Q: When is a complaint to the school district not a complaint?
A: Most of the time.
Q: When are school district personnel allowed to spend time with parents to solve problems?
A: Only when there are enough complaints.

The BUSD Associate Superintendent reports that she needs more formal complaints about a particular teacher, in order to respond effectively to our family's complaint about our child's miserable experiences in his classroom this year.

She is aware that the district's procedures for handling parent complaints ignores the greater portion of letters received: "letters" are NOT "complaints" unless accompanied by the district's (green) complaint form / cover sheet.

People's hands are tied. You can help.

- Obtain copies of the BUSD official complaint form; distribute them to the PTA president and Principal at your child's school. (I can send you a print copy if you wish.) Discuss how the district's formal, adversarial complaint process works toward or against solving problems at your child's school.

- If you have complained to your school district, check up on your file: are the details of your case on record in such a way that district administrators will be allowed to take action when similar complaints are lodged?