I have had my posts denied also. My situation is not near as bad as yours, but I think that parents should be informed about the schools that their children are attending. I am so sorry for your child. Life is hard enough w/o some of the idiots we have in the school system. Our children are the ones who suffer and it is up to us to take care of them. But officials seem to stand behind each other, right or wrong.
May God Bless you and good luck,
Marilyn

Great idea kcurcuruto ! Here's another message board for parents in situations like this, they would love to hear your ideas -

millermom.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Education

I am agreeing that something needs to be done with the schools and employees. The world needs to know how are kids are being mistreated. Why is it the normal children dont have to fight for their education, sports activities. Its handed to them on a silver platter but we have to fight for everything our children deserve.I say we go public in the newspapers around the world. Pick a day and everyone publish their article for that day (call it stand up for the rights of our special children.)

i think the parents of this country should some how form a group to change the teachers power to get away with abusing our children... i think survalence cammeras in every classroom and halls would help. It would protect the children and the teachers so that if there is a problem then we parents would be able to see what is going on with our children while they are in school...

I agree that the school districts are given too much power and that something needs to be done about this and we the parents that know that our children are being abused by certain teachers are lefted watching most of the teachers get away with it. Just the other day a teacher screamed " SCREW YOU " to my 12 year old son in front of me, his grandmother and many other people. What do you do about that ? Where is the justice and protection of children ?

Marney,
You are absolutely right. I too was handed due process papers by my school district and it is a form of intimidation. It is a convenient "out" when a district doesn't want to admit wrong doing to a state compliance agency.
Great schools should not be afraid of getting sued. They didn't write the post or the review. Newspaper articles always have feedback from readers, why should GS be treated any differently? I could be wrong, but I remember there was a controversy of over GS copyright/rules of use, where they wanted to claim ownership on everything written by posters. If that is true, maybe that policy needs re-thinking.

''Also, I could never live with myself if I didn't respond honestly (not spitefully) to a parent inquiring about our school district. ''

Seems like GREAT SCHOOLS would feel the same, but they don't. It's in the same vein as wondering how schools can live with themselves for hurting children.
A REAL disservice to the public they are trying to inform.

''Great schools could possibly be afraid of getting sued, but if the public cannot tell the truth here, why bother coming on here.''

BINGO, Marney!!

I still don't understand why great schools doesn't post the 'negative' school reviews, but still let us post the 'negative' messages on these boards???

I believe the parents are correct for coming forward about the schools and the inappropriate way their kids are being treated especially in Special Education. Many of our school districts break the law and get away with it. I believe Great Schools should publish these types of letters, because the forum is in fact about education and the problem areas. For a parent to get sued I guess could happen, but that same parent could file a counter lawsuit. This is just another example of how school districts can intimidate a parent from coming forward and making a school district answer to what they doing that is harmful to a student and it works for them. If parents cannot be honest about school districts on this forum, how can parents get answers? The teachers that are violating policies should be made to answer to it. The teachers that are treating our children badly should be made to change that. We can't all just say nice things about schools if there are problem areas with the school and it is in fact harming the child. Abusive tactics should apply to schools as well as everyone else. School districts do sweep this under the rug. Everyone wants to avoid a law suit, but school districts abuse their power and stoop to intimidation to avoid lawsuits, which is also inappropriate to say the least. Great schools could possibly be afraid of getting sued, but if the public cannot tell the truth here, why bother coming on here. Many times the school districts are at fault and everyone being intimidated is exactly why they get away with the problems they are causing. I was handed a lawsuit on golden platter by our school district and they simple threatened me in return on 2 occasions. This really happens and it is harmful to our kids. Its abuse!!!!! If Great Schools really care about the students, the bad stuff has to said as well as the good stuff. It is not about teacher bashing, these are sincere serious problems parents are going through with school districts and there seems to be no answer, because school districts are babied and protected. I have a seriously learning challenged child with lots of evaluations showing by experts the problem areas, my child still gets brow beaten over it by teachers and teachers aides. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't do research and seek answers. But there isn't any, because the bottom line is the school districts are too well protected and allowed to get away with this (abuse of power). I can get on here and be mousy and polite about it, but why???? My child has an extensive IEP, and the teachers honor it when and if they feel like it!!! It truly has gotten out of hand. Then I am told about the wonderful resources and ways to handle the problem, and all along the school district is very prepared to pull their stuff and it gets no where. I know the drill all too well. Maybe all parents in this type of situation should come together and complain as a group. These are serious issues that do true harm to our children on a daily basis. This is a form of child abuse!!!!! We do know there are good teachers, but it is the "not so good teachers, principals and administrators" we are concerned with. How good is it when parents have a disabled child with an ongoing school problem??? Who can we tell and have it do some good without being threatened, argued with and intimidated; or just plain humored?

