Almost every day there is some news item from across our land regarding bizarre events and administrative decisions in our public school systems that leave many parents shaking their head in disbelief.  Unfortunately if it does not affect their child directly, many parents just shrug their shoulders as they look through the TV listings to see what is on the tube tonight.  If their children are affected many are afraid to complain because of the very real fear of future retribution against their child. Those persistent and brave enough to complain are often met with denials, rationalizations, and rhetoric from administrators but receive little in substance, satisfaction, or corrective action. 

For those pesky parents that won’t buy into the rhetoric but rather want results, the public school system usually has an appeals process.  In our county system, those parents can file a grievance and then present their case to an appeal panel at the district office.  When that panel renders its decision, a parent still in disagreement, can appeal that decision and actually appear before the school board.  Every parent should go through this process at least once for then they will fully understand why our public school system has deteriorated to the sad state it is in. It will clearly confirm why excellent teachers are not promoted and are left in the classroom while the “Peter Principle” promotes the lesser ones to the district level and allows them to rise to the level of their own incompetence.  Really incompetent administrators might even run for the school board.

School administrators stress daily to students concepts such as tolerance, peer mediation, diversity, fairness, equality, feelings, respect, consensus, non-discrimination, group responsibility, and group think.  When dealing with parental concerns or complaints, they don’t practice what they preach.  When a parent dares appear before school administrators to present their position and evidence in a grievance hearing, the administrators often act as if the above concepts are totally foreign to them.  The hearing is not about getting to the truth and doing what is fair and just for the student, but rather becomes a concentrated effort by the administration to prove the parent and student wrong at all costs. If a parent persists and goes all the way to the school board it gets even worse.  The school board members hearing the case often do not seriously listen to or even take the time to read the material or review the evidence that the parent has presented.   They won’t give the parent adequate time to speak and acquaint them with the issues that they did not bother to read in advance as they should have. The whole process becomes an intolerant kangaroo court designed as a dog and pony show to give the appearance that they care about what parents think when actually the outcome is pre-determined in advance to confirm the parent wrong and themselves right and beyond question. 

Our children deserve much better than this.  If more parents took action on their concerns, filed a grievance, and went through this process firsthand, then they would begin to understand what we are up against and what is truly wrong with our public school system.  Before a problem can be fixed, more parents need to understand why the system is broken.  If we are ever to fix our broken school system then we need to start by replacing the pompous hypocrites in their ivory tower that run our school systems with caring, concerned individuals that will put our children’s interests ahead of their own self-interests.  Now there’s a novel educational concept that needs stressing!