by Thomas W. Washburn

[MenTeach: A director wrote asking advice about how to respond to parent’s concerns.]

In your recent MenTeach newsletter you had a response for a director who had a parent that did not want his child to have contact with an excellent male teacher.

I thought your response to the director was luke warm at best. I feel that the director needs to tell this parent that “The policies at our center are what research has shown to be in the best interest of the children entrusted to our care and that if he does not like these policies that he is always welcome to enroll his child elsewhere.”

It is time that our directors [and principals] develop a backbone and stand up for our excellent male teachers before they too are lost to our profession and to the care of our children. Having been involuntarily transfered from a primary teaching position to an intermediate teaching position due to the concerns of one such parent and since locating a new early childhood teaching position elsewhere, I am very adament in my views.

Yours in early childhood education,

Thomas W. Washburn