I responded to a family asking about League City, Tx. I told them that if they had children that had special needs, then to RUN from our district. Our district would rather give the money it receives to lawyers and courts than to help the disabled, the disadvantaged, the special kids like my son. If this school would have given him the program/help he needed WHEN he needed it, none of us would be where we are...in the attorney's office.
My son has missed out because this has been going on since Sept. My husband and I don't just "go away". We will fight to get him healthy (he's been on homebound under general ed) and we will fight for his right to get a free and appropriate education. We realize it will cost us a lot of money to get the our son's school/district to enforce the law, but I couldn't think of a better investment than my son. Also, I could never live with myself if I didn't respond honestly (not spitefully) to a parent inquiring about our school district. If our fight gets our son the help he needs to become successful, I'll be so happy.But if my letter prevents a child from going through what my son has, then I will feel perhaps this senseless denial of his right to learn would not have been for nothing. I pray no other family has to go through what the Reid family did (they were in the news recently) and others like us have had to endure. It's bad enough having an autoimmune illness, Tourette's and other health impairments, and doctor appointments, painful procedures/testing, and physical therapy on a weekly basis without your school (where you've excelled in the past) denies the suggestions of specialists and you begin failing. I think my son has felt more pain from his lack of success in school than from his physical ailments.
As my husband told the ARD committee on our way out, "shame on all of you!"

Buckaroo I agree! If no specific school name is mentioned, the information should be published. If a child has a serious learning disability and teachers are calling the child names, this needs to be be adequately addressed. Parents often do attempt to discuss this with the appropriate people at school and then a retalition is done against the child. I believe this happens more than the public knows about. Teachers do a considerable amount of damage to learning disabled students when the students are inappropriately treated. I went through this and it was not a productive experience for my child. When school turns into a disaster for a child and school districts are ignoring it, that can make an impossible situation for everyone. It truly should be addressed and the teachers should provide "A Free Appropriate Public Education" that is the law!!!!!

You're probably right...

OneOutof5- I could be wrong, but what I think SoCalGal is referring to is the Local Q&A right here at GS. If you keep an eye on your local Q&A, you can chime in when questions are raised about your local district. think SoCalGal is offering a potential work around -- in the interim while GS reconsiders its review posting guidelines.

(437103)

Are you thinking of the "Parent Surveys" that many parents receive? It is my understanding that such surveys are rigged. In speaking with a reporter recently, he laughed about one of my children's public school's having a 98% parental approval rating. I was wondering how that could be when so many parents I knew had faced problems dealing with the school. Apparently, negative surveys that are sent-in never see the light of day -- lost in the mail? Who Knows. In fact, the joke was that if I was the one in charge of writing my own review, I'd give myself top scores the whole way too! (at least 98%, but just so not to be obvious, a 2% differential).

And one of the ways to handle this is to wait, like I did, for the opportunities that come along for those people who ask specific questions about YOUR school district.

And then you can answer a question honestly...

You don't have to be mean, or spiteful or provide specifics. I wasn't and didn't but I did share that I couldn't recommend the public middle schools in our school district for gift, creative kids (like the one who lives at my house).

You may have to agree to the "rules" to POST parent reviews, but those that are just reading them are unaware of the skew caused by the difficulty of getting a negative review published.

Here is a link to our parent review guidelines:
www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/static/guidelines.html/wa/

We do post negative reviews as long as they adhere to the guidelines we have posted. We do not remove negative reviews simply because a school official asks us to.

The parent community (that which we are posting on) has a different set of guidelines:
www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/static/terms.html/CA#communityStandards

As well as a moderation policy: community.greatschools.net/advice/562/Moderation-Policy-and-Posting-Guidelines--A-Guide-to-Your-Community

And we also have our Terms of Use, which you agree to when you register with GreatSchools and I *think* again before you can submit a parent review:
www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/static/terms.html/WA

I think that covers it... ;-)

Correction to previous letter; I meant to say "I am NOT teacher bashing" and it came out wrong. Sorry. I do believe if a teacher like anyone else abuses a child mentally or physically, they should be punished.

