As I look back on my educational advocacy experience I ask myself…. at what point did I jump the shark? And what was the last straw that made me do it?
There is a term in show biz called “jumping the shark”. It’s when the TV series, which was doing amazingly well, starts to suck. At what point did the show “jump the shark”?
I think of jumping the shark in terms of our experience in education, when we realize what we hoped was going well, actually isn’t. When things take a turn. Reality sets in. In terms of advocacy, it is at this point in time we stop being doormats and prioritize being “nice”. (And really, advocating doesn’t mean ripping the skin off people’s faces. We can be respectful, and maintain civility.) Sometimes that means contacting district administration and filing external complaints if necessary. But the days of head nodding are over.
Parents naturally want a good relationship with their child’s school.
No parent wants to feel unwelcome. A troublemaker. Causing people discomfort. I never in my life could have predicted our family’s education experience when my children started kindergarten. Never. If someone told me 10 years ago, this is how things would be, I wouldn’t have believed them.
I am someone who is very sensitive. I know that about my own neurodiversity. If I mentally don’t feel well, I feel it physically. In big ways.
When I first started filing Teacher Regulation Branch complaints, of which I filed 4 of them at the start, I broke out into stress hives. They were all around my chest and back, ironically where my heart is.
I never wanted to see the look of dread on someone’s face when I walked into my children’s elementary school.
I wanted to have a good relationship with people.
But here is the thing…
If you lie to me.
If you gaslight me.
If you manipulate me.
If you ignore my emails.
You are the one who is breaking the good relationship with me first.
It’s already over. I just haven’t clued into that yet.
No matter how much discomfort someone feels around me, the bottom line, my kids come first. I struggle with prioritizing the feelings of adults in the schools over my kids. They are adults with resources and skills to regulate their own emotions. Children who are being discriminated against in school can do nothing but endure. They are trapped. Hoping their parents will pull them out of the quicksand.
At some point, you just have to see things for what they truly are.
Behind their smiles.
We need to snap into reality. Prioritize the physical, mental, and emotional safety of our kids, and just “jump the shark”.
We have another school year upon us and everyone’s anxiety around a new school are compounded this year, for so many reasons. More so, for parents of disabled children.
Advocacy for the new year is already in full swing, and who are we kidding, advocacy for this year -started last year!
When things feel out of control, it is important to remember that we do have a foundation of some education law to stand on. We can push.
First, we have The UNESCO Salamanca Statement
“In June 1994 representatives of 92 governments and 25 international organisations formed the World Conference on Special Needs Education, held in Salamanca, Spain. They agreed a dynamic new Statement on the education of all disabled children, which called for inclusion to be the norm. In addition, the Conference adopted a new Framework for Action, the guiding principle of which is that ordinary schools should accommodate all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions. All educational policies, says the Framework, should stipulate that disabled children attend the neighbourhood school ‘that would be attended if the child did not have a disability.”
Now that we have established that exclusion is actually illegal, and all of our children are legally allowed to attend their local school, let’s move onto Loco Parentis.
Second, we have Loco Parentis.
What does Loco Parentis mean?
It means that LEGALLY teachers are expected to behave like a “careful parent”.
“Traditionally, the teacher was considered to be acting in loco parentis. This means that in relation to the student, the teacher stands in the position of a caring, responsible parent and unofficial guardian. This concept allows the teacher some of the privileges of a parent but also brings with it added responsibilities for the protection of pupils. Thus, a teacher could be liable for injury or damages to a pupil if the teacher’s conduct falls below the standard of care deemed to be necessary under the given circumstances. In some instances, the duty of care owed by the teacher may exceed that of the parent if special knowledge makes the teacher aware of dangers that the parent might not appreciate.” – https://www.teachers.ab.ca/News%20Room/Publications/Substitute%20Teachers/Pages/Chapter%204.aspx
The courts continuously have tossed lawsuits against school districts who do not want the system to be flooded by parents’ ability to sue schools, especially around education malpractice. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56369776.pdf
Is the common law of Loco Parentis our way in???
I have such a respect for teachers. They are not given all of the education that is required of them to fulfill the expectations demanded by society, and then they are working in a failing system on stage in front of an audience. Does anyone else want to sign up for this? No thank you!
I have many friends who are teachers and EA’s. I was an EA! Working in education is not easy. However, I would like to add that there is a HUGE sliding scale of ability, skill and knowledge amongst education staff. There are the most AMAZING teachers out there and then there are some people who just shock me.
