School District 43 is set to implement a policy to stop parents and guardians from threatening, harassing, bullying and intimidating others, and other inappropriate behaviour on school grounds and at school-sponsored events in a new code of conduct announced this week.
And while it has some support on the board of education, it is getting a rough ride from the District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC).
Introduced Tuesday, Policy 22 states that parents and guardians are role models and have a responsibility to respect the rights and dignity of others in school communities. As well, it says parents’ “unique role” helps contribute to a school culture that enhances student learning and enables everyone in the school community to “do their best work, to do their best learning and develop in a safe, supportive and caring environment.”
A list of goals that parents are to aspire to are spelled out, including behaving in a safe and responsible manner at all times, but the policy also states that parents must not “threaten, harass, bully, intimate or assault, in any way, any person within the school community.”
The policy covers schools and school-sponsored functions and activities, lays out an appeal process and ways parents should consult with staff.
But the negative language had DPAC chair Craig Woods speaking out at the board meeting.
“I feel quite appalled,” Woods said, expressing concern about the “language and choice of language and resulting optics.”
Assistant superintendent Reno Ciolfi explained the policy was only being released as a notice of motion, as per board policy, and will still be scrutinized by partner groups, including parents, teachers and administrators.
Ciolfi said the “vast majority of parents” contribute positively to their children's schools but, occasionally, parent behaviour is inappropriate and can have “serious impact” on staff and students.
Noting that “this is just the starting gun for that process,” Ciolfi said parents need to be held to the same standard as employees and students, who are already governed by codes of conduct.
But some of the penalties laid out in the policy are pretty clear.
It states that breaches of the standard of conduct could affect consultation and communication, and the School Act and a no-trespass order could be invoked.
Woods later told The Tri-City News that the DPAC executive would come up with its own language that would stress positive behaviours and role modelling to give parents an idea of what is expected of them.
“The DPAC feels the stated intent to protect students and staff is something we support but we feel there is language that could be more positive," he said.
Schools in other countries have similar codes of conduct that lay out very specific actions that parents shouldn’t do, such as damaging or destroying school property and sending abusive or threatening emails or text/voicemail and phone communication.
One school in England lays out a social media policy guiding parents’ behaviour online and has sample letters for parents in the case of a breach of the code of conduct. Parent codes of conduct are also common for sports teams.
Coquitlam Teachers' Association president Ken Christensen said it’s fair to have a code of conduct for parents as one is already in place for teachers and students.
He said a policy that is a statement of values — “this is what we believe and this is what we expect” — would probably be acceptable to most people.
“The reality is we do have some parents who take things too far,” said Christensen, citing negative comments on Facebook as being one source of complaints. “It doesn’t happen often, by and large parents are incredibly supportive of teachers and go out of their way to help and be supportive.”
