The SAD 52 Board of Directors convened a meeting Thursday night to talk about problems with unruly behavior by some students in last year’s first grade at Greene Central School.

It wasn’t a discussion. It was a presentation. And it didn’t answer parents’ concerns.

The subject of the meeting was supposed to be discussion of Principal Thomas Martellone’s plan to deal with student behavior. It’s a detailed plan, to be sure. But it’s not a new plan. It contains the same actions to control behavior employed during the last school year.

Why would Martellone, or any member of the school board, believe that confronting the behavior with the same plan that failed last year is a good idea?

It isn’t.

We don’t know Sandy Laliberte or Theresa Godfrey, two parents who have spoken repeatedly and publicly about their concerns and who have made formal requests for additional staffing to ensure student safety. We do know, however, that they aren’t pleased about having made this fight public. They aren’t pleased that they have tried to get the administration to listen since their children have been in kindergarten. And they certainly can’t be pleased that they were all but dismissed at Thursday’s meeting.

Laliberte and Godfrey are among a dozen parents who have publicly expressed concerns. There are 40 students in the first grade, so the concerned parents represent 30 percent of the first grade. That’s a number too high to ignore, but SAD 52 directors and administrators appear to be doing just that.

Martellone’s solution to control behavior is standard operating procedure in just about any public school in the nation. He’s dealing with an unusual situation, though, and needs a more creative approach.

Although his plan does include what he terms “consistent and constant” communication with parents “about behavior that impedes learning,” that’s not enough parental involvement.

If the children are truly impeding learning for others in the classroom, it would not be unfair or unreasonable to require regular parental presence in the classroom, especially since the district is not considering hiring additional staff. It could be a half-hour Wednesday mornings, or recess time on Friday. It could be a half-day every two weeks. Whatever it takes to get parents in school.

If parents are required to be in the classroom with their child, they can become part of the solution.

It would be a real inconvenience for parents, but parents must be fully involved in addressing poor behavior in their children and the best way to do that is in the school environment where the bad behavior occurs. As inconvenient as it might be, it’s much more inconvenient, unfair and unreasonable to expect the well-mannered children who are eager to learn to be subjected to an environment that has been defined as unsafe.

The time to take that stand is now, at the start of the school year and before behavior gets out of hand.