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maria29
Guest
**Are there any other parents having issues with her too? perhaps you could present a united front (as long as the other parents have a legitmate complaint) to the prinicipal. **
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nana3
Guest
Yes, there are other parents with the same problem. One girl has a breathing problem and as a result misses many days of school. This teacher has already labeled her as disabled and instead of helping her, gives her test before she gives her mother the material to study. I am talking about the material she missed while in the hospital. This girl is failing this grade because of this. Her parents have had many conferences with the teacher and the mother said this teacher makes her feel that she is the problem. This school, even though it is Catholic, has many unhappy teachers. They seem bitter and run the school like a military camp. The kids can’t be kids even at lunch time or recess. They must walk in a single line and it on deviates just a little, the teacher makes you pull “a card.” Many parents complain of their strict way, but no one complains to the principal, for he is the major problem.
My husband and I have decided to pull her out of this school and homeschool her for third grade. I don’t like that first grade was horrible for her. She had so much homework that she would spend three hours and that was the average for all students. The parents complained, but this first grade teacher is stubborn and very strick. She made the kids pull card for smiling at their mothers in Mass. She made my dd pull a card when she tried to pull her chair back a little and it got caught on the rug and she had to stand to prevent from falling. She made her pull a card when her pencil fell on the floor and she had to lend over to pick it up. These are silly reasons to pull behavioral cards. A yellow card is a warning to behave and that is what she use to pull in first grade, but never anymore than that. She had a pull a card for smiling at her cousin while they were in line to go back to their class from Technology. That is just so petty!! The kids in this school are all afraid of the teachers. I do not see joy on their little faces. I will not subject her to this one more year. I would pull her out now if it were not for her preparations of First Communion and that the year is almost done for her.
To answer your question, yes, there are so many other parents. Some do not return the next year. Yes, they do have favorites at this school. If you have money, you are a favorite of the Principal and the teachers. My niece has been going to this school for 5 years and is in 4th grade. SHe attended PreK 4 also. She made a statement to me just yesterday about participation in the school Mass. She said that they pick the same people over and over, year after year to do the readings, singing etc. in Mass. I have only been their since the First Grade for my dd and she is right. There is favorite. My dd is not a favorite of this second grade teacher. Personally, I do not think that teachers should have favorites. It is sad too that they label a student immediately when they start having problems and that label sticts with them while they attend that school. They are not acting like Catholics.
I am going to talk to this teacher first about the F she gave our daughter. If I let this go, she will continue to do this to other students. Since our last conference, she has not yelled anymore at our dd. She knows that if she does, we will be meeting with her. She yelled at my niece for just walking into the classroom after school hours and by instructions from another teacher to go in. She was very mean to my niece in the tone of voice and what she said. It is uncalled for and she should maybe think of some vacation time away from children if she is stressed out. She may be burned out also.
My husband and I have decided to pull her out of this school and homeschool her for third grade. I don’t like that first grade was horrible for her. She had so much homework that she would spend three hours and that was the average for all students. The parents complained, but this first grade teacher is stubborn and very strick. She made the kids pull card for smiling at their mothers in Mass. She made my dd pull a card when she tried to pull her chair back a little and it got caught on the rug and she had to stand to prevent from falling. She made her pull a card when her pencil fell on the floor and she had to lend over to pick it up. These are silly reasons to pull behavioral cards. A yellow card is a warning to behave and that is what she use to pull in first grade, but never anymore than that. She had a pull a card for smiling at her cousin while they were in line to go back to their class from Technology. That is just so petty!! The kids in this school are all afraid of the teachers. I do not see joy on their little faces. I will not subject her to this one more year. I would pull her out now if it were not for her preparations of First Communion and that the year is almost done for her.
To answer your question, yes, there are so many other parents. Some do not return the next year. Yes, they do have favorites at this school. If you have money, you are a favorite of the Principal and the teachers. My niece has been going to this school for 5 years and is in 4th grade. SHe attended PreK 4 also. She made a statement to me just yesterday about participation in the school Mass. She said that they pick the same people over and over, year after year to do the readings, singing etc. in Mass. I have only been their since the First Grade for my dd and she is right. There is favorite. My dd is not a favorite of this second grade teacher. Personally, I do not think that teachers should have favorites. It is sad too that they label a student immediately when they start having problems and that label sticts with them while they attend that school. They are not acting like Catholics.
I am going to talk to this teacher first about the F she gave our daughter. If I let this go, she will continue to do this to other students. Since our last conference, she has not yelled anymore at our dd. She knows that if she does, we will be meeting with her. She yelled at my niece for just walking into the classroom after school hours and by instructions from another teacher to go in. She was very mean to my niece in the tone of voice and what she said. It is uncalled for and she should maybe think of some vacation time away from children if she is stressed out. She may be burned out also.
