Patrick Carlyon: Entitled parents making life hell for principals

Melbourne’s lockdowns placed huge pressure on school principals and put them on the front line in the battle against that most feral of species – the entitled parent.

Principals need big pay rises after what they have been put through.

Lockdown tipped the nature of otherwise noble callings.

Baristas appeased customers who queued around the block. Police officers asked innocent people why they were walking down the street.

The hardest role, perhaps, fell to school principals. They were the frontline in the chronic battle against that most feral of species – the entitled parent. Lockdown rewrote their job brief. Principals were reinvented as crash test dummies.

The entitled parent oozes smugness and singular purpose. They appear rather pleased with themselves, an affectation confirmed after being exposed to their vicarious fixations on their little Archie or Ava.

They dedicate weekends to their kids’ activities – because they want to.

Sometimes, they hunt in packs, armed with cheeky chardies at a school function, oblivious to the usual controls, such as self-awareness and perspective, and fuelled by the absolute certainty that events outside of the school bubble don’t matter much.

If they ever write autobiographies, and God forbid they do, entitled parents could borrow from Mel Brook’s ironically named All About Me.

During the pandemic, principals have worked an average of 55 hours a week — some much more.

Entitled parents don’t care for the conundrum of running a school when the school is closed. The logistics of computers and programs and patchy reception. Or the demands on teachers who, while they taught, sometimes home-schooled their own children at the same time.

Is there any surprise that school principals feel burnt out? I blame entitled parents for the results of the Australian Principal Occupational, Health and Safety Survey, which found almost one-third of school principals had experienced threats of violence.

Principals worked an average of 55 hours a week — some much more.

And let’s be honest – much of that time was dedicated to hushing/dispelling/pacifying the irrational demands of entitled parents.

Principals must pretend to take their grievances seriously. They must answer winding emails respectfully. They must agree to be held captive in the schoolyard, one after the other, as parents take turns to explain how little Matilda was/was not being exclusionary/bullying when she shunned little Charlotte at recess yesterday.

Principals have been Covid controllers, mask police and pseudo paratroopers for the implementation of Victoria school rules which pitched and yawed according to the prevailing “science” of the moment.

They faced kids who got sad, and went bad. Even worse, they negotiated flimsy treaties with entitled parents convinced that they were not doing enough.

No job pays enough for the onslaught of unrelenting drivel generated by parents who can’t see past themselves.

Principals need big pay rises – and free drinks when the bell goes each afternoon.

Patrick Carlyon is a Herald Sun columnist