WOW!!!! If I didn't know better I would say I could have written your letter about the school 3 years ago. I hope Great Schools posts everything, that is how the problems can be corrected. I feel if a school district allows unethical teaching practices, take them to court or get a new school administrator. These things really do happen. I have seen it for myself. Schools should go by rules the same as everyone else. If teachers are making a chaotic problem for a disabled student, they should be fired, this is against the law. Children with learning disabilities need patience and understanding, not brow beating. In the past, my child tolerated name calling by teachers, she was accused of knowing the work and purposely not doing it, she almost had a nervous breakdown over it. We went through hell and back , I do believe school can be a huge problem for our learning disabled kids, and it does need to be addressed and teachers that are guilty of mental abuse should be arrested. Good luck and please let us know the outcome. And no I am teacher bashing, but when there are a portion of educators that truly do these things, it should be addressed and the perpetrator should be dealt with.

TJ,
Thanks for your input. I'm glad to know it is being reviewed and do realize in this litigious society the dangers of posting the truth.
I don't mean to appear to be in attack mode, but know that the positive slant made on these schools can do more harm than good.
Again, at least a warning to let parents know that negative reviews are pulled to prevent you from being sued so parents would realize they are getting white washed reviews. Or eliminate them entirely, since they have no real meaning. At least provide the parents with a running tab of negative reviews that were "filtered" from the site. That shouldn't cause any grief, as it is just stating a true fact.
Thanks again!

jdeekdee,
Even if you don't name the school in your review, if you are on that schools review page it is referenced. What I was saying was that negative comments about our school experiences in THIS post or others in the general forum would remain as long as the specific school isn't mentioned by name.

I want to ask again - are the negative reviews WITHOUT the schools name remaining instead of being pulled?

Can someone tell me where to find the parent review policy? I searched and can't find it.

Appreciate your looking into it tj.

GS should allow the same good feeling posts as the not so good with the same weight. I was also told only one post per parent when the moderator wrote me about a post I put in 2 years ago. Yes, this started over a 2 year old post.

So what happens if a parent posts about one school for one kid and then wants to post for the same school but a different grade and experience for another kid? I think that needs to be considered too.

Then, what about the parents who have different emails? I spoke to a parent who said they wanted to tame my post so both she and her husband wrote opposing posts to mine. Of course I feel they should have focused on areas of the school they actually had experienced with, which was not Special Ed. I didn't mind that both parents posted from different emails but was miffed that I was told only one post per family when I was contacted. I felt my family was being censored because GS didn't care for the less than enthusiastic post regarding the school/district.

I spend an inordinate amount of time understanding and seeking out information within our district, more than most parents. I wanted to know if I was crazy or were things really that bad. I found audits, reports and state complaints that confirmed the snakepit I put my kids in.

For example, when I questioned the SPED director about the policies for middle and high school I reported what I was told and it's in the public minutes of the parent's group which most parents wouldn't even know where to find them. It wasn't rosy. I felt parents of SPED students looking at this one school in particular with it's high scores should know this.

How doe they achieve those scores? Again, I didn't know until I really delved into it.

I have since learned this school pushes out the high number of district minority students (stopped bussing to it). The administrators and SPED personell make the environment what they did for LD students so the population of SPED is only the severely handicapped and warehoused on the property. The quota looks about right, about 10% SPED students in this school like most in the district, but this population does not take the state test so it's just looks even better on paper.

In addition, I know so many parents who are paying for tutoring due to the uncredentialed teachers. This configuration, K-8 has a different criteria than let's say a straight middle school? There are so many parents who not as poor paying for help outside the school and the administration loves to take credit for it instead of firing the teachers for lack of ability to teach. I know that one from experience and my kid being in a GATE math class taught a few years ago by a credentialed, only in English, teacher. She is STILL teaching and STILL kids who are highly qualified failing so the parents call me asking for a tutor just to get their kids through this school year.
Now do you think I could post this? Probably not. It's too specific even if I didn't name the teacher or grade.

We do appreciate your feedback and are taking note. We realize that many parents are unhappy with our parent review policy. We're striving to make it a fair process for all parties involved. Your feedback actually comes at a good time because we are in the process of review our parent review policies.

