The best way to deal with an issue with your school

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The best way to deal with an issue with your school

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The best thing to do when your child has a problem at school is talk to the teacher. The teacher is there as your partner in the education of your child. So if you go in and explain the situation you may get greater clarity about how often it's happening. Whether it's only happened once. Whether it's a repeat pattern. Whether it was predictable given the trajectory of your child's experience in the classroom or on the yard or after school. When you're upset about something as a parent, and you want to talk about something with the parent or the administrator, don't go in angry. Go in expecting to be an active listener. That's going to be really important, because there are always different perspectives about a situation. And when you hear the full details about a situation, you may find that your anger or frustration is misplaced. Or you may find that the teachers or the administrators have a very good perspective about what's happening and are glad you came in and brought it up. And it's an opportunity for you to work in tandem with the teachers and the administration to find a solution to the problem before it becomes even more frustrating. After that, if you still haven't been able to work in tandem to come up with a solution to the problem, then go up the chain. Go to the division head, or the division administrator, and express the same kind of concern. And if possible, do it with the teacher present, so that you become part of a larger team that's looking at the situation on behalf of your child. One of the things that's not helpful is to start at the top and then work your way down. Because any good administrator is going to tell you to start with the teacher. So instead of jumping over all those people, start with the teacher and work your way up the way. The chief administrator in the school, whether that's a principal or a head of school isn't as aware of the situation on a daily basis as the teacher. So always start there first.

See Reveta Bowers's video on The best way to deal with an issue with your school...

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Reveta Bowers

Head of School

Now starting her forty-second year, Reveta Bowers is the Head of School at The Center for Early Education, an urban pre-school through 6th grade Los Angeles independent school with 538 students. Devoted to children and education, Ms. Bowers served and has served on a number of boards. She is currently on Board of Overseers of the UCLA Healthcare System, on the founding board of the African American Board Leadership Institute and the board of the FEDCO Charitable Foundation. She just completed serving as Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors of the California Community Foundation. A past president and former secretary of The Educational Records Bureau Board, Reveta Bowers was also a member of the Advisory Board to the Klingenstein Center at Teacher’s College for ten years. She served as an outside director on the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company for ten years and is a former member of the Harvard-Westlake, Brentwood and Windward School boards. Reveta was on the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education board, and the boards of the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls and the Country Day Headmaster’s Association. She served as a trustee and treasurer of the NAIS Board, and as past president of the California Association of Independent Schools. For the past thirteen years she has also been on the faculty of the NAIS Institute for New Heads where she serves as the Lead Faculty member. One of her proudest career moments was receiving the NAIS Diversity Leadership Award in 2009. She has had a long and rewarding career in independent schools and finds her work with organizations supporting education, students, parents, community and Board work to be continually inspiring.

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