Responding to Issues
Case Study 1
Summary of the case.
Case Study 1: Impatient Parent is about a parent who is upset that her daughter is being harassed by “a neighborhood boy in her class.” The mother states that her daughter has been receiving unwanted phone and text messages from an unknown source for about a week and this boy, and his friends laughed at her and made insulting remarks about the way she was dressed. Thus, the mother feels that the math teacher has done nothing about the situation or responded to her call the night before. The impatient mother is impatient because she is at the school trying to meet with the principal without an appointment, she is rushing to get to work on time, but is late, feels the teacher is ignoring her and she is mad about her daughter being bullied at school.
Identify the issues to be resolved.
The issue that needs to be resolved are the facts from the teacher, and the girl, harassment from the unknown source, teacher contacts parent to assure the parent that the matter is being handled, disciplinary actions for bullying.
Stakeholders involved in the issues.
The stakeholders that would be involved are the students, Geometry teacher and other teachers who have these students in the same class, administrations, counselors, parents, campus security and possible the police- depending how far the situations gets out of control.
One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issue.
Morrow v. Balaski, 719 F.3d 160 (3d Cir. 2013).
District policies that relate to the issues.
The district policies that reflect the issue of parents contacting teachers regarding situations is that they- the parent should have reasonable access to teachers/ staff for an open communication about activities, participation, and concerns. Parents are encouraged to volunteer, observe, and participate in classroom activities.
The other district policy for bullying is to first get reports from the victim and witness. Once a complaint has been filed, school personnel will investigate the incident and submit a report of the facts and resolved. Next, both parties, victim and predator’s parent/ guardian’s will be notified of the incident. All parties, including witnesses will be referred to counseling, medical attentions- nurse, psychologist, social worker, child welfare and/ or other support system that is appropriate. Once the facts are proven, and the students are getting the proper support, documents of the incident and resolutions will be filed with the school officials and district offices. Parents are encouraged to participate in the development of an intervention plan for their child to help ensure that the plan is effective. Also, depending on the severity of the offences, parents of the victim will be advised on how to file a complaint with the proper authorities. Parents of the victim will be advised of the predator’s plan and both parties will receive a copy of their child’s plan.
Possible solutions to the issues.
The possible solutions are to have the teacher investigate the situations and contact the parent with the facts in a reasonable time. Next the teacher would inform the parent (s) of the next steps that would be taken place by the administrators and district office. For the bullying I believe that the districts policies are enough to stop bullying of any sort. I think the only other thing that I will add is suspension of the predator and any associates that participated. However, to prevent bullying I think there needs to be a school wide discussion on the types of bullying in the beginning of each school year, explaining what bullying consists of, how it affects others and the consequences. I think that once students are aware of the severity of bullying, then it will enlighten them of how damaging it is. I also think that people are not that disheartening to continue to make others feel uncomfortable about something. So, addressing bullying in the beginning of the year will be a preventative action.
The solutions chosen to resolve the issues.
The solution to the hostile parent (s) would be to have the math teacher contact her immediately about the situation. The teacher needs to address the facts and how the school will proceed to resolve the issue of making her daughter feel safe. Also, to prevent further bullying from the predator the child’s parent/ guardian would be informed of the situation and consequences. Furthermore, the parents would be involved in the counseling sessions and disciplinary procedures. I would include that the student (s) complete x number of hours volunteering at a crisis center or somewhere where they can talk to victims and witness how the predator’s affected their life by bullying.
Action steps (2-5) for implementing each solution, including a timeline for each step.
The actions that I would take as a leader would be to first consult with the teacher to see the progress of the situations. This would be by the end of the school day from when the parent(s) notified me. I would be asking or looking for facts and witness statements. What evidence is presented and how can we prove or disprove that the predator is the classmate who lives down the street from the victim. Once the facts are obtained, then we can proceed with the situation by calling the victim’s parent that afternoon or the very next day and notifying her of these facts. Within two days, as principal I would have a mandatory assembly about bullying and the consequences of students who choose to participate in such activities. Within a day of the assemble I would have teachers discuss with students what was important and why, any concerns and allow students to anonymously give information about others who are being bullied. For the next school year, I would ask the school board to allow our school to implement a requirement for graduations or be part of their social study curriculum for a school wide community service platform that encourages students to volunteer x number of hours for 9- 12 grader to participate in community volunteering with issues that affect them. I would start off with simple community activities and as they continue to the next grades then their volunteering expectations would be more progressive. My purpose would be to teach them about the less fortunate, empathy for others and ways to help instead of criticizing and making fun of things people can’t help. For instance, the volunteer hours would be first for the 9th graders is to clean up the community, 10th graders collect goods for the homeless, 11th graders would participate in drug prevention and 12 graders would be part of the hot line for teen suicide and bullying. For those students who are involved with these issues I would allow them to participate in their upcoming grade so they can continue to heal or be part of their interventions plan.
