Colfax school district policy: “If we don’t know about it, we can’t fix it.”
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — It seems like it should be intuitive — if someone does not know there is a problem, that person cannot fix the problem — but the Colfax school district would like to clarify the policy.
If a parent has a question or a concern about their child at school or on the school bus, “if we don’t know about it, we can’t resolve any issues,” said William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, at the Colfax Board of Education’s April 25 meeting.
Sometimes there are questions about grades, discipline, conflict resolution or a general question, he said.
If an issue comes up, the first thing to ask — is this a day-to-day operational issue or a policy issue? Yingst said.
For day-to-day operational issues, the first step is for a parent to go to the child’s teacher for classroom issues or to the bus driver if it is an issue on the bus, he said.
If parents feel that their questions or concerns have not been resolved by talking to the teacher or the bus driver, the next step is to contact the building principal to set up a meeting, Yingst said.
After the parents have talked to the teacher, the bus driver and building principal, if the issue or concern has been not adequately addressed or resolved, then the person should put his or her concerns into writing and submit the concerns to Yingst as the school superintendent and then set up a meeting, he said.
If, on the other hand, the issue or concern revolves around a policy, the first step is to contact the building principal, Yingst said.
If contacting the building principal and talking about the policy issue does not resolve the concern, then put concerns into writing and submit to the superintendent and set up an in-person meeting, he said.
If people believe their issues and concerns have not been addressed by the principal or the superintendent, then the written concerns can be submitted to the Board of Education for review, Yingst said.
Because of confidentiality issues, some topics may not be appropriate for open session meetings of the school board and the issues may be reviewed in closed session, he said.
Social media is not the place to try to resolve school issues, and parents are asked to call the school, Yingst said.
“If we don’t know about it, we can’t take care of it,” he said.
Yingst said he intends to include the information about the best and most efficient way to resolve issues in the school district newsletter as well.