A group of district parents unhappy with the district's policies regarding complaints recently approached the Santa Clara County Board of Education to request the placement of an ombudsman to serve as an unbiased liaison between parents and administration. The unprecedented move has county officials scratching their heads, but parents say their frustration and fear of retaliation gave them few other choices.

Meanwhile, officials say communication issues between parents and district administration are a growing problem on a larger scale, and that districts are trying to close the gap.

Lynette Lee Eng, who ran for the Cupertino Union school board in 2003, led a group of about 10 parents to the Jan. 19 meeting of the Santa Clara County Board of Education. She said that she had a number of concerns about Cupertino Union, including a complaint policy that utilizes investigation by district employees and board meetings where community members don't have a chance to speak until the end.

"I feel that our board lacks sensitivity to our concerns," she said. "Parents should have easier access. They did change and put the uniform complaint policy in the student handbook, but it's so formalized. There are a large number of parents who are limited English speakers and don't understand what to do."

Eng has filed several complaints under the policy, including concerns about the removal of asbestos at Collins Elementary School and what she called an inappropriate survey of children in the Cupertino Language Immersion Program. Eng's son is in the CLIP program, which moved to Meyerholz Elementary School from Collins.

But Eng said that her complaints were resolved with "a slap on the wrist" for the parties involved, and that her son was punished in retaliation.

"Last year, I videotaped a day where my son was standing in the doorway to his classroom when the bell rang at 9 a.m., and he had to go get a tardy slip," she said. "I taped other children arriving four or five minutes late without getting sent to the office."

This fear of retaliation is what Eng and district parent Melissa Hilton, who also ran for the school board in 2003, said is prompting many parents to keep silent when they have issues with the district. Instead, Eng and Hilton said they are hearing from those parents themselves. "What I've heard the board say is that they've heard the complaint, but they have a larger community to serve and if they cared, they would be there," Hilton said. "I would understand if that happened if there were one complaint, but I don't when there are multiples."

Because of this fear of retaliation, much of the support at the county board meeting came from parents who no longer have children in the district. Ann Gaydos and Paul Naleid had both previously complained about abuse in their children's special education classes--Gaydos' issues have escalated into a lawsuit--but removed their children from the district.

"We exhausted all possibilities," Naleid said. "An ombudsman, in its right form, whatever form that is, will serve parents on all levels. There should be a forum to escalate an issue beyond the school district level to a neutral third party if the school district isn't willing to listen, which is currently the case in the Cupertino Union School District."

The testimonials of the parents at the county board meeting prompted T.N. Ho, the board member who represents Cupertino Union, to ask for discussion of the issue to be placed on the agenda for the next county school board meeting, which will be held on Feb. 2. But Dr. Colleen Wilcox, superintendent of the Santa Clara County Office of Education, said that she wasn't sure how much authority the county has when it comes to the issues entangling a particular district.

"We do not have the legal authority, especially when it comes to cases currently in litigation. The county has no control over those," she said. "And we do not know whether we can engage the resources and spend the money for an ombudsman." In California, education money from the state goes directly to individual school districts. The board office of education provides administrative and business support to the 32 school districts in Santa Clara County.

But Wilcox said that the way school districts resolve complaints is a growing concern across the state. She pointed out an amendment made to the state's Education Code 35186 that went into effect on Jan. 1. The amendment requires a uniform complain policy, sets out a timetable for investigation and states that the complaints and their resolutions be made public.

According to district communications manager Jeremy Nishihara, Cupertino Union had not received any formal notification about the ombudsman request, and thus had no comment. But school district board member Ben Liao agreed with Eng that the delegations portion of board meetings, where members of the public can speak, should be moved to earlier in the meeting.

But he also said that change comes slowly in education.

"You need a paradigm shift," said Liao, who is the longest serving member of the Cupertino Union school board, with seven years of service under his belt. "Especially in Cupertino, there's a growing portion of the parent community who want to get involved. The educational community in general seems to be less open than others I've worked with, so the speed of moving is not fast."

He pointed out that board meetings used to require the presence of all the directors in the school district, and that the administration hired its first communications manager two years ago in the interest of keeping the lines between the district and community open.

But for Eng and compatriots, those changes aren't coming fast enough--and aren't changing the overall intimidating atmosphere that she said many parents face. She said she knows that the county will likely not be able to do anything about appointing an ombudsman, but she just wants to make sure that a higher body is aware of the problems.

"[Intimidation] is prevalent here," Eng said. "I see the board listening with disrespect when myself or other people speak up. I just want people to be open."