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BLB_Oregon
Guest
It sounds as if it is time to gather as many other parents, past and present, who have had these problems with this teacher or teachers, to make an appointment to see the school board en masse. This principal has a big habitual problem, one which is profoundly damaging his students one by one. It needs to be addressed right away and in no uncertain terms, as a condition of his continued employment. If the results are not fully satisfactory to all of you, details concerning the problem should continue to be sent to the board, signed and personally presented by as much of the group as can be present. Do not let up until the problem is fully addressed.
If one of these parents has a background in education, perhaps they will be willing to speak for the group.
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nana3
Guest
I did speak to another parent who is quite dissatisfied with this “Catholic, Christian” school. She told me today that she thought things would be better in second grade for our first grade teacher was too much, but she finds it worse, as I do. I tried to get a conference with this teacher and she wrote back saying that there is no need for a conference for there are other students with academic problems and our dd is not one of them. I told this to the other parent and she was more upset than I was. She said, “How dare she! You pay tuition and your child is important and every child has their own problems that need to be addressed.” I agreed, but I didn’t get as angry as she did, but she is fed up with this school. She did beg me to go to the pastor when our dd is taken out of this school and tell him why we took her out, but I encouraged her that we need to get a group together to address this to the principal or school board. I don’t know if she wants to do this. So many parents fear these teachers and what they would do to make their childs life miserable. My dd has already said that her teacher is getting mean to her. I did not meet with the teacher but did write a letter about the grades and she changed them from 50 % to 100 %. Her excuse was that my dd allowed to much time to elapse between the original test and the makeup test. I could not believe it, as if my dd has a say so when she takes a test. I asked for one and a half week about when she could take this test and she was the one who sat on it. I guess she hoped my dd would fail it, but she did not. She has done this to one another student that I know of for sure, but she is failing second grade. I will talk to this mother as well.
You are right it is time to do something. I am leaving the school, but something needs to be done for the students sake.
Let me give you an example of the poor leadership of the principal. Our dd has a little boy who is obsessed with her and keeps going after her in school, despite myself, my dh and teachers, counselor and his own mother telling him to leave her alone. He came up to her again today and she told the teacher who got the school counselor involved again. I told my dh and he called the principal for it is time to involve him. The principal was annoyed that my dh called about this and asked what he wanted him to do about it. DH told him that he needs to deal with this for he is the principal. He said he would talk to the boy. Why did he get annoyed at us? He is so weird. He makes people feel bad and puts the problem back on them instead of dealing with it. If it is to huge, I have heard him expel the student.
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mom2boyz
Guest
Is this the parish school? If it is and you aren’t getting satisfaction from the principal, then it is time to talk to the pastor.
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maria29
Guest
And then if the pastor does nothing then I would let them know you are bringing your problems to the Archdiocese…
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BLB_Oregon
Guest
A parent would send their child to a school where that parent fears that the teacher will retaliate against the student if the parent questions the teacher’s methods? A teacher who thinks that whether or not to conference with parents is their choice? Oh, please. Some human nature is inevitable in academics as in anywhere else, but this is beyond the tail wagging the dog.
Those of you who see the pastor–and it is almost a duty that you do see the pastor or school board about this–might also encourage him to poll other parents with children also in the second grade. Also, as you encourage them to come forward, tell them to remember that priests are quite good at protecting their sources. If these parents have the assurance that their identity will be kept confidential, they might come forward to bolster your contention that these problems are not isolated. As for the interest of justice, it should be enough that some of you are willing to be the ones to face the persons accused.
Do not, however, indulge in “gunnysacking”…that is, bringing up old problems from last year. Unless you are asked, the problems of the present are sufficient. Whether talking about last year or this year, do not characterize the teacher or principal with adjectives, but instead cite specific examples of what methods, policies, or specific incidents were or are unacceptable and what measures you tried to take to solve the problem by dealing directly with the teacher and directly with the principal. In other words, don’t say, “She is vindictive”, but rather, "After this problem occurred with our daughter, the teacher said, quote “This” to our daughter in this instance and then did “This” to our daughter in this second instance. When we asked the teacher about these incidents, we got “This” answer. Be as specific and as non-defensive as you can. You don’t have to present an exhaustive list of every complaint, but write every significant instance down: things that would bother you on their own, rather than things that were bad just because of everything else. You can say, referring to your list: well, I have more, but you get the idea. If the pastor or board says, “Yes, we get the idea”, then you don’t look like you’re trying to pile it on to get the death sentence. If they say, “Well, go on, we want to know everything”, then you’ll have all the details, and not just vague complaints of the unfairness over a few incidents.
You also want to make it clear how you tried to work with the teacher and that you are not in a hurry to put a bad label on her, but rather to fix the specific problem. You want to answer any skeptics who may wonder if you are just hard to deal with, before they have to ask…because they probably won’t.