Potential moral and legal consequences of each solution.
The consequences of not responding to a parent in a reasonable time frame would be that the parent reports to the district and school board. Which would question me on how we as a school respond to parents, bullying and other situations regarding student safety. The moral and legal consequences of each solution would be that the school board does not have the authority to implement additional curriculum or volunteer participation for graduation.
I believe that investigating the situations and identifying the facts allows me to be ethical and fair to all parties. (ECLL 5.1) For one it shows that I am not taking sides and being emotionally affected by the parent(s). But I am supporting the parents by addressing the situation in a timely manner and will notify her as soon as possible of the facts and the next procedures. I also think that addressing the situations by using preventative measures will help support the school and students from further bullying. (ECLL 6.0) This is securing the safety of the students while building upon the climate and cultural of the school by allowing them to learn, reflect and be part of a preventative program that encourages them to be proactive in helping their fellow classmates and community. (ECLL 3.3)
I believe that as a leader being fair and having integrity when responding to sensitive situations, shows that I am being impartial but also making this and other situations a learning platform to support students. This allows students to stand up to unjust acts and be supportive of their peers, which reflects collaborations and unity that supports our school’s climate and culture. The idea is to allow students to become social justice advocates within their oneself.
I think that the ideas and concepts mentioned above show that I support collaboration, trust, learning and high expectations because all the ideas and concepts discussed how these things are promoted. None of these ideas would be possible without staff, stakeholders and community collaborating and implementing ideas that foster the student’s social/ emotional growth and welfare. We must trust the ideas and concepts for them to work, thus the students must believe in us to buy into the ideas we are promoting. Once the trust is there, the learning and high expectations of the students will be implemented because the students are trusting us to help them succeed in life by teaching them the skill to be socially and emotionally successful throughout their life.
Reference:
Agape Incorporation. (2020, June). Student and parent handbook, p. 26-33.
https://www.agapeschools.org/web-dubois-student-handbook.html
Fresno Unified School. (2023) Bullying/cyberbullying information and procedures
https://www.fresnounified.org/bullying/
Rigby, K. (2003). Consequences of bullying in schools. The Canadian journal of psychiatry, 48(9), 583-590.
Bender, Y. (2005). The tactful teacher: Effective communication with parents, colleagues, and administrators.
Summary of the case.
Case Study 1: Impatient Parent is about a parent who is upset that her daughter is being harassed by “a neighborhood boy in her class.” The mother states that her daughter has been receiving unwanted phone and text messages from an unknown source for about a week and this boy, and his friends laughed at her and made insulting remarks about the way she was dressed. Thus, the mother feels that the math teacher has done nothing about the situation or responded to her call the night before. The impatient mother is impatient because she is at the school trying to meet with the principal without an appointment, she is rushing to get to work on time, but is late, feels the teacher is ignoring her and she is mad about her daughter being bullied at school.
Identify the issues to be resolved.
The issue that needs to be resolved are the facts from the teacher, and the girl, harassment from the unknown source, teacher contacts parent to assure the parent that the matter is being handled, disciplinary actions for bullying.
Stakeholders involved in the issues.
The stakeholders that would be involved are the students, Geometry teacher and other teachers who have these students in the same class, administrations, counselors, parents, campus security and possible the police- depending how far the situations gets out of control.
One or two existing laws or court rulings that relate to the issue.
Morrow v. Balaski, 719 F.3d 160 (3d Cir. 2013).
District policies that relate to the issues.
The district policies that reflect the issue of parents contacting teachers regarding situations is that they- the parent should have reasonable access to teachers/ staff for an open communication about activities, participation, and concerns. Parents are encouraged to volunteer, observe, and participate in classroom activities.
The other district policy for bullying is to first get reports from the victim and witness. Once a complaint has been filed, school personnel will investigate the incident and submit a report of the facts and resolved. Next, both parties, victim and predator’s parent/ guardian’s will be notified of the incident. All parties, including witnesses will be referred to counseling, medical attentions- nurse, psychologist, social worker, child welfare and/ or other support system that is appropriate. Once the facts are proven, and the students are getting the proper support, documents of the incident and resolutions will be filed with the school officials and district offices. Parents are encouraged to participate in the development of an intervention plan for their child to help ensure that the plan is effective. Also, depending on the severity of the offences, parents of the victim will be advised on how to file a complaint with the proper authorities. Parents of the victim will be advised of the predator’s plan and both parties will receive a copy of their child’s plan.
Possible solutions to the issues.
