Any Teachers? Complaints to the State Board

[dailey]

Was wondering if anyone knows what happens when a complaint is made to the state board about a teacher? Thanks

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

I don’t know the answer, but is there not an appropriately lower ranking person to complain to before taking it that high? It’s hard to know what we are talking about here.

 

[dailey]

To give a little more info. My husband thinks I should make a formal complaint against my daughters teacher. I already took it up with the teacher and the principal but I can see I am getting nowhere. Just was wondering if I did make a complaint, what would happen? I believe the teacher needs to be held accountable but at the same time, I don’t want to do anything too rash. I don’t have any teacher friends to ask so I have no idea of the consequence

 

[TheLittleLady]

I would go up the chain of command. Next is the Superintendent of Schools.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

As a teacher I prefered when people tried to handle things with me directly. It sounds like you did try that.

When you sought help from the principal, was moving your child from her class discussed at all?

Next step above the principal would be at the district level. If you keep going higher they will want to see you tried everything lower first to resolve the issue.

 

[gracepoole]

Do you want this teacher to lose her job? What outcome are you hoping for?

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

Do you want this teacher to lose her job?

That sort of becomes the question here. The State Board is in charge of teaching licenses. If this is a lose your license level offense, the principal’s cover their own butt reflexes would have kicked in and handled it by the book.

There may have been consequences for this educator. Incidents with parents even if we are totally innocent can damage our relationships with our superiors. It also may be reflected in their yearly evaluation which effects how frequently they will be observed by superiors keeping tabs and what sorts of professional development they may be required to take.

 

[gracepoole]

Precisely. That’s why I’d say it has to be a MAJOR offense to take it outside of the school district.

At the risk of sounding offensive, OP, is it at all possible that the situation could be read differently by someone who isn’t emotionally invested in it?

 

[Dlee]

They state board would kick it back to the local school district to investigate. If the situation were criminal, they would also contact the police department.

 

[Xystus]

I already took it up with the teacher and the principal but I can see I am getting nowhere.

My only advice would be to document everything. Keep records of all communications, follow up phone calls with an email recap of what was discussed if necessary. The principle at my kids school likes to sweep things under the rug. He has not been able to do that as easily now that he knows there is a paper trail of past communications.

 

[dailey]

All great advice, thank you! No, I do not want to get her fired. It’s a long story but the bottom line is she exaggerated and outright lied about my daughter and her behavior. She also told the principal that we had talked about my daughters lack of interest and participation in school at parent/teacher conference meeting. This conversation NEVER happened. So disappointing to see a teacher will do anything to try to save herself even if she throws my kid under the bus while doing so.

So again, no, I don’t want her fired but she needs to be held accountable for her lies or at the very least, it needs to be documented. The principal says she is an excellent teacher but an excellent teacher does not lie and make up conversations that never happened. One more thing, I know this may be a stretch but one of the reasons why she may not like my daughter is because she did her report on Mike Pence. My daughter said her teacher may not like that because she heard her talking negatively about Trump in the hallway. I know some people really hate him and who know, maybe she held it against her?