Laws always have unintended consequences and the required letter to parents that their child is being taught by an unqualifed teacher has us a little nervous. Our neighbors to the North offer an example of increasing "vigilante" authority being handed to parents.

Under a new law in the province, any parent with a complaint against a teacher will be able to make that complaint formally and in writing directly to the B.C. College of Teachers, the regulatory body of the profession in the province. But the union worries about the rights of teachers. Parents, it notes, can now take complaints directly to the college of teachers when they could be handled in a meeting with the teacher or principal. Furthermore this may also pave the way for unfounded accusations to be legitimized, leading to ugly consequences. Parents' groups contend that there will be more accountability.