Parent Jennifer Yamamoto urges board to address communication, immersion and discipline problems at Blythe Academy

Jennifer Yamamoto, a parent of two children in the Blythe Academy Spanish program, told the Greenville County Schools board on April 23 that the school’s administration has been "lacking in communication, immersion understanding, and child discipline." She said school leadership has created an "insider/outsider" culture by providing parents only the information it chooses to share and by circulating inconsistent information about School Improvement Council (SIC) meeting times.

"False meeting times have been put out to parents along with admin telling parents that these are closed meetings," Yamamoto said, adding that nonmembers were told they could watch some SIC meetings but would not "get to ask all of the questions and participate as voting members do." She said those comments make the environment "not welcoming." Yamamoto also asserted that an ombudsman available to parents has a "major conflict of interest" with the principal and that the next person in the chain of advocacy is retiring, leaving parents "no reliable person for the last 4 months."

Yamamoto described classroom placement and discipline problems she said are affecting immersion instruction. She said a child from the English program was moved into her son’s fifth-grade immersion class without Spanish language skills, creating dual-language instruction demands on the teacher and the students. She also said that a student transferred into the class for behavioral reasons has disrupted instruction, and that the school's approach has increasingly relied on "group punishment due to a small number of kids." "Clearly the lack of emergent knowledge and refusal to properly handle behavioral issues from our top admin and program coordinator is beginning to truly have a negative effect on our teachers and students," she said.

Miss Bush had earlier read the board’s public-speaking guidelines, which state the board will not engage in discussion with speakers and that staff will designate a member to respond "in an appropriate and timely matter." The transcript contains no recorded response from Blythe School administrators or district staff to Yamamoto’s remarks at the meeting. The record does not indicate any formal board action was taken in response to her comments.

The parent closed by noting she had submitted a more detailed email earlier in the day and said her three minutes were insufficient to cover all concerns. The board proceeded to its scheduled business items after public comment.