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> If you go in guns blazing to the school board, the school is going to go into full defensive mode. Once you've established yourself as the aggressive parent w

> If you go in guns blazing to the school board, the school is going to go into full defensive mode. Once you've established yourself as the aggressive parent with an axe to grind, they're not going to be interested at all in working with you. Too bad! They can be voted out, or face lawsuits if a heated attitude is too much for them that they feel the need to ignore valid feedback regardless of the emotions involved. I've heard the same argument used for angry minority communities in the past, so this very much applies here as well. Heated rhetoric school boards are seeing today are reminiscent of a body that isn't listening.

Scarblac 5y ago
They can't be voted out by you alone though. And what he wrote about the school is just as true for the majority of other parents.
kelnos 5y ago
The question I like to ask myself in instances like these, when I'm pissed off at what I see as unreasonable attitudes and processes, is this: Do I care more about making myself feel better by airing my grievances in whatever way suits my fancy, or do I care about a specific outcome? If it's the latter, then the best thing to do is to figure out who is in charge, and, critically, the right way to talk to them in order to get the response -- and hopefully the outcome -- I want. Sure, I could turn this into a crusade to vote out the school board and replace them with... who, exactly? The kind of people who are qualified and likely to get elected are probably pretty similar to the people there already: not too technically-inclined, and not willing to put up with an aggressive attack from parents. Even if I did manage to find and elect a school board that would take this kind of issue seriously without needing much prodding, by the time I went through this whole process, it'll be... a year? Two years? More? The ship will have sailed, and my hypothetical kid will have leaked all their private data to the school's nanny software already. So hopefully I'd instead do the smart thing, approach the school board in a way that resonates with them, and get the outcome I want. > I've heard the same argument used for angry minority communities in the past I don't think this really applies here. Most "angry minority communities" are fighting for things that are systemically stacked against them, and often the "polite" approach doesn't work. But we're not talking about systemic oppression here; we're talking about an overworked, underpaid school IT department that doesn't have much choice in what they do, directed by a school board that doesn't understand the issues involved.
- hanselot 5y ago
- wst_ 5y ago
  This! The most important thing I'm asking myself: What do I want to achieve? Does "yelling" at people rises my chances in achieving this? Later on, when my immediate goal is achieved, I can decide do I care enough to follow up or not. First things first - sort out your priority.
coldtea 5y ago
>Too bad! They can be voted out, or face lawsuits if a heated attitude is too much for them that they feel the need to ignore valid feedback regardless of the emotions involved. Only the world doesn't magically grants wishes to Kens and Karens, just because they feel strongly about something and how right they are. The person taking that board to court or trying to vote them out could just as trivially lose.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

Scarblac 5y ago

They can't be voted out by you alone though. And what he wrote about the school is just as true for the majority of other parents.

kelnos 5y ago

The question I like to ask myself in instances like these, when I'm pissed off at what I see as unreasonable attitudes and processes, is this: Do I care more about making myself feel better by airing my grievances in whatever way suits my fancy, or do I care about a specific outcome? If it's the latter, then the best thing to do is to figure out who is in charge, and, critically, the right way to talk to them in order to get the response -- and hopefully the outcome -- I want. Sure, I could turn this into a crusade to vote out the school board and replace them with... who, exactly? The kind of people who are qualified and likely to get elected are probably pretty similar to the people there already: not too technically-inclined, and not willing to put up with an aggressive attack from parents. Even if I did manage to find and elect a school board that would take this kind of issue seriously without needing much prodding, by the time I went through this whole process, it'll be... a year? Two years? More? The ship will have sailed, and my hypothetical kid will have leaked all their private data to the school's nanny software already. So hopefully I'd instead do the smart thing, approach the school board in a way that resonates with them, and get the outcome I want. > I've heard the same argument used for angry minority communities in the past I don't think this really applies here. Most "angry minority communities" are fighting for things that are systemically stacked against them, and often the "polite" approach doesn't work. But we're not talking about systemic oppression here; we're talking about an overworked, underpaid school IT department that doesn't have much choice in what they do, directed by a school board that doesn't understand the issues involved.

hanselot 5y ago
wst_ 5y ago
This! The most important thing I'm asking myself: What do I want to achieve? Does "yelling" at people rises my chances in achieving this? Later on, when my immediate goal is achieved, I can decide do I care enough to follow up or not. First things first - sort out your priority.

coldtea 5y ago

>Too bad! They can be voted out, or face lawsuits if a heated attitude is too much for them that they feel the need to ignore valid feedback regardless of the emotions involved. Only the world doesn't magically grants wishes to Kens and Karens, just because they feel strongly about something and how right they are. The person taking that board to court or trying to vote them out could just as trivially lose.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]