โ Scribed by William E. Roweton
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Publication of this book reflects the increasing sophistication of parents concerning the legal rights of public school parents on behalf of their children. At the same time the authors make clear that "we don't intend the book to be a handbook on how to sue" (p. viii). As they point out, lawsuits are expensive and take inordinate amounts of time. However, as Condon and Wolff state, "parental involvement is now the law" (p. xiii).
In the course of 14 chapters the authors cover a wide range of questions and topics with which parents of school children will be concerned, such as starting school, taking the school bus, health and safety issues, the role of religions, racial questions, and student injuries.
Each chapter begins with a general discussion of an issue followed by action steps that parents might take to improve a problem situation followed by a number of selected questions parents have asked. For example, in the chapter on "what they teach" selected questions include the following: "can teachers use dirty words in class?", "can parents inspect curriculum materials?", "should a teacher be fired for showing a graphic film about abortions to a fourth-grade class?", etc.
School psychologists who are parents will probably be interested in all of the topics presented. In their professional role school psychologists will be especially interested in the chapters which deal with tests and records (Chapter 5), who is on track? (Chapter 6), and special children and special needs (Chapter 7).
In the chapter on test and records, Condon and Wolff properly emphasize the importance of the Buckley Amendment which ensures that parents have the right to inspect and review their children's educational records and that such records cannot be released without parental permission.
Selected questions about records include the following: Who gets to see the records if the parents are divorced? Can the school withhold grades in a punitive measure?
In their chapter tracking, the authors come out clearly against ability grouping. While Condon and Wolff are against retaining a child and quote an educator to the effect that "retention is a lazy way to deal with a problem" (p. 118) it would have been helpful to describe a few successful programs that an increasing number of schools use in place of retention such as Reading Recovery.
When discussing special children and special needs, the authors answer such questions as, "Can special education children be sent to summer school?", "Can a special education student be suspended from school for inappropriate behavior?", and "The teacher thinks that our child has attention deficit syndrome. What do we do next?".
Well written, the book is an "easy read," and any school professional would benefit from a perusal of it. The book will be an especially good introduction for the school psychology student who has come directly from high school, undergraduate college, and immediately begins graduate work in school psychology. Such a student will be able to become quickly immersed in the questions parents will ask and for which in many cases the school psychologist will participate in answering.
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