thanks for your support. i am more and more convinced every day that boss is a bully and a bit of a moron to boot.

The principal was completely in the wrong. You were calling as a concerned parent.

Get your child OUT of that school!

After hearing from everybody, I believe I was right, did the right thing to protect my child, and that the principal is dead wrong. This boss has stepped over the line with many other issues, not with me but with other faculty, and to be honest, I believe the superintendent in charge of boss is onto boss' bullying ways. Thank God for HR departments.

The principal's answer was wrong, of course. Your parenting is not limited in any way by your being a teacher there. The same protocal that applies to any other parent applies to you--no more and no less.
John

Thanks for everyone's support. Boss is acting like a bully, the very thing teachers are asked to defend against. I appreciate the forum for venting about being harrassed. Sometimes that is all one needs to do is vent, and then suck it up and go back and continue to teach.

I still say teach at another school or send your child to another school.

Geez, sounds like after all is said and done that the principal has you between a rock and a hard place. If you still feel as if the principal is holding a grudge, I would be very wary. Are there any other staff members that have children in the school? Maybe they would have some advice for you on how they handle being a parent there with this principal, too. Good luck.

Well, if I have a problem like that, as a parent I will contact ask the teacher, building administrator, or the Principal first. It seems like you already did all of those and saw no results. Whether it was temp conditions or any other issue, if I won;t get a response from the school, I will contact the district. So, I guess you did the right thing! I don't even think it needs an apology!

I did apologize, profusely, and to be honest, I wish I would not have done so. I don't think any parent should have to apologize for concerns raised about their child's educational environment. To be sure, my call to the district was not a complaint, it was simply pointing out that I have noticed on numerous occasions that the classroom is hot and stuffy, and could it be checked out.

Absolutely would have taken the same action, only sooner, after giving the school principal a chance to correct this issue quickly. The school is not on the beach in San Diego, so proper a/c is essential, not a luxury.

I, and many other teachers, have addressed the ongoing concerns with the air temperature at the school too many times to count. Each time the concern is put through the 'proper' channel (a work order with the office secretary that gets called in to maintenance) they may or may not send someone out, and the end result is that the air temp doesn't change for more than a day or so. Then it reverts back to hot and stuffy. It was clear to me that any 'repairs' being done were nothing more than a bandaid on the problem. I didn't think it had anything to do with my principal one way or the other. When boss called me into her office and said I don't take off my hat as a teacher, boss also said I accessed information that an average parent would not have access to. When I told boss that no, in fact, I went to the district website from my home and was able to access names and phone numbers for district maintenance, and specifically A/C repair, just as any parent could,boss dismissed this explanation and refused to accept it as valid. The thought that I don't have the right to go to bat for my own kid, and that boss will hold it against me if I do, makes me think much less of this boss. The district gets money for my child's enrollment, and therefore, I believe I have the right, and responsibility to use the resources provided to each student's family. By the way, my own room is also hot and stuffy, and I did NOT call in that complaint. That, I believe, would have been undermining my boss, procedures, and the system. I am a parent first, and a teacher next. I am not in the union, and nothing was addressed in a personnel file, that I am aware of. Boss is unfriendly to me, and I would like the mean-spirited treatment to come to an end. Not looking to be best friends, just treated with basic civility.

You don't say if you addressed the problem first with the principal. Building administrators never like when a parent goes over their head to the district. If you did bring the problem to her attention and got no satisfaction, then you could have called the district, but not before. Think how you feel when one of your parents does not discuss an issue with you in your class and instead goes directly to your principal. No difference. As a parent, one of the most important things you can learn is chain of command, maybe that is what the principal meant by proper procedure. As far as her feeling that as a parent in her building you can never take off your teacher "hat" that is bull. You need to work that out with her, for your child's sake, if you are to be allowed to be an effective advocate for him.

Hi samstacie and welcome to GreatSchools.

I agree with both posters.

First, you of course have every right in the world to advocate for your child as you see fit.

However, your principal probably feels that you went over her head to get help and that violates the "team" spirit of any workplace. Do you indeed have protocol you're expected to follow in terms of chain of command decisions? Do you know for sure that the principal hadn't called for an inspection? I know at my school, parent complaints can be handled much faster than internal complaints, because parents are voters and constituents of the school district.

I think how I would have handled it, and in hindsight it's essentially worthless anyway, is to have talked to the teacher and gone with your child's teacher to the principal. If that didn't work, I'd encourage other parents to do the same. At that point, asking the principal if she'd like you to go higher with that group of parents to get some action.

Being a parent and a teacher in a school is a TOUGH line. There really is no time you can pretend you're just a parent, and yet, there is clearly that one (or two or three) children you're always going to need to advocate for more than if was simply your workplace. For now, can you apologize to the principal, and ask how she'd like you to handle it in the future?

If you did not teach at your child's school, would you have taken the same action of con? Assuming you would have, you did the right thing. I think it is probably safe to say that you never stop being a parent. If your principal's reprimand could have any negative consequences, I would contact your union. If it was a verbal discussion that is not noted in your employee file, I would let it go as lesson learned about the kind of person your principal is.

Hi, sams, Welcome to Great Schools!!!!

I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes. I recommend that you speak to your Teacher's Union representative to see if they have any advice to share about how this type of situation should be handled and/or documented.
I'm guessing the principal is less concerned with the district work crew having to stop what they were doing (why would it take "an entire crew?" and not just one person?) but the principal is likely more upset with a complaint being registered at the district against something that wasn't addressed internally at "her school." Maybe principal's raises and ratings are based in part on how many calls are received at the district level?

I am a teacher too. I would not want to work for the same school my child attends. Just for reasons like this. It is difficult to advocate for your child.