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Case 5: How to Keep the Community and Keep a Confidence
 

Tom is a kindergarten teacher in a small, affluent community. One of the characteristics of the town that Tom appreciates is the great involvement of parents in the school.

When the new school year began, many parents assisted Tom in his busy classroom. This year's class is a challenging one, made more so by one child with severe behavioral difficulties. Managing this child so that the rest of the class can learn and enjoy themselves takes a great deal of Tom's and the parents' time. Yet, after the first month, Tom felt that his class was coming together well as a community of parents and children.

Unfortunately, one parent doesn't think so. She feels that the difficult child is so disruptive that she called other parents, suggesting that they all complain to the school superintendent about the child. Through their efforts, she explained, the child eventually would be removed from Tom's classroom.

One of the parents called by this individual then spoke with Tom to let him know what was taking place. She cautioned him that she was telling him what she heard in the strictest confidence.

Tom now faces a dilemma. He wants to speak with the school superintendent about the disgruntled parent's campaign to remove the difficult child. Yet to do so, he might have to mention how he came to know about the parent's phone calls. On the other hand, he very much wants to keep harmony in his classroom, harmony that would be difficult to maintain if one parent were busy organizing one child's removal.