Case Study – Pressure Groups

Pressure groups come in many sizes and forms. They come to the educational institution with generally a single agenda item. They are honest in their beliefs, but not necessarily benign in their effect on the life of a school. Pressure group requests or suggestions can seem to have the best for the children in mind, yet they could put you, as a teacher or an administrator, in an unwanted position. The following is a popular example of how a group can seem to make an innocent request, yet inadvertently place the school in a bad position.

The community Bible Society requested district permission to place Bibles on a table in the local public high school and two middle schools with a sign stating anyone interested may take a book. This seemed innocent enough to the local school administration in that the books would be merely available to take and no religion would be overtly promoted. They gave permission to the Bible Society. The Bible display did not provoke any incidents and a few students took Bibles.

About a month later, another group made the same request and said they expected to be given permission. This group was the American Society for the Rights of Unborn Children, whose operational tactics were not well accepted. The question became, should (or must) the schools allow all groups the same rights?

District administrators found themselves in a dilemma because they did not think through the consequences of granting the first request. It may have been better PR in the long run to deny the first request to avoid future problems.

If you are in a private school system and feel you may have more freedom than the public school, here is another example.

The wife of a board member was very active in the
Creative Toys for Tots Corporation. The toy company hired part-time sales people who organized “parties” for moms interested in finding educational toys for children birth through preschool age. The salesperson earned a commission for the toys sold and was encouraged to share the profit with the host of the party.

The board member’s wife approached the teacher about hosting a class party for the 20 families in the class. She wanted to give the class half of all of the earnings as a way of thanking the teacher for the work she had done with her daughter. The teacher thought it was a good idea. She hosted the party, sales were good, and she was able to purchase much-needed equipment for her classroom.

About a month later, the class room mother asked do the same thing for the class through a candle company. This put the teacher in a dilemma. Had she opened a Pandora’s Box with the first party? What if she said yes to the second request? Would she be deluged with additional requests? Who would she turn down first?

These seem to be common problems for administrators and teachers. You must be careful to listen to all, but you must also be ready to politely resist those pressures which come regularly. PR is not easy.

Note: For the purposes of EDGR 620, the case studies are meant only to introduce you to dilemmas you may face. You will examine these issues further in your School Law course. Knowing the law and consulting your district’s legal counsel is crucial for making final decisions in these cases. The more practice you have, the better you will become in thinking these situations through.

For this post, read the case study below, and write one paragraph describing how you would solve this dilemma.

Jon Wong is the principal of a middle school. He has just returned from an all day conference at a neighboring school. As he is going through his phone messages, he notices a message from a familiar name—Alice Jones. He knows Mrs. Jones only at a distance, as she is the wife of a school board member. Fred Jones, her husband, was a supporter of the major changes Jon recommended about two years ago. It was partially due to Mr. Jones’ efforts that Jon’s middle school concept was adopted by the board.

Jon returns the call and Mrs. Jones asks if a group she is involved with, Community Commission for Life as Beauty, can give a presentation to the PTA on the beauty of life. She believes the PTA will realize the need for such a program and will want the children to see the presentation, too.

Jon is not sure what to do. He delays responding by telling her he will have to talk to others and will get back to her as soon as possible.

As Jon hangs up, his secretary asks if he saw the note from Mrs. Jones. She says Mrs. Jones is very active in the Right to Life movement that speaks out against use of any birth control.

Support your statements with evidence from the required studies and your research. Cite and reference your sources in APA style.

Click here for information on course rubrics.