Categories: News

Badmouthing parents? Board members caught on camera

Tensions between teachers and parents have climaxed due to the pandemic, with communication issues and homeschooling disagreements escalating during lockdown.

<p>Four Californian school board members have resigned following an untimely broadcast that led thousands of people to sign a petition ousting them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unwittingly&comma; two minutes of conversation between school board members broadcast live to parents and those involved now face big repercussions&period; The board members joked that parents only wanted schools to reopen so they could have their babysitters back&period; According to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nytimes&period;com&sol;2021&sol;02&sol;20&sol;us&sol;oakley-school-board-hot-mic&period;html&quest;action&equals;click&amp&semi;algo&equals;bandit-all-surfaces&amp&semi;block&equals;trending&lowbar;recirc&amp&semi;fellback&equals;false&amp&semi;imp&lowbar;id&equals;147945710&amp&semi;impression&lowbar;id&equals;552e17f1-7472-11eb-b8a3-8feedc6d2c5d&amp&semi;index&equals;1&amp&semi;pgtype&equals;Article&amp&semi;region&equals;footer&amp&semi;req&lowbar;id&equals;892004239&amp&semi;surface&equals;most-popular-story&amp&semi;variant&equals;0&lowbar;bandit-all-surfaces"><em>New York Times<&sol;em><&sol;a>&comma; parents were not amused and felt the school board should have more empathy for working parents who have been juggling throughout the pandemic&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As of today&comma; the entire School Board of Trustees has resigned&comma; with the future of the school now up in the air&period; Local reporters from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;eastcountytoday&period;net&sol;oakley-mayor-calls-on-entire-oakley-school-board-to-resign&sol;"><em>East County Today<&sol;em><&sol;a> quoted the mayor as feeling embarrassed by the behaviour&colon; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Quite frankly&comma; I am embarrassed for our community as this meeting has now gone both national internationally at a time when we are not only trying to stop the spread of the virus&comma; but also try and safely reopen schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>At another school in the US&comma; two English teachers were placed on leave following parent complaints after a clip of them gossiping about students after a Zoom class <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;abc11&period;com&sol;teachers-bad-mouth-students-talk-about-caught-on-zoom-leave&sol;6917875&sol;">went viral<&sol;a>&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Here in Australia&comma; high school principal <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;9now&period;nine&period;com&period;au&sol;60-minutes&sol;tamborine-mountain-principal-parents-defamation-case&sol;b97de9e0-7521-4fa2-840b-06e8b6e3a47a">Tracey Brose<&sol;a> made headlines last year after winning a defamation suit against parents who posted comments about her on Facebook&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>How do you manage communication with parents&quest;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

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