Charter schools are independent public schools. Each functions as its own school district with a non-profit Board of Directors that performs the duties of a Board of Education. The board is responsible for the operations of the school and its compliance with the law. (See our primer on charter schoolsfor more information about charter schools.)
Each charter school is required to have a policy for addressing complaints. As a parent you have general rights and specific rights, as outlined in your charter school's policies. We recently reached out to charter expert Dirk Tillotson for insight on how to resolves problems with charter staff, administration, and authorizers.
Dirk is an attorney and school reform advocate who has worked for the last 17 years with community organizations to open charter schools in Oakland, New Orleans, and Qatar. He now runs a school incubator program for the New York State Charter Schools Association. Here's our Q&A.
I have a complaint about my child’s school. Who should I complain to?
As in all school conflicts, first give the teacher or other school staff a chance to respond informally. Sometimes school personnel can be so “teacher knows best,” that they refuse to deal with your complaint. If you experience this, the next step up the hierarchy depends on how your school is organized; it may be a grade supervisor, dean, or the principal. If you are still unsatisfied with their response, prepare for a more formal procedure through the Board of Directors.
Before approaching the board, make sure to study the official procedure that your school uses to resolve disputes. It is wise to write up the complaint, including the initial response from staff, how the problem affects your child, what standard is being violated, and what you would like done.
Submit your complaint to the Board of Directors, either directly or through the school leader. Not all complaints will be acted upon by the board – again it depends on the policy of the individual school. At a minimum, the board must act on violations of law and their own charter or policies. There will be specific time frames for response in the complaint policy.
Board meetings are open to the public by law, and many will have time for public comment. Remember, if you are making a complaint about a specific employee, you should not identify that person in public comment time. In some cases, the board may opt to hear the issue in closed session or address it outside of the meeting.
If the board does not respond appropriately, send your complaint to the school’s authorizer -- the government agency that approved your school's charter. Putting your complaint before an authorizer may create informal pressure to make the school’s board act.
If your problem is still not resolved, you can appeal to the New York State Board of Regents -- unless the Regents is the institution that approved the school's charter in the first place.
Along the way, you can enlist help from the New York Charter Parents Association, or your school's parent organization.
Find out how to contact your school's authorizer after the jump:
How do I contact my school’s authorizer?
Under the current charter school law, there are three entities authorized to approve charter schools and oversee them. To find out which authorizer has authority over your school, consult the New York State Education Department's Charter School Directory.
If the charter entity is "SUNY," you can visit the Charter School Institute online for a grievance form and tips on filing complaints.
If the charter entity is "NYC Chancellor,” you can find the same information on the NYC Department of Education's information page for parents.
If the charter entity is “Regents,” you can file a grievance through the State Education Department's complaint site.
Before you contact the authorizer, you should organize and outline your grievance so that it can be presented in a clear and convincing way. Identify the issue, discuss how you have brought it to the attention of the school and how they have failed to adequately respond.
Next up in our conversations with Dirk, look for his response about the rights of students with special education needs and those who are learning to speak English.