Last Updated on January 17, 2025 by Michelle Ball
By Michelle Ball, Sacramento California Expulsion, Special Education, sports/CIF, College, Education and School Attorney/Lawyer for Students since 1995
I frequently hear about issues involving teacher misconduct, such as a teacher targeting a student, grading them unfairly, and other problems involving teachers. To get the problem solved, parents can: file a written personnel complaint on the teacher with their school and school district.
Many Teacher Issues Are Solved Quickly
If there is a bad teacher in a school, who abuses students or discriminates, many may be aware of the wrongful conduct. Yet, the staff who know about the teacher’s abuse, discrimination, or sexual wrongs, may not act. Parents have to step in.
A quick talk with the teacher may resolve it and that is usually the first step. Perhaps just a friendly meeting will clear things up. You never know, and a good teacher will fix things they are doing that are harming a student. Try that first.
Meetings May Be Required During Complaint Process
If the teacher meeting does not result in a positive outcome, the next step is usually the principal. Later the school district may be involved, or the issues may even land in the lap of the school board. Post-meetings, a parent may document what happened at the meeting by sending confirmatory emails or letters about the meetings, creating a paper trail.
Request the Policies and the Complaint Form
It is usually very simple to file a teacher complaint. A parent can contact the school or the school district and ask for the policies and complaint form to complete for teacher complaints.
Often the complaint process and forms are also on the school and/or school district website. The parent then simply completes the personnel complaint form with factual information, such as a detailed summary, emails, photographs, online posts, and names of witnesses, and submits the complaint per the policy.
The School Clique Protects Teachers
Be aware that school staff may not report a teacher, due to the strange protective clique in schools, where everyone seems to cover for everyone else. Students may fear retaliation for reporting a teacher, or fear they may not be believed.
If a Parent Did Not Complain, Did It Really Happen?
If nothing is ever in writing on the bad teacher, in the future, it may look like the teacher has never had a past issue. This can be problematic, as teacher patterns of abuse may be missed.
Remember the old saying “If a tree falls in the woods did it make a sound if no one heard it?” When there are teacher, staff or school issues, the question is: “If a parent complains verbally did it make an impact if there is no record?”
If a teacher’s personnel file is bare, with no noted complaints, a school administrator may tell a complaining parent: “I have no complaints on this teacher. You are the first parent with an issue with this excellent educator.” This may or may not be accurate as the administrator may have “heard things” or met with other parents about the teacher before. Yet, there still may be no paper records of these verbal interactions so gaslighting may occur.
If the teacher’s file has no formal complaints how can anyone prove there were 30 other verbal complaints? It is tough. The solution is for parents to file written complaints on abusive teachers when warranted.
What Can Happen if No Written Teacher Complaints Are Filed?
What can happen if no written complaints are filed could be as follows: say Teacher A has abused or bullied dozens of students for 25 years, but only three families came forward with written complaints and no staff reported the teacher. Perhaps fifteen other students made verbal complaints of sexual wrongs, but there is no record of these verbal complaints.
As a result, Teacher A continues in his job year after year, bullying a new student each year and causing devastating lifelong impacts to his student victims.
Because of the lack of formal complaints, the teacher may remain protected and undetected by the school or district, as there are “only three” formal complaints in over two decades. Had even half of the students targeted by Teacher A filed written complaints (or the school noted down all verbal complaints), perhaps Teacher A would now be in another profession, like dog catching.
Districts WANT Complaints on Bad Employees?
I have actually been called by a school attorney asking whether I had any potential complaints on a teacher that the school district was looking to terminate. As the school district did not have enough WRITTEN complaints, there was not enough ammunition to fire the teacher. This call in itself shows the importance of filing written complaints about terrible teachers.
If more parents filed written complaints, bad teachers might get fired, instead of sticking around to abuse other students.
Be Accurate and Factual
One word of caution: whomever files a complaint should be sure it is factually accurate. It would be inappropriate to file teacher complaints based solely on conjecture, or wild student rumors.
Parents should stick with what is known and can be proven involving the teacher.
It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for parents to follow through with written teacher complaints when a problem arises. Written complaints can give a school district the power to investigate and weed out abusive teachers once and for all.
If enough parents complain, perhaps the bad teacher will be terminated, demoted, transferred, or will change their bad behavior. Some may even end up in jail, depending on the depth of their wrongs.
Student lawyer Michelle Ball can assist parents file complaints on teachers and school personnel. As a Sacramento attorney, Michelle Ball may help throughout California, including in Oakland, Hollywood, Clovis, Mendocino, Roseville, Sacramento, Folsom, Natomas, San Francisco, Stockton, Santa Rosa, and many other areas.
Originally published February 26, 2011
