In your opinion, do school districts listen much to parent complaints?

[Anonymous]

Like in my district (which happens to be LCPS) all of the weather closures (and non closures) get pummeled with complaints. Often competing complaints - half the parents are mad one way and half the parents are mad the other. Lots of complainers at school board meetings too. Once they changed the school year calendar based on complaints, etc. Parents complain about start times, bus times, etc.

I’m not sure how much the school district admin thinks about potential or actual complaints, but I don’t think the squeaky wheel should get the grease. If you only listen to complainers, you are ignoring all of the people who were happy with the decision but didn’t post about it on FB.

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Rarely. Somehow the sports controversy in FCPS got big enough this year that they finally did something.

Beyond that the school district seems relatively responsive to “interest groups” but not to parents. (Note - it is the interest groups that successfully lobbied for the calendar changes not just groups of parents.)

[Anonymous]

Depends on the issue. APS listens to staff when it comes to scheduling type of things (calendars, weather calls). They do community surveys and then ignore the results.

School boundary issues in Arlington, parents organize and 100 percent the whiniest, loudest, and most persistent parents get their way.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Parents are transient - they'll be at another school in a few years so the administration can ignore them