Debating one-sided parent contracts.

You are exactly right in stating that the "Dear Parent or Guardian" letters (Gary Stager on One-sided Parent Contracts, September, pg. 65) are an attempt by school systems to CYA and may indeed be an overreaction to some obscure law or legal ruling handed down by a federal judge.

However, a day does not go by that I do not receive a piece of correspondence about a parent who has sued a school system over some frivolous issue that ends up costing the school district tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend itself. Much of this started when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Tinker decision in 1968 and since then there has been an avalanche of rights-related lawsuits brought against school districts, some legitimate but most frivolous.

The first thing the plaintiff's attorney asks in a legal action is, "Is this policy in writing?" and the next question is, "Did you provide your students and their parents a copy of this policy?"

Therein lies the reason you are receiving these future felon letters.

My point is--don't blame the messenger (the public schools), blame the courts, our litigious society, unrealistic expectations from demanding parents, and the Congress for passing some of these ridiculous laws, i.e. NCLB.

Robert Beck 

Associate Superintendent,

Richmond County Schools, Hamlet, N.C.

I wonder how long you would keep your student in a school that met all your demands?

I get the point that all the papers the school sent you to sign got silly and out of hand, but I bet each paper represents one or more lawsuits won against a school.

A simple non-litigation contract would probably take the place of all that pulp, but would you sign it? Would the NAACP, NCLU sign one on every students' behalf?.

Bill Kurtz

Mathematics instructor

Camdenton High School

Camdenton (Mo.) R-III School District

It is 5:26 p.m. and I am just sitting down to lunch. A friend sent me your article on One-Sided Parent Contracts, which I thought would be enjoyable reading during my "noon" meal.

Where in the name of heavenly glory are your children going to school? Please bring them to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where you will find schools that mirror your sarcastic list.

Our teachers are trained in and practice Judicious Discipline (translated: wise teaching) where the Constitution and democratic principles are used to teach the children what their rights are and how to exercise them as responsible citizens.

My teachers attend three to four workshops per summer to maintain expertise in their seven subject areas, which they apply in between the parenting that we provide on an hourly basis for un-parented children.

Active learning abounds ... to the outsider, it might even look like play. Then, the teacher sits down to help the children make meaning of the experience.

A gulag? Please.

In answer to your question--Why the packet at the beginning of the year?--talk to Johnnie Cochran, he's responsible. We HATE having that being our first contact with you every year.

If we don't send that ominous envelope out and have you sign all that legal mumbo jumbo, then later in the year, we can't legally do what it takes to keep your child (upon whom, if you've sent us a thinking, caring citizen, we will never have to impose that 'draconian catalogue of subsequent consequences') safe at school. We cannot educate the masses amid a chaos allowed to be stirred up by a few.

You shot with a scattergun, Mr. Stager, and you hit my staff.

You owe them an apology.

Julie Pengelly

Assistant Principal

Scottsbluff High School

Scottsbluff (Neb.) Public Schools