Case study: Impatient Parents

Case Study: Impatient Parents

As the assistant principal at a high school, you are presented with the following situation:

One morning, Mrs. Lemming, the mother of a sophomore student at your school came to the front office and demands to see the principal. She believes her daughter is being harassed by another classmate and wants the school to take immediate action. As a formality, the front office receptionist asks Mrs. Lemming if she has a scheduled appointment, which seems to upset her and she simply replies, “Really?” The receptionist shares that the principal is currently unavailable due to a meeting off campus and asks if she would like to speak with you, the assistant principal, instead.

Mrs. Lemming begins to raise her voice in anger stating she is being given the runaround. She states that she emailed her daughter’s geometry teacher last night, but did not receive a response. The young man allegedly harassing her daughter is a student in the same class. She tells the receptionist that she only has 10 minutes to talk so that she can leave and not be late for work.

The receptionist retrieves the visitor’s binder from the corner of the counter and asks Mrs. Lemming to sign in. While she signs in, the receptionist heads to your office down the hallway to see if you are available. Before she makes it to your office door, you meet each other in the hallway. The receptionist asks if you are available to talk with a parent. Simultaneously, she walks into the office after you and closes the door so that she can brief you of her interaction with the parent privately. Shortly thereafter, the receptionist exits your office and heads back to the front desk.

The receptionist welcomes Mrs. Lemming back to your office to meet with you. She enters your office and states to you that she’s still upset about not hearing back from the teacher. You introduce yourself, offer her a seat, and ask her to explain the reason for her visit.

She shares hurriedly that another student is harassing her daughter both in class and outside of class. Mrs. Lemming explains that for over a week, there have been phone calls without voicemails to her daughter’s cell phone and random text messages from phone numbers that are not in her daughter’s contact list. Yesterday, her daughter came home and said a male student in her geometry class laughed at her along with his friends for no known reason. During the same class period, this young man insulted the way her daughter was dressed. The mother believes this boy, who is also a neighbor on their street, is the same one who has been contacting her daughter anonymously on her cell phone.

You explain to Mrs. Lemming that you would like to meet with her, her daughter, and the geometry teacher. You ask for a time when she is available to meet. She tells you that she may not have time to meet again any time soon. Instead, she says she expects you to take care of the situation because she does not want her daughter to be harassed while at school, especially right under the teacher’s nose. She abruptly stands up, says she is already late for work, and needs to leave. You promise her that you will follow up with her soon on the matter.

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