At St. Patrick School, we strive to create a culture that fosters relationships, transparency, and healthy communication. We understand that disagreements will arise from time to time. We welcome sincere disagreements for the sake of finding truth or the best course of action. We are not beyond reproach and we have no problem admitting if we have made a mistake. However, the way in which we communicate and work through these differences matter. As a school community, we strive to create a culture of healthy communication in which we can handle disagreements with class, integrity, and love. This Christian approach to communication will help us avoid a toxic and ugly culture of gossip, divisiveness, and politics so common today in our world.
As parents or guardians, we welcome your engagement and collaboration. A strong home/school partnership is critical to children’s educational success. The following process modeled after the one Jesus offered (cf Mt 18:15-17) should be followed when seeking to address and resolve any concerns you might have with a teacher/staff member of the school:
1. When you have a concern specific to your child, your first step should be to immediately contact the relevant teacher/staff member directly in a clear, respectful, and charitable way.
a. Sharing your concerns/complaints with others without first addressing the person responsible can constitute gossip and can ruin someone’s reputation. Such an action usually exacerbates the problem and even eliminates mutual trust in which a solution can be found.
b. Before you share your concerns, we ask that you first assume positive intent and seek information. This means not jumping to conclusions about the motivations and approaching the conversation with openness and readiness to listen.
2. When addressing a concern with a teacher/staff, simply share your concerns, and be willing to work collaboratively to explore possible solutions.
a. The goal should be to work together to generate a plan and agree to a timeline for resolving the issue. Once that timeline is determined, monitor and evaluate the success of the plan and make adjustments as needed.
3. If after genuine collaboration and open communication with the teacher/staff member the issue is not resolved, the next step would be to address the concern with all parties involved with the Principal or Assistant Principal. Working with the teacher and administration, a plan will be generated that meets the needs of the situation and those involved will collectively agree to a timeline.
4. If the concern is with the Principal steps #1 and #2 must also be followed. If after attempts at genuine collaboration and open communication the issue is not resolved, the next step would be to go to the Pastor, etc.
5. This process also applies analogously to issues between parents.
Our school is called to be set apart and love one another as God loves us. Therefore, these healthy communication expectations apply to, but are not limited to, face-to-face interactions, email communication, voicemail, text threads, and social media posts. Great care should be taken as to how one speaks of teachers, the school, other parents, and students at all times. It’s critical to watch our tone and how we treat or speak of others as it reflects on our school.
Violations of this agreement within the St. Patrick School community will not be tolerated and could be grounds for dismissal.