If you don’t get a satisfactory answer, by the way, be sure to forward all of the information you gave to your pastor/board to the superintendent for Catholic schools for your diocese and what their response was (including names and dates), even if you do choose to send your child elsewhere for the entirety of her education. If this kind of problem is not being addressed at the local level, those with more authority deserve to know. They shouldn’t be the first avenue of complaint, but they can’t ensure action if they aren’t told of serious problems. This isn’t something I’d threaten the pastor or board with, but if they did not act, I’d pack up, leave, and let the diocese know exactly why.
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shannyk
Guest
nana3,
if it was me I would have been on the phone with the principal LONG ago. That’s what principals are there for.
Also, as far as homework when sick goes…you would have to be pretty darned sick to not be able to sit and do a second grade level worksheet or two.
I don’t think that’s being harsh on the kid it’s a good life lesson. How many of us mom’s have to trudge through the daily grind wilst battling a cold, flu, etc?? That’s called life
I’d have no problem making my kids do a little work while sick; homeschooled or otherwise.
if it was me I would have been on the phone with the principal LONG ago. That’s what principals are there for.
Also, as far as homework when sick goes…you would have to be pretty darned sick to not be able to sit and do a second grade level worksheet or two.
I don’t think that’s being harsh on the kid it’s a good life lesson. How many of us mom’s have to trudge through the daily grind wilst battling a cold, flu, etc?? That’s called life I’d have no problem making my kids do a little work while sick; homeschooled or otherwise.
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Lovemyfaith
Guest
2nd grade should not be this difficult.
In our home, each child has a folder with several sections. The folders are plastic and actually hold a lot. I taught the kids to date every handout when they get it, which was easy, since most teachers have the date on the board. NOTHING is thrown away until June. Every so often the kids go through school folders and put papers they are “done” with in the home folder.
Make an appointment with the teacher, have a list of the problems but keep it to the specific school work/test problems. Don’t bring personality problems into it. Try to work through this unfortunate series of events, and hopefully you can work this out. I am sure both you and the teacher really just want to make sure your daughter completed all the assinments and knows the material. Maybe the teacher could stay at lunch or after school to work with your daughter to “catch her up”. As far as the little boy who won’t leave your child alone, unless he is physically hurting her, encourage your daughter to stay away from him and just make the teacher aware of the problem. I have a feeling the teacher and principal are well aware of the little boy if he causes problems like this, and probably not just to your daughter.
I would suggest picking up homework/classwork when your daughter is sick and try to work on it at home. Believe me, once my kids were out of grade school, I wouldn’t know where to begin in helping with school.
In our home, each child has a folder with several sections. The folders are plastic and actually hold a lot. I taught the kids to date every handout when they get it, which was easy, since most teachers have the date on the board. NOTHING is thrown away until June. Every so often the kids go through school folders and put papers they are “done” with in the home folder.
Make an appointment with the teacher, have a list of the problems but keep it to the specific school work/test problems. Don’t bring personality problems into it. Try to work through this unfortunate series of events, and hopefully you can work this out. I am sure both you and the teacher really just want to make sure your daughter completed all the assinments and knows the material. Maybe the teacher could stay at lunch or after school to work with your daughter to “catch her up”. As far as the little boy who won’t leave your child alone, unless he is physically hurting her, encourage your daughter to stay away from him and just make the teacher aware of the problem. I have a feeling the teacher and principal are well aware of the little boy if he causes problems like this, and probably not just to your daughter.
I would suggest picking up homework/classwork when your daughter is sick and try to work on it at home. Believe me, once my kids were out of grade school, I wouldn’t know where to begin in helping with school.
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nana3
Guest
My dd is not behind in any work. She is caught up. She is a staight A student. The work I mention her in this thread is work she did at school with the teacher. The teacher originally gave her two zeros for not putting her name on the paper. I disagree with such a grade. She said in a letter to me that this is needed to teach the student to write their names. I say why give them a zero, and not take off maybe 5 points leaving your name out. She did agree to give the test again and did about two weeks later. She said because so much time elapsed, she gave my dd a 50 %. I disagreed with this for she, the teacher, is the one who controls when a test can be given. Progress reports came out today and my dd has all A’s and one C. This is why the teacher did not feel a conference was needed for she is a good student.
I try to think what started the way the teacher feels about me and I think it was the second day of school. My dd had a note written by her doctor saying that she needs to be allowed to go to the restroom when she needs to for medical reasons. The first day of school, she got into my car and said she needed to go to the bathroom and that the teacher is not allowing her to go when needed. I figure there was a good reason, but I did ask the teacher what happen and she got angry at me for asking and was immediately on the defense. She told me that my daughter had to go right when the bell rang for dismissal. She could not let her go. Then there was the incident of not genuflecting in church and we had to go to the pastor. She was angry at us for that too. Now we had the problems of the grades, but that is all settled.
As far as this little boy, he doesn’t do this to any other girl. He really has a crush or obsession for my daughter. My dd told me that this boys “stares” at her a lot and it makes her feel uncomfortable. He is not allowed to approach her, but still conveys his feelings via other students.
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