CrawfordTimes 16 online (1)

PARENT FEATURE
IT TAKES A VILLAGE!
Dealing with conflict between parents
and teachers – a prickly affair!
It’s a no-brainer: parents, students and educators must work together
to form effective, sustainable family-school partnerships. But when you
have somebody’s child at the centre of a problem, it is often not a brain
matter, but rather a matter of the heart, and emotions never help a conflict
situation. Here’s some insight into perceptions and how to manage conflict.
The Conflict Situation
Byron* was the top-performing athlete at his school
and, in fact, in the district. Not only was he the top
100 metre sprinter, but he was also Captain of the
rugby team and an aspiring national player. He was
also popular amongst his peers and garnered a
lot of attention. Unfortunately, as with young people
navigating pseudo-fame, Byron’s ego became
bigger than the school. He always attended
practises (not breaking any rules there) but was
disruptive at those practises - talking incessantly
during training and not giving it his all. When
teachers reprimanded him for his behaviour, or
questioned his commitment to the team, Byron was
direspectful. He talked back, ridiculed the teacher
and made rude comments under his breath. His
peers would stiffle laugher under their breath.
36 | Crawford Times
The situation deteriorated and finally came to a
head when Byron, the top athlete of the district,
was suspended from all school sports teams. The
decision was like a volcanic eruption that had Byron,
his teachers and his parents in a massive conflict
situation that raged on for weeks. There were emails,
telephone calls, requests for meetings, meetings,
requests for more meetings, more meetings...and so
it went on. The community were all chatting about it
and everyone had an opinion.
Eventually, in an attempt to finally end the conflict, a
decision was made to reinstated Byron on condition
that he adhere to the Code of Conduct of the
school. All parties left the situation feeling unsatisfied,
fed up and disrespected. The embers continued to
smoulder.