Howard County teachers and staff are still witnessing or experiencing harassment, and most of it?s coming from parents, a recent teachers? union job-satisfaction survey found.
“That is something that has been discussed with the PTA, because a large percentage of teachers indicated they were harassed by parents,” school spokeswoman Patti Caplan said.
Sixty percent of respondents to the Howard County Education Association?s 2006-07 survey said they have experienced or witnessed harassment from parents.
Twenty-seven percent said they experienced or witnessed harassment from colleagues, and 21 percent said it came from supervisors, according to the survey.
Last year, 60 percent of the respondents said they witnessed or experienced harassment, but the question didn?t distinguish between acts by parents, colleagues or supervisors, HCEA president Ann DeLacy said.
This year?s survey separated the source of the harassment into three questions.
Anecdotally, school officials knew much of the harassment was coming from parents, Caplan said.
Although the question was reworded, it still needs further refinement, school board President Diane Mikulis said. For example, the question of whether the harassment was witnessed or experienced should be separated, because one incident witnessed by several people could be counted multiple times in the survey, she said.
There also isn?t a clear enough definition of harassment, Mikulis said. The board defines it as a repeated behavior, so the survey needs to refine what harassment means, she said.
“I am not sure this gives us enough information to be able to change things,” she said.
But DeLacy said whether it?s witnessed or experienced, harassment occurs. Rather than parse the questions, school officials should come together to find a solution, she said.
Among the fixes is the completion and distribution of e-mail guidelines for appropriate communication between staff and parents, which the PTA Council of Howard County is working on.
Along with discussions with parent groups, school officials also passed a civility policy, which relates to the issue of harassment and is aimed at bringing attention to “how we treat one another,” Caplan said.
