Welcome to uCANcomplain.com  

As used herein, “uCANcomplain.com” means uCANcomplain.com, uCANcomplainblog.com, and any other sites or services in connection therewith, unless expressly excluded.

uCANcomplain.com is a publicly accessible site but it is not a “public forum” – it is a private community and there are some rules and norms.  We expect you will read and comply with our community norms at all times.

Our A.B.C.D. mission is to:

• Advocate alternative disciplinary methods
• Boost positive student behaviors
• Challenge bureaucracy and abuse of power, and
• Demand transparency and accountability.

The objective of our uCAN community is to empower parents and students while assisting educators in doing their job, on nurturing our next generation.  Our ultimate intention and mission is to provide a forum for all stakeholders – mainly educators and parents – to resolve their differences and work together toward the fundamental common goal: bringing our students – our children – a brighter future, and ourselves a better world.

As such, in addition to being a hub of helpful resources for our members, uCANcomplain.com provides a forum to discuss issues, present and document complaints or success stories, vent, and help others by making them aware of issues and possible solutions.  Many times the discussions will involve emotionally-charged topics.  It is natural for emotions to run hot, but it is important to make real progress in keeping the raw emotions and anger in check while focusing on resolving issues, which requires a degree of civility among all concerned, including educators, school administrators and parents, as well as other members who wish to render their comments and inputs.  These Community Norms are just that – norms.  They are intended to help set the tone of uCANcomplain.com discussion forum by setting forth the expected standards of behavior for participants in our uCAN community.

uCANcomplain hopes and expects that you will voluntarily cooperate and make your participation comport with these Community Norms.  However, uCANcomplain norms will be enforced as needed – we reserve complete discretion with respect to all content and behavior on the site.  Abuse of these norms, or being purely abusive of other participants will not be tolerated. It is perfectly reasonable to be critical of parents, school administrators, teachers, staff, or board members, or their actions, as well as ineptitude on the part of a bureaucracy or portions thereof without attacking the individual, alluding to violence, making personal threats, being foul, or the like.  Those behaviors are not productive and will not be tolerated.

We are not seeking to suppress any venting that may be helpful; however a degree of decorum and a safe environment for all participants are necessary for progress or resolution of any problem.

Behavior that is purely disruptive or simply counter-productive to the stated goals or which causes useless distress in the uCAN community may be deleted.  We will enforce these norms as required for the good of the community.  We also reserve the right to alter these expected norms over time, and we welcome your input as to what will improve the uCANcomplain.com community.

Anonymity

If you want a degree of anonymity, please do not use your full name or other identifiable information for your user id.  Remember the uCANcomplain.com site is publicly accessible.

Anonymity can be a double-edged sword.  Anonymity may be important to allow more freedom and less worry when discussing sensitive situations.  On the other hand, sometimes anonymity is abused because a person believes there will be no consequences to them if they are anonymous. They may act and/or say things that they would not say if their identity was known.

You can lose access to the site and/or be permanently banned if you abuse this site, other users, or the community, or if you act counter-productively.  Please remember while your identity may not always be public, the administrators of uCANcomplain have your e-mail and IP address.  Also, please remember that anonymity is not intended to, and may not be used for false or untrue postings, and will not protect you from the legal consequences of such postings.  (Please read the Important Notice under the section entitled “No Unwarranted Attacks”!)

Personal identifying information should not be posted if you do not want it to become public! If you post anonymously but provide information that inadvertently makes your real identity known, you are solely responsible for you loss of anonymity.  We make no guarantees as to someone’s ability to ascertain your identity based on your participation in the uCAN community, including posting comments or other interactions with uCAN members.  

While uCANcomplain is a privately-owned website purely subject to our norms, Terms and discretion, it is a publicly-accessible website that may be indexed in search results by Google, Bing and other search engines, and potentially read by people who you do not know.  Please carefully consider any facts presented in any complaint, success story, or comments you choose to post on this site.  NEVER post information such as account numbers, credit card numbers, social security or similar identifying numbers for yourself or others.  Be mindful of unintended consequences when posting private pictures, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses. Sometimes they may be useful or necessary.  Consider whether, in view of all the details, others will be able to definitively identify you.  Revealing personal information on a publicly available site such as this one may bring you unnecessary embarrassment or complications.  uCANcomplain does not want that to happen of course, but ultimately you are responsible for any unwanted issues that arise from information you post.

