The school is strapped in terms of its resources – material as well as human. My days as a principal are full! I usually get to work at 7:00 in the morning and often don’t leave before 7:00 at night – there are just too many things to attend to for me to accomplish everything by 4:00 or 5:00. I also make it a point to meet with the parents on a regular basis.

We have a powerful parent population! Our “Parent’s Association,” is a very traditional enterprise which has monthly meetings and organizes bake sales to purchase dearly needed supplies for the school. Interestingly, it is comprised solely of Latino parents. We also have a very active School Based Management Team. This team is comprised of parents, teachers, the custodian and myself. During the summer, the School Based Management Team successfully participated in a training program sponsored by a local college. The superintendent is quite impressed by the work the team is doing and wants to feature them at a statewide conference in Albany. He is hoping that by featuring the team, he may be able to wrangle additional support for his district. The parents on the School Based Team are also Latino. The African American parents have expressed to me that they feel disenfranchised and have recently organized their own parent group. Their group has the support of their local minister and a few of the African American teachers in the school.

At approximately 2:50 p.m. on Friday afternoon, an 8 year old 3rd grade boy of Puerto Rican descent passed a note to a fellow 3rd grader, a little 8 year old girl of African descent. The teacher, a Puerto Rican woman, did not notice the little boy slip her the note.

On Monday morning when I arrived to work I saw the little girl waiting for me with her mother. How strange I thought that they would be waiting to see me at 7:00 in the morning. The mother looked visibly upset. The little girl looked sullen and withdrawn. The mother claimed the note which the little boy slipped her daughter was “pornographic.” She stated how her daughter was quite upset all weekend long and that even though the little girl didn’t completely understand what the little boy had written, she knew that it was “nasty.” The mother wanted action taken. And so apparently did the other members of the African American Parent’s Association. They had had a meeting to discuss the incident on Sunday with the minister, after the morning services were over.

I did my best to calm the mother down and let her know that I would look into the matter. I requested to see the note. That morning, I spoke with the children’s teacher regarding the Friday afternoon incident and the passing of the note. I also spoke with the little boy’s mother. The little boy was an average student with good attendance and no real behavior problems. We decided that we would talk to the little boy and give him detention for a week. The teacher, the boy’s mother and I felt comfortable with that decision. The little girl’s mother, however, did not. She wanted him expelled from school and requested that we execute a more severe punishment than a mere detention. When I tried to discus it with her, she yelled with a fury that the school was prejudiced against the African American community and that it catered to the larger Puerto Rican population.

The little girl’s mother has now rallied not only the support of the African American Parent’s Association but of the larger African American community as well. She even went to her Assemblyman who is African American as well as the local press to complain about the incident. This brought about a calls to the superintendent. The little boy’s mother in need of support turned to the Parent’s Association.

The community is now divided. The African American parents are threatening to put their kids in another school in a neighboring district. They are also threatening to sue. The superintendent has now rescinded his offer to take the School Based Management Team to Albany. He has also alluded to me that unless that I take care of this matter quickly and quietly, I may not get tenured. In response to the incident, I have scheduled a meeting with the Minister of the African American church. The Puerto Rican parents have told me that they are afraid that I’m going to give in to pressure from the African American community. They have threatened to stop supporting me if I give in.

QUESTIONS:

1. What role should the principal play in bringing the community together?
2. How could the principal best handle the parents demands?
3. What’s the best response to the superintendent?