ALCOA HIGH SCHOOL
Teacher: Michelle Parry
Failure to communicate and FERPA violations
Teacher Complaint About: Alcoa High School - Michelle Parry
Author: Keith Knight
Grade: 12
Occur date: Apr 30 2010
Post date: May 14 2010, 07:37:51 AM
Teacher Complaint: Michelle Parry - Alcoa High School
my son, Jerry Knight, is a senior at Alcoa High School and he has been having some problems with his English class and English teacher, Ms. Parry. Now I have been having problems with Ms. Parry.
I have spoken with the High School principle, Scott Porter, about the issues that I am concerned about on April 30, 2010 after school was dismissed for the day. My concerns were that there was a lack of communication with Ms. Parry, which I have never received any communication from her. Mr. Porter is aware of the situation and informed me on May 12, 2010 that Ms. Parry refused to contact me because she did not feel comfortable talking with me. I simply asked for a phone call from her and yet this request was denied.
A phone call to a parent is not always a comfortable or pleasant call but she should be able to handle the call in an appropriate manner. Ms. Parry’s refusal of my request to contact me is not the proper conduct a person in her profession and does leave many doubts with her teaching ability.
Mr. Porter did not to have any problems or concerns with Ms. Parry’s refusal to communicate with me. Mr. Porter seems to be an enabler of the problem. Ms. Parry’s actions are not how I want my son or any other student that she teaches to deal with problems in life. Avoidance is not a solution but a problem in itself.
I did send Ms. Parry an e-mail and she did send me an e-mail with some excuses as to why she did not contact me but did respond to my questions. I feel that Ms. Parry had more than adequate time to contact me. She has known of the problem for 2 months or longer. A similar issue about the communication problem with Ms. Parry has occurred before with Jerry’s mother, Barbara Dunn. She sent a few e-mails to Ms. Parry and only after the e-mails was copied to other Alcoa High School staff members did Ms. Parry respond. Jerry was only 17 years old at that time. The e-mail that Ms. Parry sent back to Barbara indicated that she had been sending information to Jerry’s grandmother. Barbara did ask to speak with Ms. Parry and Barbara got excuses for the conversation not to happen. When Barbara did finally speak with Ms. Parry she told her not to speak with the grandmother about Jerry’s educational information. Barbara has had problems with Ms. Parry’s lack of communication and avoidance in the past. Ms. Parry went from November of 2009 to April of 2010 without any correspondence of problems. My e-mail and other contact information are on file in High School’s office. I know she could have at least sent me an e-mail because I receive e-mails from the school about school news.
my complaint against Ms. Parry is for not communicating with me as a parent of a student. She never communicated with me or make any known attempts to contact me about any concerns she had about Jerry or his work. Although he is 18 years old now Ms. Parry never made any attempt to contact before he reached his 18th birthday.
Additionally, I have a complaint against Ms. Parry for violations of the Family Educational Right and Privacy Act (FERPA) 20 USCS § 1232g. Ms. Parry release personal and educational information about my son to a third party. Ms. Parry did not have written consent from either me or from Jerry’s mother before he reached the age of 18 year old. Jerry was 18 years old at the time of that Ms. Parry contacted Jerry’s grandmother in April of this year but Ms. Parry did not get written permission from Jerry to discuss educational information with her as required by FERPA. She did not even get verbal consent. Ms. Parry made the decision to willfully violate FERPA.
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BBTeacher In Complaint
May 14 2010, 07:00:08 PM
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