Need advice from teachers.

[Jade Tigress]

Hey everybody, thanks for the replies and posts. Just a quick update for those who asked to be kept up to date. I went in that Thursday (21 Sept) and talked with everybody. While she wasn't too happy with it, things are ironed out. Her problem with the mech. pencil was (and I quote)"The click, click, click of advancing the lead distracts me." My well thought-out and reasoned answer was that it was just too damn bad, she is in a room with 15 3rd graders, I doubt that could even be heard. That one kind of caught me off guard - that was the last reason I could have even thought of. The Principal agreed with me. Snacks - whatever I send in will be the snack for him. She used the argument that she is the one who has to be in the room with the kids during the day and she didn't want "junk" as a snack because of behavior issues. While I could see her point, I also informed her that I was the one who has been with my child from the day he was born and have a bit of a better grasp on how he handles different snacks. Chocolate flavored yougart isn't "junk" and I wouldn't send something that would sabotage his school day for him, or for her. Bus issue and who she was going to release him to after school was taken care of before the talk. Principal told her that if she put any kid on a bus knowing their parent was waiting for them in the lobby, he personally would call the police for child endangerment (sending them home knowing nobody was there), and fire her. All the other minor things were worked out and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year to see how it all pans out. She has been teaching for quite some time and has a very good reputation overall, so I am confident she will get by this.

On a personal note though, she has been under a great deal of stress because one of her closest friends was having difficulity during the end of her preg. and she realized she was bringing her stress into the classroom. It's a very small community and we all know who she was refering to, unfortuanally the baby was born this week and didn't make it due to problems so keep the family in your thoughts please.

All in all it was a productive time and there has been no more problems, Nick still loves his teacher and she hasn't let our minor conflict jade her view of him or his abilities.

That's fantastic news! I'm so happy you were able to work things out and that your son is feeling better about school. I applaud you for handling it as you did. I'm sorry the teacher was dealing with some personal issues. Most of us can go to work with other things on our minds, we can be on a shorter fuse than usual and it won't effect the job we do. Unfortunately, with teachers, it affects the students. I hope she is able to overcome the stress of the private situation and my condolences to the family who lost the newborn. It's heartbreaking.

 

[bydand]

I'm sorry the teacher was dealing with some personal issues. Most of us can go to work with other things on our minds, we can be on a shorter fuse than usual and it won't effect the job we do. Unfortunately, with teachers, it affects the students. I hope she is able to overcome the stress of the private situation and my condolences to the family who lost the newborn. It's heartbreaking.

I am going to post something my brother has maintained for years. While he can seem detatched from social conventions most of the time, sometimes he has scary insight. He has a theory he calls the "worry box." To explain: Everybody has an internal worry box, no two peoples box is the same size nor are the items placed within the box. While some people seem to have a vast amount of things they can stress about (big box) others can only handle a very small amout of stress at a time (small box). Everybody keeps their "worry box" full at all times, either about gas prices, new tires, non-matching socks, ugly drivers license photo, etc..., but at times something bigger comes along like a sick child, friend having problems which displaces the smaller problems and they tend to overflow. Someone may think mis-matched socks are a big deal, I wouldn't even put it in my box (ever). I may think needing new tires are a worry, but you wouldn't worry about my tires.

Using this train of thought, which I hate to admit makes sense by the way, I can see the teachers minor worries overflowing into her classroom with the stress of her friends problem taking up the most room. Taking her stressors into consideration, I think she handled the talk well and responded above reproach. Do I think she ever would REALLY place a child on a bus knowing the parents were waiting in the lobby, NO, she just made a real bad choice about what to nit-pick and was called to the mat for it.

 

[Jade Tigress]

I am going to post something my brother has maintained for years. While he can seem detatched from social conventions most of the time, sometimes he has scary insight. He has a theory he calls the "worry box." To explain: Everybody has an internal worry box, no two peoples box is the same size nor are the items placed within the box. While some people seem to have a vast amount of things they can stress about (big box) others can only handle a very small amout of stress at a time (small box). Everybody keeps their "worry box" full at all times, either about gas prices, new tires, non-matching socks, ugly drivers license photo, etc..., but at times something bigger comes along like a sick child, friend having problems which displaces the smaller problems and they tend to overflow. Someone may think mis-matched socks are a big deal, I wouldn't even put it in my box (ever). I may think needing new tires are a worry, but you wouldn't worry about my tires.

Using this train of thought, which I hate to admit makes sense by the way, I can see the teachers minor worries overflowing into her classroom with the stress of her friends problem taking up the most room. Taking her stressors into consideration, I think she handled the talk well and responded above reproach. Do I think she ever would REALLY place a child on a bus knowing the parents were waiting in the lobby, NO, she just made a real bad choice about what to nit-pick and was called to the mat for it.

That's an excellent analogy.

 

[Kacey]

I'm glad things worked out for your son... my condolences to the family that lost the baby. Thanks for letting us know how things came out.

 

[Drac]

Bus issue and who she was going to release him to after school was taken care of before the talk. Principal told her that if she put any kid on a bus knowing their parent was waiting for them in the lobby, he personally would call the police for child endangerment (sending them home knowing nobody was there), and fire her

My kind of principal..Glad things are working..

 

[Ceicei]

Wonderful! I'm really relieved things all worked out.

Condolences for the death of the newborn (I know this can effect the community, especially a small town). I hope the teacher is able to handle that better soon.

- Ceicei