what goes on in the classrooms, and I know what the teachers are going through. I've been there for many years, and have had to deal with various issues myself.

I've just never had to deal with so much negligence first hand. I've heard many horror stories of families that had to go through similar situations, where they just couldn't get the help they needed. Now my story is one of those horror stories ... !!!

[APToddlerMama]

It seems really odd and inappropriate to me that the school wouldn't allow you direct contact with the teachers (unless you know something we don't know... whatever was said about "bs" might be part of the story.). If it were me, I would definitely want direct contact and I would require that. I am guessing one of the teachers you emailed does not want the direct contact and asked the principal to back him/her up on that. Otherwise, how would the principal even know to email you? And, if they don't want direct contact, you're probably not going to get very far with them regardless. I know what it is like to fight for services for your kid and be at odds with them, but I think sometimes you have to kill them with kindness at the same time so that you can keep the lines of communication open with them and have your son's needs met.