I'm going to ask the moderator of this board to come back and address this.

I have to agree with the original poster. I tried to submit some very carefully worded reviews (no insults or wild language, just newspaper-like facts) on two school I am familiar with. Both schools look OK on paper (test scores are above average), but one has been in trouble with the state authorities for corporal punishment and the other was the subject of a major best-selling book a couple of years ago becasue of their focus on "teaching to the test." I only wanted to let newcomers to the area know what is pretty common knowledge among the locals-- but both times Greatschools rejected my posts.

We are suppose to be able to rely on GS for accurate information on the schools good or bad. As you know we are placing our children in these schools and have a greater risk than the average parent or child. If there is a problem with a school would you want to put your fragile child there? No! So let the truth come out and be proud you saved a child from being subjected to another issue. Dont our children with disabilities have enough to deal with? Daneice

Hey Buckaroo, so are the negative reviews WITHOUT the schools name remaining?

''Their policy is such because they are afraid of being sued for libel.''

I really don't think parents would LIE about the bad things schools do. I hope not anyway.
To turn it around, I wonder if GS could be sued by parents who THOUGHT their school was great by reading the reviews here, but found out differently?

''In fact, perhaps the number of negative reviews that have been removed should be posted. ''

Thats a good idea.

I wonder if the owners of this site are taking note of these posts and if they are actually going to DO something about this?

jdeekdee,
I think tj said that the reason these aren't pulled is because we are not naming specific schools in these posts. We are being generic and our complaint is with Great Schools policy, not with a specific school. That is why these posts aren't being pulled.

However, I hope Great Schools is hearing how their policy could actually be harming children rather then helping them.

Their policy is such because they are afraid of being sued for libel. However, they should either not report parent reviews at all, or they should have a very large preface (that parents have to "click" away) that states that al lnegative reviews have been removed. In fact, perhaps the number of negative reviews that have been removed should be posted. That might provide valuable input.

"Respond within their community" is funny to me. When an individual parent requests answers concerning a problem, the parent gets brushed aside like a pesky fly in "their school community." When a group of parents work together to request answers, the administrators refuse to speak with them because "individual students' privacy rights" regardless if all parents who are participating are willing to waive their children's "privacy rights" -- that's how the administrators "respond within their school community." There needs to be a real, true, and honest site which allows prospective parents to find out the truth about certain schools and how things are handled at those certain schools.

There are schools that I think are "great schools" in my community so I don't see myself as only being a sour-mouthed parent -- and yes, I think there are some parents who are unhappy with absolutely everything about schools -- ahhh, the joys of homeschooling await -- and yes, I've tried home schooling and I did like it very much too, but there is definitely a need for good quality public schools.

I think other people can read what a poster writes and decide for themselves -- some may read what I post and decide "crack pot lady," I'm going with the positive reviews (then God Bless them...) and others might read the same thing and then ask the administration a hypothetical similar to something I've mentioned and ask, if something such as .... should occur here at Podunk Middle School, how would the situation be handled? It's at least interesting to get some answers -- and those new to the schools, those who've not yet invested their children's lives into the schools, are in the best place to get those answers -- at least if only to benefit themselves...

And then when the schools (and surrounding home-owners) figure out that the don't-tell-them-and-they-won't-ask about our school's indemnic problems -- that won't cut it anymore -- maybe they'll actually start really attempting to solve the problems instead of just working so hard to cover them up.