The possible solutions are to have the teacher investigate the situations and contact the parent with the facts in a reasonable time. Next the teacher would inform the parent (s) of the next steps that would be taken place by the administrators and district office. For the bullying I believe that the districts policies are enough to stop bullying of any sort. I think the only other thing that I will add is suspension of the predator and any associates that participated. However, to prevent bullying I think there needs to be a school wide discussion on the types of bullying in the beginning of each school year, explaining what bullying consists of, how it affects others and the consequences. I think that once students are aware of the severity of bullying, then it will enlighten them of how damaging it is. I also think that people are not that disheartening to continue to make others feel uncomfortable about something. So, addressing bullying in the beginning of the year will be a preventative action.
The solutions chosen to resolve the issues.
The solution to the hostile parent (s) would be to have the math teacher contact her immediately about the situation. The teacher needs to address the facts and how the school will proceed to resolve the issue of making her daughter feel safe. Also, to prevent further bullying from the predator the child’s parent/ guardian would be informed of the situation and consequences. Furthermore, the parents would be involved in the counseling sessions and disciplinary procedures. I would include that the student (s) complete x number of hours volunteering at a crisis center or somewhere where they can talk to victims and witness how the predator’s affected their life by bullying.
Action steps (2-5) for implementing each solution, including a timeline for each step.
The actions that I would take as a leader would be to first consult with the teacher to see the progress of the situations. This would be by the end of the school day from when the parent(s) notified me. I would be asking or looking for facts and witness statements. What evidence is presented and how can we prove or disprove that the predator is the classmate who lives down the street from the victim. Once the facts are obtained, then we can proceed with the situation by calling the victim’s parent that afternoon or the very next day and notifying her of these facts. Within two days, as principal I would have a mandatory assembly about bullying and the consequences of students who choose to participate in such activities. Within a day of the assemble I would have teachers discuss with students what was important and why, any concerns and allow students to anonymously give information about others who are being bullied. For the next school year, I would ask the school board to allow our school to implement a requirement for graduations or be part of their social study curriculum for a school wide community service platform that encourages students to volunteer x number of hours for 9- 12 grader to participate in community volunteering with issues that affect them. I would start off with simple community activities and as they continue to the next grades then their volunteering expectations would be more progressive. My purpose would be to teach them about the less fortunate, empathy for others and ways to help instead of criticizing and making fun of things people can’t help. For instance, the volunteer hours would be first for the 9th graders is to clean up the community, 10th graders collect goods for the homeless, 11th graders would participate in drug prevention and 12 graders would be part of the hot line for teen suicide and bullying. For those students who are involved with these issues I would allow them to participate in their upcoming grade so they can continue to heal or be part of their interventions plan.
Potential moral and legal consequences of each solution.
The consequences of not responding to a parent in a reasonable time frame would be that the parent reports to the district and school board. Which would question me on how we as a school respond to parents, bullying and other situations regarding student safety. The moral and legal consequences of each solution would be that the school board does not have the authority to implement additional curriculum or volunteer participation for graduation.
I believe that investigating the situations and identifying the facts allows me to be ethical and fair to all parties. (ECLL 5.1) For one it shows that I am not taking sides and being emotionally affected by the parent(s). But I am supporting the parents by addressing the situation in a timely manner and will notify her as soon as possible of the facts and the next procedures. I also think that addressing the situations by using preventative measures will help support the school and students from further bullying. (ECLL 6.0) This is securing the safety of the students while building upon the climate and cultural of the school by allowing them to learn, reflect and be part of a preventative program that encourages them to be proactive in helping their fellow classmates and community. (ECLL 3.3)
I believe that as a leader being fair and having integrity when responding to sensitive situations, shows that I am being impartial but also making this and other situations a learning platform to support students. This allows students to stand up to unjust acts and be supportive of their peers, which reflects collaborations and unity that supports our school’s climate and culture. The idea is to allow students to become social justice advocates within their oneself.
I think that the ideas and concepts mentioned above show that I support collaboration, trust, learning and high expectations because all the ideas and concepts discussed how these things are promoted. None of these ideas would be possible without staff, stakeholders and community collaborating and implementing ideas that foster the student’s social/ emotional growth and welfare. We must trust the ideas and concepts for them to work, thus the students must believe in us to buy into the ideas we are promoting. Once the trust is there, the learning and high expectations of the students will be implemented because the students are trusting us to help them succeed in life by teaching them the skill to be socially and emotionally successful throughout their life.
Reference:
Agape Incorporation. (2020, June). Student and parent handbook, p. 26-33.
https://www.agapeschools.org/web-dubois-student-handbook.html
Fresno Unified School. (2023) Bullying/cyberbullying information and procedures
https://www.fresnounified.org/bullying/
Rigby, K. (2003). Consequences of bullying in schools. The Canadian journal of psychiatry, 48(9), 583-590.
Bender, Y. (2005). The tactful teacher: Effective communication with parents, colleagues, and administrators.