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Debusguy
Senior Member
USA
114 Posts |
 Posted - 01/17/2002 : 05:28:41 AM
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Tom: Most requests that I receive are verbal, usually in the first month of school, when they are reacting to postcard info. Some requests are valid..some are not valid..some are laugh-out loud funny..all should be written down, so that you know when the request was first made. I have a form that I use that prompts me to get the basic info - Date, Parent/Child's name, phone #, nature of concern, etc., followed by a space for notes, as well as a box that can be checked when it is resolved. I can fit about four of these on one sheet of paper, which I copy and assemble in a loose-leaf binder to have on hand when needed. One caution I would urge you to take..once you have sent out postcards, or whatever communication method you use, be very reluctant to please one parent, or one neighborhood, with significant changes. By doing so, you often affect other families on the route, and - like pulling on a loose thread on your sweater, you just don't know where it will end, and you'll (most times) have a mess on your hands.
As far as dealing with requests that I feel do not have merit..when I get to a point in dealing a parent, and it is obvious that compromise is not possible (and emotion is starting to cloud the issue), our district has a Transportation Review Committee, which they can appeal to, and which is comprised of the business manager, the appropriate principal and a driver not involved with that route. I drive them out to the location involved, and try to explain both sides of the issue (I admit that I might have a slight edge here, communication-wise). Their decision is binding from an administration standpoint. It rarely goes beyond that..if it does, it is either to the school board, or to the court of public opinion, i.e.: the newspapers or local TV station. I'd like to hear what other districts have in place. LM
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Procedures for parents and others to make requests