On major concern is that negative reviews of specific schools are refused. For example, if you're getting ready to move to a city and have found a lovely house -- you're told that it's a great neighborhood with "great schools" and you are very much interested in learning whether the schools are really as great as the realtor would have you believe. You check this site's reviews and there are five really glowing reports -- reviewers are indicating that their kids are thriving, the teachers are the best ever, the administrators are kind, concerned, and proactive etc. You're tickled pink -- you buy the house -- you move in -- your kids begin school. Hmmmm, your kids are not thriving, your kids each have had encounters with bullying and found that the administrators do not seem concerned, one bully is stealing your child's lunch money pretty much every day -- the assistant principal admonishes you and says that could be avoided by setting up a lunch account, but ummm, well, nobody (adult) has witnessed the bully hijacking your child's backpack and bullying her/him, so well, there's nothing to be done, etc. Then come to find out, lots of children are dealing with these same issues. Lots of parents' concerns are falling on deaf-eared admininistators. You come to realize that the problems with the school are indemnic -- and little is being done to address the issues -- much more energy is put into "making everything look nice" (if they find that there was no theft, than they don't have to record an incident of theft -- what you're calling theft of your child's lunch money is apparently not theft.... the bullying, well, hey, "What is bullying, anyway, how is it defined?" "Did your child fight back?" etc. -- well, that goes un-recorded also. When you checked and found that there had been zero incidents of crime reported you took that to mean that zero incidents of violence or theft had occured -- No, what the reports you saw were the ones that included incidents of violence or theft recorded as such (See No Evil -- Pretend it's not there -- And Then Record No Evil, that's the motto for some schools.) Additionally, you will always have a certain fraction of "love-the-school-no-matter-what" parents -- they're kids are virtually insulated from what your child experiences -- and if their child does experience something bad, that type of parent usually cares more about how wonderful everyone else thinks they are, head of the PTA or whatever -- no way do these types ever have a negative word to say about the school or administrators -- somethings you'll hear gossipy type stuff (and watch, these types have ways of actually getting the "best" teachers for their kids -- it's a secret that I've observed in action but never had the pleasure of actually learning and getting to use myself -- one thing is that they right a reminder note for the principal or other administators before class assignments etc., personalized notes and such.... Don't count on reviews from these folks because they just don't apply to us regular types at all... Perhaps that's the only kind that Great Schools want to publish. If so, too bad, because it makes the reviews pretty much useless.

Ok, but I was just wondering why aren't the posts on this message board removed since the posts here are as negative as the reviews.

''If the administrator is unhappy with a comment, will great schools remove it at their request? ''

Do you mean the reviews, or the comments posted on this board?

Agreed, buckaroo. Money must be involved somehow.

tjlove,
Then why even have parent comments? Since this so dramatically alters the meaning of the ratings, why don't you have parents viewing th reviews have to click a "warning" stating that "Great Schools does not allow negative reviews so all reviews here are only positive in nature."

That way, at least parents aren't being deceived into thinking they are getting real parent experiences at these schools.

Otherwise, Great Schools is causing harm to those looking for honest information about schools. Information upon which they may be basing life decisions.

Unfortunately I am busy getting ready for a court date regarding the district's attempt to declassify my child from Special Education. The same district that won't actually implement the IEP now lies to say she is "cured" without any hard data to show. What this district does have is unlimited taxpayers money to sue parents who call them on the carpet for not actually remediating their children's learning disabilities.

If the administrator is unhappy with a comment, will great schools remove it at their request?
Otherwise if left, how does an administrator respond within the school community?
If a review is an unhappy one, why doesn't GS just remove the name and leave the post?

Spedexaminer, School officials can respond to the negative reviews if they want to. Many school officials prefer to respond within their school community rather than via GreatSchools.

Jdeekdee,
To answer your question, according to our Terms of Use, we do not allow anything that could be considered libel, slander or defamation to be posted. If a negative comment is posted on the parent community that contains a school name or the name of an individual, chances are it will be removed.

It seems strange that they are allowing 'negative' posts and replies on this message board. I wonder why?

I MISS Schwablearning so much too. I think about it every time I log onto this site. How much I miss it. It was so supportive and informative. It was such an amazing community.

We need to be able to ask about schools and how they deal with children. If someone has been through a bad experience it can help another parent not fall through the same experience. If the comments are only allowed to be positive then this is NOT going to help any of us. I wrote a horrible review on my son's last public school. It was the most horrific experience. I wrote the nastiest commentary. It got posted. I wanted other parents to know how we were treated and warn them ahead of time.

If great schools is going to be about "happy talk" only, then why would anyone want to come to this site? In the past Great schools used to allow the adminstrator at the school to respond to any negative comments. What happended to this practice? It seems fair quite fair to everyone.

I miss Schwab Learning because we were allowed to speak out and share the truth -- to really help one another. Great Schools has refused my stuff too -- stuff that should not have been viewed as controversial in any way -- just information about bullying and theft at the local middle school and how it goes unchecked. (I did not provide names of students, teachers, or administrators -- I did mention that the principal is a nice person and there's only one principal, but since it was a positive comment it shouldn't have been refused over that part...)