By By Ben Rayner • 03/29/2022 1:33 PM EST
In what some city officials describe as an unusual move, anonymous complaints from writers who identify themselves as families of some special education students at Guilford Public Schools have been submitted to the Human Rights Commission. the Guilford Man (HRC), alleging that some staff at Guilford Public Schools bullied parents. , and changed educational programs without the knowledge of parents, in violation of district rules.
The complaints have not been verified and the complainants appear to have circumvented the school district administration, the Board of Education (BOE) and possibly even individual school administrators.
The 10 complaints were provided anonymously, and HRC members said the complaints were written by parents and grandparents alleging that some students were not receiving an appropriate educational experience, that staff were altering aspects of programs in violation of district and state mandates, and further alleged that threats of retaliation in the form of service restrictions were also made by staff, if the complaints were not dropped.
The HRC discussed the complaints, dated from late January to early March, at its March 15 meeting. Commission member Jo Keough told the meeting that she was contacted anonymously by a verified parent of a special education student who was making allegations of ignored complaints about the way students in special education specialist were handled by the staff.
The Courier filed a complaint under the Freedom of Information Act; the city had not provided the letters at press time.
Keough said at the March meeting that he was told that attempts to complain to school administrators were being ignored and that at least one anonymous parent said the complaints were “dismissed out of hand. “or met” with threats of reprisals in terms of withheld services”. of their children” if the complaints were not dropped.
Keough also said some of the letters were physically dropped in his residential mailbox because the plaintiffs were “too afraid” to use the U.S. Postal Service for fear of being “tracked.”
“I say this to impress on all of you that the level of fear these people have is high and, in my view, legitimate. I don’t feel like there’s any shenanigans in any of this,” Keough said during the reunion.
HRC member and former educator Alexander Hoffman urged caution in the commission’s response to the allegations and stressed the need for more information to be developed.
“It’s a very tricky area…I know something about it from having been a teacher and education policy officer, but I’m by no means an…expert at all. What I don’t see in the letters is an explanation of the escalation process they went through,” Hoffman said at the meeting. “I see no mention of directors, and the only mention of the superintendent is vague. Thinking about what we could do, and being very careful about anything we say or suggest due to our lack of expertise…I suggest that if we want to do something, we learn more about what they have done, and unless our response should be something along the lines of ‘Sounds like something that would be appropriate to take to the principal of the school and perhaps the superintendent’s office.’ But beyond that, I think our hands are very, very tied.
At the meeting, Keough appeared to accept the truthfulness of the allegations and expressed deep concern over the threats of retaliation.
Keough said at the meeting that the complainants “felt reaching out to the HRC was kind of a last resort at this stage and they didn’t know where else to turn. They feel their concerns are remained unanswered.
According to statements made by HRC members at their meeting, some allegations come from parents or families who have not had students in the district for “over a year or two” and that at least one , and possibly others, allegations made date back “more than a decade”. That fact seemed to have some city officials and HRC members wondering why the years-old allegations are only coming to light now – and a city body without oversight from the school system.
The allegations, which claimed their concerns were being ignored, were not sent to the BOE, despite Keough’s statement that she believed the anonymous complainants supported the BOE and saw that body as the one that would be helpful in the matter. Keough further stated that he was told, through these letters and a conversation with at least one of the parents, that the BOE was unaware of these allegations.
“I want to be very clear about that, that’s what’s being reported to me. So I don’t want to lay any charges against anybody,” Keough said. they report to me.”
School district officials contacted by the Courier and some members of the HRC expressed concern as to why these parents did not raise their long-term concerns directly with the BOE instead of the unusual action of them. take it to the HRC instead.
The Superintendent of Schools, Dr Paul Freeman, said he was concerned about the allegations and encouraged anyone with concerns to contact him and his office to seek redress about this or any other issue.
“We are concerned whenever we hear comments from parents who are unhappy with our communication or our service delivery, or our partnership with us. I encourage any parent, especially a parent of a special education student, who has concerns like this to speak to us. To speak with a teacher, to speak to an administrator, or to speak to me directly,” Freeman said. “I will absolutely make sure that we work on our communication and that parents feel that we are full collaborative partners with them. I just encourage anyone who has such concerns to let us know.
“Anonymous concerns are difficult to respond to and I want to encourage people to come and talk to us,” he continued. “We are open, we listen and work to improve things when things are not perfect.”
Freeman expressed some confusion as to why the students’ parents did not contact his office or other administrators directly.
“I encourage people to contact us and work with us. We get feedback all the time and I have complete confidence in our whole system, but specifically in our people services department. We’re going to listen and try to understand and try to make things better,” Freeman said.
In a previous media statement, Freeman said the anonymous nature of the complaints made it difficult for the school administration to investigate or act on the allegations.
“We’re open and welcome feedback of all kinds, but it’s very difficult to respond to anonymous letters or concerns,” Freeman said. “As special services are by definition individual, responding to anonymous concerns is particularly difficult.”
For his part, HRC President Juan Colberg did not consider the submissions “unusual” as the commission receives complaints and letters from residents regarding numerous entities and departments, but felt the complaints were better. served by the BOE and the Superintendent’s Office. According to Colberg, the letters were sent to the office of the first counselor, the office of the superintendent and the BOE.
BOE chair Kathleen Balestracci said while she and the board are deeply concerned about the allegations, due to the anonymous nature of the complaints it will be difficult for the board to investigate the allegations. or develop more information on specific complaints.
“The first thing I want to say is that the Guilford Public Schools administration takes these complaints very seriously,” Balestracci said. “But I will note that they are somewhat limited by the anonymity of complaints. But that doesn’t change the seriousness of how they’ll approach them where possible. »
As for why the allegations weren’t presented directly to the BOE or the superintendent’s office, Balestracci said she and other officials remain puzzled over the issue.
“I don’t know why these people have decided to contact the Guilford HRC, only in the sense that this commission has no power or duty to investigate. And there are set processes for seeking help if there are any issues regarding special education services within Guilford Public Schools and the State Department of Education, if necessary. So I would certainly encourage any parents or guardians who have such concerns to specifically contact the Guilford Public Schools administration with these concerns,” Balestracci said. “Again, the anonymous nature just makes it difficult to investigate. I really wish they had come to see us first… so we could have more work. But I really want to emphasize that we take this very seriously. The full support of all of our Guilford Public Schools students is our primary mission. »