Gripes and Grievances

Our name says it all.  We all have things to complain about.  uCANcomplain.com is a forum for airing grievances, making your dirty laundry public, or just whining and complaining.  However, there is art to complaining in the spirit of pursuing justice and change, and complaining solely to vent.  We could probably have named this site ‘uCANgetsatisfaction’ – we believe if you are calm, reasonable, and persistent, and don’t back down – you will improve your chances of getting a positive outcome.

No Unwarranted Attacks

Feedback should be given in a constructive form wherever and whenever possible.  Where you are offering criticism, work to avoid personally attacking another person.  People generally do not respond well when personally attacked.  This does not mean you should not call people out and hold them accountable for their actions.  It is not your job to worry about sparing people’s feeling when your child or other children are at stake, but it also does not mean that cruel, unneeded, or unfounded personal attacks will be useful or are appropriate.  If a teacher, administrator, or school board is unfair, unreasonable, and acting improperly – that will become clear from the facts and their actions and statements.  Sometimes it is more powerful to document the facts and let the facts speak for themselves.  Unreasonable people will often prove your point when the light of day shines on their actions.  This norm, like the others, will generally serve you well.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  Although anonymous posting is permitted in accordance with these Community Norms, you cannot use anonymity in connection with uCANcomplain to make false statements, ‘trash talk’, or to otherwise defame others with statements, accusations, or comments that are untrue, scandalous, or purely intended to cause harm to another person or their reputation.  If something is purely your opinion, state it as such.  And if you know something is false, or have disregarded the facts as to whether or not the statements are true, do NOT post it on this site.  Such posting is always contrary to the uCANcomplain Community Norms as well as our Terms of Service, whether or not made anonymously.  Defamatory statements may result in lawsuits by people who believe themselves to be harmed by false postings.  Their lawyers may be able to use legal process to obtain your real name and other information.  You will have to indemnify uCANcomplain for any legal costs it incurs as a result of such postings.

Avoid Using Certain Names. Our Naming Policy:

To avoid adverse situations, within your comment, you cannot identify parents and non-administrative school employees (such as teachers and counselors) unless you are one of them, as well as ALL students.  Use this abbreviation method to name them instead:  Student: St, Parent: Pt, Teacher: Tr, Counselor: Cr, etc.

That is: you may use the first and last letters of the individual’s type, after indicating his/her title at least once to enable others to understand your case.

Exceptions: You may identify school administrators, School Board members, attorneys, public figures, and those you are praising for positive deeds.

E.g.: Mary Smith: “My 7^th grade son St and his classmate St2 were accused by Teacher Tr of stealing, and Principal Mrs. Jones suspended both of them. My son and St2 told me they never did it.”

We reserve the right to contact you for name clarification, or change the way you identify individuals if you do not follow our naming policies.  Similarly, please contact us if you feel the need to include some particular names.

Please remember the naming policies from above and avoid unwarranted and unhelpful attacks.  The goal is to resolve problems, exchange information, or make others aware of unresolved issues.

Skill Development

Please read other complaints and success stories to learn more skills for solving issues and getting resolution at uCANcomplain.com.  You will see how others have had success in dealing with schools, teachers, and administrations and gotten favorable results.  While every situation is different, and every teacher, administrator, or Board of Education is different, mirror the successes to maximize your own results.

What Comes Next

Apply what you learn here at uCANcomplain.com in your daily life.  Have honest conversations with your student, other parents, teachers, and administrators.  Share your views and listen to their perspectives.  Stick to your guns, know the operative rules – whether it is rules or law the school must follow, or the rules you choose to enforce in your own home.  Make your expectations clear, insist on the behaviors you want and accept nothing less than the best you can get.

Your Participation

Your participation on the site is always voluntary and must be consistent with the goals of uCANcomplain.com.  If you need to air a complaint, acknowledge successes, warn others of problems, or work to get an issue resolved, you can make that happen here.  Through our site, as a parent or student, you will no longer feel alone, voiceless, or powerless against ineffective and even harmful policies in your school. You are now fully-equipped with the power to expose the bureaucracy and red tape in the school system.  By the same token, as an educator, you can utilize our site to tell your side of the story.  If you have are concerns about parenting, or if you feel stuck between administration requirements, parent demands, and the needs of your students, or if you and your colleagues are trying to your best job in a high stress school system – let us know.  Other members in our uCAN community may then understand your side and be better able to render feedback, help, or comment.

Your Cooperation is Appreciated

Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these Community Norms.  We believe that your experience and the entire uCAN community will be enriched and the results for parents, students, educators, administrators, and school systems will improve when everyone participates with these norms in mind!

rev.  41415

uCANcomplain, Inc.

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