Reply to WTU calls out Bully Principals at Lafayette ES, Truesdell EC, Orr ES, West EC and Jefferson MS

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Reply to "WTU calls out Bully Principals at Lafayette ES, Truesdell EC, Orr ES, West EC and Jefferson MS"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I get that teachers are reluctant to call out bully principals, but how are we as parents supposed to believe anonymous complaints?

I would gladly support serious teacher complaint protection laws to prevent retaliation.  I'm not sure how else to break the logjam.[/quote]

I hear you. Research shows that poor school leadership is often one of the main contributors of teacher turnover. I worked at one of the schools mentioned on Ms. Peterson's blog, and I wish there were more outlets to voice bullying concerns and improve a school's professional culture. Say a teacher goes to a parent. [b]Then what? Is the parent going to potentially hurt their relationship and their child's relationship with the principal over a teacher's concerns?[/b] Would the parent truly keep the teacher's name anonymous when pressed by the principal? What can we do so that good teachers are not leaving in droves, while ensuring that school leaders are receiving the type of feedback that they desperately need. In my experience, the union is pretty powerless when the principal (in my school's case, a principal quite popular with Central Office) has the full backing of Central Office. [/quote]

Not one, but multiple - yes, definitely.  Let's say, for example, that multiple teachers have expressed their concerns to multiple parents.  Parents talk.  And we can make loud demands of DCPS.  Don't you have a PTA leader or something like that?
We (and I'll speak for everyone here) don't want to see good teachers leave, so we care about this.  I would keep the teachers' names anonymous - I get no benefit from stifling real complaints.

See, central office is still beholden to politicians.  And politicians listen to loud crowds of parents.
[/quote]

The other thing is that teachers use parents to help fight their battles which I guess is ok and probably happens a lot at schools. At Lafayette it is happening all over the place. Parents put themselves in situations where they listen to concerns (which may or may not be legitimate) and that starts up the rumor mill, heavy gossip, etc.  Teachers talk to the parents about what is happening, how they feel, what they don't like, sharing personal details about other kids, maybe other parents, families etc.  This seemed to be ok at Lafayette before so transitioning a culture into a more professional environment has to be uncomfortable and threatening, especially for those who have worked there for many years and don't know any other way.[/quote]

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