How to report misconduct of a MCPS principal?

[Anonymous]

Keep impeccable and detailed records of the bullying and your efforts to get MCPS to address. You’ll need those when you litigate. Only lawsuits get their attention.

[Anonymous]

Don’t bother, it will only make things worse. Our es principal was like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child has experienced bullying from the principal, resulting in emotional distress. What steps can we take to protect our child and report the principal’s misconduct effectively?

Call Child Protective Services.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/HHS-Program/Program.aspx?id=CYF/CYFChildWelfare-p214.html

[Anonymous]

No this won't float.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps you should have a direct discussion with the principal yourself? Face-to-face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child has experienced bullying from the principal, resulting in emotional distress. What steps can we take to protect our child and report the principal’s misconduct effectively?

Call Child Protective Services.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/HHS-Program/Program.aspx?id=CYF/CYFChildWelfare-p214.html

+1

[Anonymous]

Curious why so many people oppose asking the PTA Pres the name of the Director? My assumption is the PTA Pres would know the name so not a big deal to ask. Do you all have experience where the PTA Pres would not know the name? I also would assume the PTA would be a resource for advocating if needed to address an issue with the Principal. Is this not true at your schools? Not picking a fight, just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep impeccable and detailed records of the bullying and your efforts to get MCPS to address. You’ll need those when you litigate. Only lawsuits get their attention.

Agreed and be prepared to have your kid switch schools if necessary. My son was bullied by a teacher in early ES. He switched classes after it became apparent that we could not work with teacher moving forward and she could not work with our son. It worked well but I think that might be harder in the case of a principal.

I would document everything in an online complaint form to show how serious you are about it and then call central office to speak with supervisor. Do not involve the PTA board or President unless you want the issue to spread around the school.

I will say that I wish I raised the alarm bells sooner than I did and once we made the change, my son's anxiety improved dramatically but it took years for him to get over low self-esteem and confidence in the school setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious why so many people oppose asking the PTA Pres the name of the Director? My assumption is the PTA Pres would know the name so not a big deal to ask. Do you all have experience where the PTA Pres would not know the name? I also would assume the PTA would be a resource for advocating if needed to address an issue with the Principal. Is this not true at your schools? Not picking a fight, just curious.

Getting in the middle of a fight between and individual parent and the school administration is not the PTA president's role, and would almost certainly make it harder for that person to do the role successfully moving forward.

Besides, OP has the technological savvy to post here and I'm assuming that extends as far as clicking on a link to see which assistant superintendent their child's school is assigned to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious why so many people oppose asking the PTA Pres the name of the Director? My assumption is the PTA Pres would know the name so not a big deal to ask. Do you all have experience where the PTA Pres would not know the name? I also would assume the PTA would be a resource for advocating if needed to address an issue with the Principal. Is this not true at your schools? Not picking a fight, just curious.

Not all PTA presidents take the advocacy portion of their role seriously. Many PTA presidents prioritize being besties with the principal, so they either might ignore you or try to sabotage your efforts to hold the principal accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious why so many people oppose asking the PTA Pres the name of the Director? My assumption is the PTA Pres would know the name so not a big deal to ask. Do you all have experience where the PTA Pres would not know the name? I also would assume the PTA would be a resource for advocating if needed to address an issue with the Principal. Is this not true at your schools? Not picking a fight, just curious.

Getting in the middle of a fight between and individual parent and the school administration is not the PTA president's role, and would almost certainly make it harder for that person to do the role successfully moving forward.

Besides, OP has the technological savvy to post here and I'm assuming that extends as far as clicking on a link to see which assistant superintendent their child's school is assigned to.

Advocating for parents is absolutely part of the PTA's role. It's just that many have forgotten that and decided instead that the PTA's sole purpose is to be at the beck and call of school leadership and to fundraise.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the race and gender of the principal if mcps will even receive the complaint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious why so many people oppose asking the PTA Pres the name of the Director? My assumption is the PTA Pres would know the name so not a big deal to ask. Do you all have experience where the PTA Pres would not know the name? I also would assume the PTA would be a resource for advocating if needed to address an issue with the Principal. Is this not true at your schools? Not picking a fight, just curious.

Getting in the middle of a fight between and individual parent and the school administration is not the PTA president's role, and would almost certainly make it harder for that person to do the role successfully moving forward.

Besides, OP has the technological savvy to post here and I'm assuming that extends as far as clicking on a link to see which assistant superintendent their child's school is assigned to.

FERPA is a good reason not to involve other parents, PTA presidents included, in your child's sensitive school experiences.

[Anonymous]

This is the op here. Thank you all for your input and for sharing the helpful links. I was able to find the supervisor’s contact info and will now decide on the best way to move forward. As adults, we have the option to leave a toxic work environment if our boss bullies us, but kids are forced to endure such situations early in life, which feels incredibly helpless. As many of you suggested, I will work on documenting everything, even though the principal’s misconduct is primarily verbal and difficult to prove. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to help reduce my child’s anxiety and support my kid through this. Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the op here. Thank you all for your input and for sharing the helpful links. I was able to find the supervisor’s contact info and will now decide on the best way to move forward. As adults, we have the option to leave a toxic work environment if our boss bullies us, but kids are forced to endure such situations early in life, which feels incredibly helpless. As many of you suggested, I will work on documenting everything, even though the principal’s misconduct is primarily verbal and difficult to prove. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to help reduce my child’s anxiety and support my kid through this. Thanks again!

If you document, you can advocate to get a COSA - change of school assignment. This does not come with transportation but if you can transport your own child, you might be able to switch them to a different not over capacity school.