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5 day suspension.
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 335060" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Susie, that is pretty much my method.</p><p></p><p>What husband was describing, had a classic example one day at the beginning of the school year when the District Office declared that we would lose a teacher and classroom (based on enrolment numbers) which would have meant difficult child 3 being in a composite class (ie a double grade class) with about 45 students in it - definitely not something he could cope with. But the truck was turning up in the next day or so to literally haul off the classroom. Plus every person I tried to call was "in a meeting and can't be disturbed".</p><p></p><p>So since time was of the essence and since I suspected I'd have to "prod buttock" at a very high level, I rapidly worked my way up the chain of command.</p><p>First I called the local disability consultant (at DO level). In a meeting.</p><p>I left my message - "I require urgent action on this issue. Because it is urgent I will make my next call over your head. If that person is also unavailable I will make another call over THEIR head. I will keep calling until I get a real person to talk to who can help me. My final call will be the Minister for Education. After that it will be the Education Opposition spokesman, then the media."</p><p>So after the Disabilities person at DO, I then rang the Head of DO. In a meeting. So I rang the State D of E Disabilities person. In a meeting. So I rang the state boss of education. In a meeting. I did end up with the Minister, who had a staff member assigned to handle calls like mine, and who promised action.</p><p></p><p>We got it. All that afternoon, the Minister (who COULD get people out of a meeting) began to "prod buttock" in a big way, back down the chain.</p><p></p><p>We kept the classroom and the teacher. For another year only, but it bought us time.</p><p></p><p>The point is - if a D of E staffer did this, they would get slammed for it. But as parents, we have power. We can do this. And in our case, the end result was, I achieved something FOR THE SCHOOL which they had considered impossible. It meant that when I next had a disagreement with them and I said, "I am sure you can't do that, I will make some enquiries," if they knew they were on shaky ground they rapidly would backpedal and give me what I wanted, rather than see the Marg machine in action again.</p><p></p><p>There is an arrogance in organisations, including education. That arrogance is, "I am in charge, there are rules of protocol in who can talk to whom, all staff know this."</p><p>parents don't know it (unless they are teachers). Parents therefore are not bound by it (and don't let them tell you otherwise - they will try to).</p><p></p><p>But part of this arrogance is, "If I am in a meeting, you all have to wait for me to deign to return your call." It's a part of the mind that makes them feel important. </p><p></p><p>But the truly important people WILL return your call. Often, the truly important people have staff who can be very helpful indeed. You often can do a lot better especially if you can demonstrate that you HAVE tried the underlings and gotten nowhere. </p><p></p><p>I have found that you do need to be seen to have tried. If you haven't, the higher-up will simply say condescendingly, "You obviously didn't know that in tis situation, all you have to do is discuss it politely with the principal who I'm sure is a reasonable individual."</p><p>If you can demonstrate that you HAVE tried this communication (ie fax a copy of the letter you have emailed to the principal for which you have not had a reply) then you are more likely to get fast results.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 335060, member: 1991"] Susie, that is pretty much my method. What husband was describing, had a classic example one day at the beginning of the school year when the District Office declared that we would lose a teacher and classroom (based on enrolment numbers) which would have meant difficult child 3 being in a composite class (ie a double grade class) with about 45 students in it - definitely not something he could cope with. But the truck was turning up in the next day or so to literally haul off the classroom. Plus every person I tried to call was "in a meeting and can't be disturbed". So since time was of the essence and since I suspected I'd have to "prod buttock" at a very high level, I rapidly worked my way up the chain of command. First I called the local disability consultant (at DO level). In a meeting. I left my message - "I require urgent action on this issue. Because it is urgent I will make my next call over your head. If that person is also unavailable I will make another call over THEIR head. I will keep calling until I get a real person to talk to who can help me. My final call will be the Minister for Education. After that it will be the Education Opposition spokesman, then the media." So after the Disabilities person at DO, I then rang the Head of DO. In a meeting. So I rang the State D of E Disabilities person. In a meeting. So I rang the state boss of education. In a meeting. I did end up with the Minister, who had a staff member assigned to handle calls like mine, and who promised action. We got it. All that afternoon, the Minister (who COULD get people out of a meeting) began to "prod buttock" in a big way, back down the chain. We kept the classroom and the teacher. For another year only, but it bought us time. The point is - if a D of E staffer did this, they would get slammed for it. But as parents, we have power. We can do this. And in our case, the end result was, I achieved something FOR THE SCHOOL which they had considered impossible. It meant that when I next had a disagreement with them and I said, "I am sure you can't do that, I will make some enquiries," if they knew they were on shaky ground they rapidly would backpedal and give me what I wanted, rather than see the Marg machine in action again. There is an arrogance in organisations, including education. That arrogance is, "I am in charge, there are rules of protocol in who can talk to whom, all staff know this." parents don't know it (unless they are teachers). Parents therefore are not bound by it (and don't let them tell you otherwise - they will try to). But part of this arrogance is, "If I am in a meeting, you all have to wait for me to deign to return your call." It's a part of the mind that makes them feel important. But the truly important people WILL return your call. Often, the truly important people have staff who can be very helpful indeed. You often can do a lot better especially if you can demonstrate that you HAVE tried the underlings and gotten nowhere. I have found that you do need to be seen to have tried. If you haven't, the higher-up will simply say condescendingly, "You obviously didn't know that in tis situation, all you have to do is discuss it politely with the principal who I'm sure is a reasonable individual." If you can demonstrate that you HAVE tried this communication (ie fax a copy of the letter you have emailed to the principal for which you have not had a reply) then you are more likely to get fast results. Marg [/QUOTE]
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