As a paraprofessional, I have a communication form that I fill out for the parents of the special education students with whom I work. On it I write comments avoid each day. My supervisor advised me that from now on we have to get their approval before finalizing comments on those forms to make sure that they are positive in nature. In other words, if I express concerns about a child swearing or not listening in class, then I have to run that by my supervisor who then calls the parents. It seems that a parent got confused and angry about such a constructive comment and advocated for a change to be made. I feel like a servant because I have less of an ability to express the things that I saw while working with their children. As it is I can’t directly talk to parents at all. Do you agree with this change? Should I request more rights as a paraprofessional since I work directly with students and the supervisor is constantly out at meetings?
I work primarily with nonverbal students, so I feel you. I cannot directly empathize with your frustrations because I am not a parent, but I do feel like there are too many bureaucratic barriers between children and parents nowadays.