Discussion Not Suppression

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From the school website (05 March 2008) : “I am not happy with the school as we have reported my cousins being bullied there, however the school has taken no action upon this and the bullying is still going ahead.”

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Reference to the above comment was made in an earlier discussion and we note that it subsequently was removed from the school’s guest book. We would like to assume that there was resolution to that particular problem. However, we have received e-mails from frustrated parents who have complained that their comments have been removed and that their issues were never addressed.

And here lies the dilemma. A school guest book is NOT the right place to post such criticisms / comments - it is too public. The Parents Support Forum acknowledges the same problem. Initially, posted comments were unmoderated but that had to be changed as some views / opinions / concerns were not considered to be suitable for public release.

Nevertheless, the comments and e-mails that have been received are valid and have been collated and should be actioned - it would be wrong to simply delete and disregard such expressions.

(It is suggested, even though the school’s website is far from active, that they use moderated comments for their guest book and respond to those comments if possible.)

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There must be ‘Discussion not Suppression’.

How can this be achieved ?

There needs to be concerted effort made by the school governors to investigate and review their role and interaction with the school. Duke Street is no different from many schools - the governors are distanced from the school and they have no direct contact with staff, parents or children.

It was suggested that one of the Parents Support Forum join the school governors but parent governors have a very restricted role :

“Parent governors are representative parents rather than representatives of parents. Although being available to advise parents on appropriate routes of action is a very important aspect of the role, it is vital that parent governors do not personally become involved in individual concerns. Apart from the possibility of this jeopardising appropriate complaints and appeals procedures, no governor has the authority to act individually on behalf of the school.”

From a discussion at governornet :

“I feel the problem at our school is the head’s ostrich tactic when it comes to complaints. Our parents tend to be very vocal and will broach the head with issues they are concerned about around their children. The head, it seems, will often let them hear what they want to hear but not actually do anything. Rather than moving on to a written, formal complaint the parent either leaves the issue - just moaning about the outcome - or puts in for a transfer to another school. So issues don’t come, officially, to the GB so we can’t act on them - and the head trundles on.”

Several e-mails asked us who we are and why don’t we come forward as a group. The answer is that we can’t. We have no official recognition and we remain troubled by concerns about our children. At the moment, at Duke Street, there is a sense that no one wants to talk - one e-mail said “there is a prevailing atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust” - and that was from staff !

The school has to realise that we all like to moan. And probably 99.9% of the time it is just that - moaning ! But there does need to be an official group who can listen and react to parental concerns - and good ideas too ! It’s all about listening, understanding, discussion and involvement.

A comment was posted to the discussion at Deaf Ears - Breakfast Club :

“quite clearly ananymous is very self centred. I can clearly understand why the comment has been posted, however do these inconsiderate parents appreciate, that a lot of working parents work in schools and have their own famalies to look after. Maybe instead of slagging a school off with negative comments, these so called faceless parents should come up with positive ideas to support the school and their children. It seems to me, it is very easy to hide behind a useless blog, when I have always found, school staff approachable and willing to respond to positive ideas”

This unpleasant and scathing comment had been provoked by a parent’s good and constructive suggestion (that had been posted to the school’s guest book) :
	“Would like the school to have a breakfast club, so that working mums who start early have an option to drop children off at school early.”

It is disturbing to appreciate that this response was posted by the school and not by a parent !

(Whilst the Parents Support Forum promise not to breach anonymity, your activities on the forum are logged and it is possible to identify some fairly technical features of your contact - including IP address and service provider.)

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So there is clearly a long way to go but with your help there can be open discussion with everyone. The first step is for the governors to form a truly representative Parents’ Council and for them to increase their participation and involvement with the school.

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To conclude this discussion, we are indebted to ‘angry mother’ who made the following comment :

“If the school knows something and we parents don’t know that we should know what they know, how can we ask what they know that we don’t know!”

We couldn’t have put it better ! Thank you.