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How do you get a bad principal fired? Who do you go to to complain (besides the superintendent-he's in on this
Anonymous February 28, 2008
We had an incredible principal in Gallatin, mo. the last few years, and when she left, she "recommended" a qualified male; unfortunately, they went with someone that grew up here, and whose dad is some "big wig." My 6th grader (who has adhd and still is getting used to "small town usa")had an incident on a Sun., on our own property, where he and a friend yelled out to a 5th gr. teacher walking by that they didn't like her. The next day, "she" pulled them out of line, took them to "her" classroom, and proceeded to punish them herself. We went to the school board meeting, and before that I confronted both the principal and the superintendent. Basically, they all backed each other up and upheld the "teacher's punishment!" The other night at my son's game, she "pushed" my son (who was with friends that verify this!), so I told her not to touch my son again, and yesterday, he had his recess taken away! Most parents I know want her out, but don't know what to do-there's A LOT more to it.
healthy11 February 28, 2008
Unfortunately, if you've already gone to the superintendent and school board, you don't have many other "tactful" options. You should be documenting everything in writing, so that there is a "paper trail" record of the events. I do know of a parent who told her son's story (he also had ADHD) to the local newspaper, and that got a lot of people's attention, but I'm not sure if her son actually benefitted or if the administrator was removed. It sounds like your son could be "singled out" for further retaliatory events no matter what happens, but with a proper documentation record, you could consider legal action. Is there any other school you could send him to?11587
lisaedit February 28, 2008
I agree with Healthy11 that you do need to document everything in writing. The next step is to ban a group of parents together to speak with the superintendent and the school board. There is greater power in numbers! I love this advice from the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership that we quote in our article, "Powerful Parents Transform Schools," http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/36
If enough parents indicate interest in school improvement, administrators are usually willing to listen. CIPL parent trainers like to use this example, called "Collaboration Counts":
1 parent = a fruitcake
2 parents = fruitcake and friend
3 parents = troublemakers
5 parents = let's have a meeting
10 parents = we'd better listen
25 parents = our dear friends
50 parents = a powerful organization
11586
djames55 November 13, 2008
It sounds to me like there is more to the story then whats being told. I find it hard to understand that a teacher or any adult would put their hands on a child at a "game" where I would imagine lots more people, students and parents alike would be and your son's friends who witnessed this alledged abuse, were they the same friends who said "they didn't like her"? I would be very interested in what the kids really said, let's just be honest here, some kids are not just going to yell out "Hey Miss so-n-so, we don't like you. B.S. Do not ruin a person's career based on half truth and please do not use your childs ADHD as an excuse for the trouble he finds himself in, all you will do is enable him.11585
Clairejam9 March 12, 2009
My experience with a "bad administrator" at my child's school has given me a cynical view:
Don't expect institutions to do the "right thing." Expect them to do the "Institutional thing."
Institutions will sometimes protect their own, the bad principal, even though it means sacrificing the entire community--teachers, parents, and eventually, the students.
Sadly, after going through all of the proper channels for complaint, you may be ignored by the institutional leaders. It doesn't matter how true or valid your concerns are. All they have to do is ignore your emails, phone calls and opinions. Or they give you the double-talk treatment saying how important your opinion is to them, and then they do nothing. The unfortunate and complicated thing is that institutions are run by people who think they are doing the "right" thing. And rather than talk to the people who work at ground level, they rule from above, no matter how disconnected they are.
The only thing to do is to keep up the pressure, knowing that it may or may not make a difference.
I know it's a hard situation to be in and you have my sympathy. Good luck with it.11584
iamgreat1234 January 6, 2013
Well. I hope to successfully have Renald Cousineau, Tracy Shapiro, and James Hum fired from their positions at the school where they are faculty members after the summer of 2013. They are BAD. Biased, favouring towards negativity, and awful people. They make unjustified decisions (for personal pleasure), torment others and especially students. Quite frankly they've done some VERY, VERY despicable things to certain people. We all need to be responsible for anything bad we've done and these three will realise just that, because they will be reported to the local police department in which they live, they will be reported to the board office of education, AND reported about their misconduct towards others in the local newspaper. They are very very awful individuals who have a relentless mindset in their everyday lives. Those close to these individuals would be ashamed to know the things these disgusting people have done.81969
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