I lean towards a praise in public, criticize in private policy whenever possible. If I had concerns about the manner in which a specific staff member interacted with the children I would address that in private first, and collaborate potential solutions with the administration. If the result of that meeting was to offer some kind of media like a story, music, movie... THEN I would bring those suggestions to the PTO for implementation. I would not address a personnel complaint in a public meeting unless I had already spoken to the administration and seen no response. At that point, I would go to the superintendant or if necessary the school board, because those parties (not the PTO) holds the authority over personnel issues. The PTO is a communiction forum, but it does not hold any place in the chain of command, so to speak.
Like other posters, I agree that the principal should have responded in a respectful and professional manner and suggested that you meet with him at another time and in the appropriate forum. Even though you did not name names, I'm sure that everyone in the room knew who you were referring to. I can see how, as a supervisor, he would not be willing to engage publicly in what might be perceived by his staff as a group of parents bashing an employee he works closely with. Even though you may have been nothing but respectful with your comments, what was said could easily be perceived in a different way if wind of the discussion got back to said staff member. Even if you resolve the specific issue, you risk alienating more than just the secretary in question.
I've actually had a mad parent at a PTO meeting wanting to complain about a teacher. Our principal politely explained that was a matter to be discussed with her and told them she would stay after the meeting. The parent obviously was not aware that it was not the correct forum to voice that concern. So the principal stayed talked to the parent and the matter was took care of privately. Perhaps you threw him off guard if you were not scheduled on the agenda. But that was no reason for him to be rude. Did he apologize for not handling the situation differently?
We will have to respectfully agree to disagree on this one. I agree the principal in this case handled it badly and should have politely asked her to see him after the meeting. I don't know anything about this principal and I can only assume his harsh reaction was because he was not going to sit in a PTO meeting and discuss an employee.
Yes the PTO is a forum to address the needs of the school and the children and to adress any concerns. But you can't sit in that type of public forum and discuss negatively specific teachers and staff.
Serendipity....I really have to disagree with you. The Principal should not go into details about one of his/her employees at an open forum meeting like that, but they need to sit and listen to what the complaints are. The PTO is the perfect place to address that with the Principal. Bring up that issue at a School Board meeting in our district and they'll ask you....did you try talking to the Principal or have you discussed it with your school's PTO. That's what we're there for....to address concerns between the school and our children. It's our sounding board short of addressing the School Board or BOE. You make every effort to fight your fights at the lowest level. The Principal obviously isn't concerned about what the parents think. He could have merely listened to the complaints and simply stated, "I'll look into it and let you know what we decide at the next PTO meeting". That's how I'd have done it with our Principal and that would have been her actions. She would've looked into the problem and the following month she would have let us know what actions if any were taken.
You have to remember that as soon as you address the School Board or BOE for "minor" problems, you have the potential of them breaking out the microscope and looking for problems. Or....you should address that with the Principal. You have to fight your fights but try to involve as few people from outside as you have to.
Our middle school principal offers a Parent Advisory meeting once a month. Unfortunately it has been unattended by parents for months.
This forum is for parents to bring concerns. Not individual student/teacher concerns, but questions etc about anything pertaining to the middle school experience.
I had a parent call me with concerns with the school dress code, respect issues, etc. I invited him to the next PTO meeting because we need involved caring parents.
Our principal was there and listened to this man's concerns and invited to the next Parent Advisory meeting.
PTO can at least offer a minute when there seems to be no other outlet. We can at least try to direct someone in the right direction. I would hate to send a frustrated parent away and have them not know where to turn.
i know it has been a few days and you may already have this resolved, but let me share this with you. If someone works for the school it is hard to fire them unless it is for a really bad incident. Small infractions need to be reported, in writing to the principal and put in the employees permanent file.
We had an employee that no one really liked. Most parents complained to one another about her but no one actually complained to the principal, at least not with a written complaint. She worked at the school and made lots of people miserable for 12 years because the school had no case or cause to fire her. She finally retired and everyone is happy, but we could have been happy years ago.
