Mom Is Banned From Her Kids' School After Principal Overheard Her Comments Via The Intercom
There's no drama like parent-teacher drama.
TikTok Getting along with your kids' teachers and school administrators can sometimes be a difficult task. But for one mom on TikTok, her disagreements with her son's teacher have gone to a whole new level.
A Canadian mom is banned from her kids' school over a disagreement with the principal.
We hear what you're saying—this can't be legal, right? Accordingly, the mom has spoken to a lawyer. But in the meantime she is "unable to advocate" for her child, as she put it, all because she was honest about not liking or agreeing with her child's principal.
The conflict began when the principal overheard a comment the mom made over the school's intercom.
The mom happened while TikToker @jaii.bee was at her child's school to watch him play a game. She made a comment outside the school that she didn't like the principal or many of the students that attend her son's school. After overhearing the comment, the principal, "waited until I was about ten feet away from her and then screamed at me about how I made her uncomfortable and she was offended."
JB called the confrontation "inappropriate," which it demonstrably was. Rather than deny it or smooth it over, JB simply bluntly copped to her feelings. "I responded, well, I don't like you, and I'm sorry you feel that way, but it is what it is."
That was the end of it for a while, until a recent day when "she called to tell me that she has decided, with the authority of the superintendent... [that] I'm not allowed to go on to my children's school premises. I can't pick them up. I can't drop them off. I cannot bring them their lunch if they forget it."
The mom has hired a lawyer and has confronted her school district's leadership—who instantly turned on the principal.
JB's first stop was her the leader of her school district's Board of Trustees who told her she had "never in my life" seen the school's trespassing policy used in the way the principal leveraged it against her.
She also spoke to the superintendent of schools. "Keep in mind," she said, "this is the gentleman who apparently signed off on this order" declaring JB a trespasser. So she expected him to hold the line. Instead, he instantly reneged, "expediting" her complaint and setting up an in-person meeting.
And the ban on her coming anywhere near the premises was temporarily lifted as well pending investigation—she is allowed to come to the school to pick up her kids, but is not allowed to go inside and has been forbidden to speak to any teachers about the situation by the principal.
But the situation has only gotten messier. Following her lawyer's involvement, JB has found that the school district has no "public-facing policy" on situations like this, so there are no actual rules to work from, and it seems her principal may have gone rogue. "It's kind of scary to think one person has that amount of authority," JB said. Accordingly, she says the upper-level school leadership has become more upset about the situation, too.
The mom has since found out that her appearance may have been a factor in the principal deeming her 'intimidating.'
JB escalated things further to other officials in her local government, and "one of them said something very interesting" she said. "Turns out how I look maybe a factor in how I'm being perceived as intimidating," presumably because she has a few tattoos and piercings. "So we'll just bring a little bit of spicy discrimination in there," she quipped.
In the end, she and all parties involved were pulled into a meeting, and all the bans against her were lifted. Armed with the information she'd gotten from other parents, fellow TikTokers and her attorney, JB said she plainly stated her case, listened to the other sides' perspectives, and in the end, it somehow all ended amicably.
"There were apologies on all 3 sides," she said. "I could have handled this better. She could have handled this better. The superintendent could have handled this better. We've all agreed that this was not the best way to handle this situation."
She urged other parents to learn from her experience—to stand their ground when their kids' schools get out of line, but to also remember to be that despite how angry she was, "going in there respectable and ready to have an adult conversation resulted in a positive outcome."
And while JB had plenty of haters who accused her of attacking educators—JB pointedly told them to "get fu-ked"—there was plenty of praise to go around too, including from teachers. "As a teacher I WISH more parents were like you!" one person wrote. "Drama isn’t necessary and dialogue is important," another said. "Teachers, admin, and parents need to practice this." Especially in these times of frequent parent-teacher conflicts, that seems like good advice.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.