Some people don’t even know the harm they create. Some of it is systemic and functioning in an ablest society. The education system is very sick. It operates from a place of scarcity, defense and secrecy.
Every time school districts get away with harming children, and it usually takes a team, intentional or not, it reinforces that they are untouchable.
So, how can we use common law “Loco Parentis” to aid in our advocacy?
It’s sad to say, but it may take a lawsuit around this topic to get everyone’s attention. If anyone is interested in this path there are pro bono lawyers out there you may want to consider.
When communicating with school districts, it’s all about getting their attention with legal language.
For example: “Your suggestion would exclude my child from school and they would not be able to access their education.” – human rights complaint
“How does the harm my child has experienced because of my child’s team fall under the supreme court decision around loco parentis?”
When you start quoting policy and law, things tend to take a quick turn. Your school district will have a tab on their main website with all of the policies and bylaws, sometimes under the Board section. The school boards are responsible for student achievement and MONITORING student achievement. Always be aware that each school district has a process to appeal decisions to the school board.
For those who are sad at the realization that advocating for your child sometimes require that you become a self taught lawyer, I offer you this….
I encourage you to look through my education advocacy pages and I have added a new Education Law page. Work in progress! If any parent reading this would like to send me more education law info or links, I will be happy to add.
The scariest situation for a school district, is a parent who knows their rights. Every time you advocate for your own child, you open the door for someone else. We are not alone.
This year has been hard for the education system and everyone in it. I’d love to tell you that there is great news ahead, but there isn’t. There is also an education tsunami out there on the horizon. I can see it just starting to show itself, but it is still far enough away that it hasn’t caught the attention of too many parents. Some parents though are starting to notice it while standing on the beach.
For other reasons than budget and capital projects, I have been attending monthly Board meetings since Nov 2019 and committee meetings since they started up during COVID. Without purposefully seeking to understand the education system more, I have been exposed to some educational realities that I would not have normally been exposed to, which has led me to see the oncoming tsunami.
At these meeting, I have become a witness to some of the workings that school districts and Boards of Education allow the public to witness. Meetings always feel to me like a show. I wouldn’t even describe them as the tip of the iceberg because even what is discussed or presented on, I don’t feel is a true reflection of what public education is. When you attend meetings over time, patterns start to emerge. Themes will cycle. Personalities of the Trustees will unfold. (At least in my district, it is comforting to see that care for the children from our Trustees, is not the issue.) When attending meetings, you need to look at not only what is being discussed, but also what is not being discussed. What I also find very interesting is comparing Board of Education pages on the different school districts websites. It would be fascinating to have a provincial connected team of parents, that shared information about Board meetings across the districts. Got a monthly snapshot of what was happening on a provincial level.
I was doing some research months back and I came across an archive picture of a school Board meeting in my district in the 1970’s. It was incredible because it was standing room only. It was packed with people! I can tell you that when Board meetings were in person pre-COVID, I could count on one hand how many parents showed up that were not part of a delegation, for the whole year.
The financial situation that my school district is in, concerns me. It concerns me a lot. Don’t let the most recent financial drop intended to be spread out provincially from the Ministry for “pandemic related” recovery fool you. It’s the temporary pacifier meant to sooth you. The next few years are going to be very interesting. The kind of fascination of watching a building topple over when they take a wrecking ball to it, but with the added layer of fear.
I expect staffing qualified people is going to get much harder and based on the budget and capital realities, public education in every way shape and form is going to slowly deteriorate. We are frogs in hot water with the dial creeping up. The correlating factors affecting education are all linked to the changes that have been occurring in our society, on top of a foundation of chronic under funding. Because the government has a reactive approach to education, they are always years behind, playing catch up.
I’d like to throw out a consideration for people to think about. I am asking for people over the summer to consider either themselves to start attending their school districts Board meetings, or get a group of parents together to take turns and take notes. We need to have our eyes on the tsunami. School district’s need to know that the public is following, and the Ministry of Education needs to know that the public is aware. When governments think people aren’t watching them…that’s when they start to turn up the dial. They’ll find their sweet spot of what they can get away with, and what will create public outcry. They are testing us. What are parents begrudgingly willing to accept?
*** This blog, most of it, was posted as a letter in the Burnaby Now local news.
