A Parent's Smear Campaign
January 01, 2020
Appears in January 2020: School Administrator.
Ethical Educator
Scenario:
A school board member is furious that a principal will not transfer his son out of a class in which he is getting a D due to “a personality conflict” with the teacher.
The board member is a friend of the local newspaper editor and begins a smear campaign, including letters to the editor claiming the principal protects bad teachers and shows favoritism to certain students.
He asks acquaintances to speak out against the principal at board meetings and tells the superintendent to recommend dismissal … or else.
The principal has been impacted mentally by the attacks. How should the superintendent proceed?
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The Ethical Educator panel consists of
- Shelley Berman, superintendent, Andover, Mass.;
- Meira Levinson, professor of education, Harvard University, and author of Dilemmas of Educational Ethics: Cases and Commentaries;
- Maggie Lopez, retired superintendent in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and
- Glenn "Max" McGee, a former superintendent and regional president of ECRA Group in Schaumburg, Ill.
Each month, School Administrator draws on actual circumstances to raise an ethical decision-making dilemma in K-12 education. Our distinguished panelists provide their own resolutions to each dilemma.
Do you have a suggestion for a dilemma to
be considered?
Send it to:
magazine@aasa.org
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