Deafening Silence From Schools

There’s a troubling >Web-only story by Jay Mathews in today’s Washington Post about some events at Maryvale Elementary School. Taking as its departure point a story of abuse by a teacher who is no longer at the school, Mathews illustrates how hard it is for parents (and anyone outside the school building, for that matter) to get information about incidents that occur in the classroom.

The instinct of school administrators to keep parents ignorant of allegedly unpleasant or controversial behavior by teachers is backed by state regulations, union rules and fear of lawsuits. The administrators who refuse to answer parental questions say there is nothing they can do. But the anger felt by parents . . . is often not eased by the recognition that the administrators would like to tell them more, but are not allowed to. . . .

It’s important to note that the story is not an indictment of Maryvale and Mathews goes out of his way to praise the principal at the time, Eric Davis. (There is a different principal now.)

The point, though, for parents to take away is that it is important to pay attention to what our children say to us about what goes on in classrooms, and important to be involved in such things as the PTA and other groups. Communicating — with one another and with school administrations — is critical:

Both educators and parents are caught in a web of fear and inertia that so far has left both dissatisfied with the outcomes. There is not much educators can do about what school district lawyers tell them they can and cannot say, but parents might find that legislators are more willing to consider revising the offending regulations if they were willing to speak out more about their experiences. . . .

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