My son was recently assigned to a new first-grade teacher, as part of a move to reduce class size. He complains that the new teacher yells a lot and that he's scared to go to school. When I've tried to talk to the teacher, she's just walked away. Other parents are complaining too, but the principal just says the new teacher is "strict." What are our rights?

If the teacher is new to teaching, she can be laid off immediately. If she's new to your school but has tenure, the principal should be taking steps to fire her. This isn't easy. It takes an average of two years to remove a tenured teacher. According to state law, if a principal decides a teacher is in trouble, the teacher goes on probation for 60 days and is offered special help, including extra training, a mentor, and the opportunity to see excellent teachers in action. If there's no improvement, the principal can recommend the teacher's contract not be renewed for the next school year. Until the teacher is actually fired, the principal cannot appear to support any negative statements from the parents and must appear totally neutral by making such apparently inane responses as, "This teacher is strict."

You and other concerned parents could act as a group in requesting another teacher for the class. If the principal refuses to listen to you, you may have to be more outrageous—request home study applications for all the children, for example. This would be most effective if you made a media event out of it by going to the district office en masse to turn in your forms, or submitting them at a public board meeting. Otherwise you may find that no action is taken until after your children have suffered through the whole school year.