Troy districts’ teacher contract discourages parents’ visits to the classroom

The Troy School District adopted a new union contract with its teachers that limits and overtly discourages parents from visiting classroom.The provisions were put in place during the same timeframe when the mother of a second grade student sought but was denied permission to observe her child in the classroom.

Michigan Capitol Confidential previously reported on Michele Maleszyk, a former teacher and mother of a child with dyslexia, who was denied a request to observe her child in the classroom this school year. Her goal was to better understand her students’ reading interventions.

The district adopted a new collective bargaining agreement in June 2024, as reported by The Oakland Press, though the contract was not disclosed on the district’s website until December. A new section in the agreement makes it harder for parents to visit their child’s classroom.

Under the ‘Classroom Visits’ provision, it actively discourages parental visits.

There are 17 paragraphs, listed from A to Q, which define the conditions parents and school employees must satisfy. “Given the learning disruption caused by classroom visits, TSD administration shall actively discourage this practice,” the first graph reads.

A parent can only visit the classroom once per academic year, for no more than 30 minutes unless school officials agree to it.

Another contact provision states that parents are not allowed to take written notes while observing the classroom.

The previous contract, effective from Feb. 1, 2021, through Jan. 31, 2024, does not have a section for rules governing parental visits.

The new language deterring parents from the classroom appears to conflict with state law. The Michigan Revised School Code states that parents and guardians have right to “Be present, to a reasonable degree, and at reasonable times and subject to reasonable restrictions, controls, and limits, to observe instructional activity in a class or course in which the pupil is enrolled and present.”

The contract could confuse parents about what they may do. “Michigan law is clear that parents have the right to observe what is going on in their child’s classroom,” Steve Delie, an expert on government transparency at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy told CapCon. “Unfortunately, these new restrictions create artificial and unnecessary barriers that make it far more difficult for parents to know what their children are being taught. Parents shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to be engaged their child’s education.”

Maleszyk, the Troy school district parent, told journalist Dave Bondy in an interview that the Troy school district sends a message that it does not view parents as a partner in their students’ academic success.

The district did not provide comment when asked about the language in the new contract.