I know my Sisters think I am very involved in my Grand Kids lives and I am. I was even more involved in my kid’s lives….Especially when they were in school…
My kids have had some good teachers and some not so good, and some really sorry teachers that I felt should not even be teaching…Now My kids did not have those sorry teachers very long because they were moved very early in the school year.
I have always demanded my kids mind the teachers, sit up and listen, do the best they can to do as the teacher asks. And since I have demanded this of my kids it is my responsibility to make sure that the Teacher is acting with the kids best interests at heart.
I know every time I make a teacher post Betty cringes, and I guess now Cousin Winnie also But I will say there are A LOT of teachers out there that are SORRY teachers…I have seen plenty of them..Now there are a lot of good ones too...
When we transferred Kris from Green Forest to Caney Kindergarten in the middle of the year, her new teacher had a sick husband. He was dying of cancer. So that teacher was never at school. I understand that…But for the first 15 days Kris was at this new school she had a different substitute teacher every day! She did not even know a teacher’s name. That lasted until I went to the Principal. Then they set up a long term sub that was there every day…My first experience with a public school system that holds true today, “The squeaky parent gets the grease!”
In Kris’ second grade in Caney KS. Kris had Mrs. Stelfox ( 26 years and I still remember her name.) Kris was always an average student, much like My Mackenzie but she tried very hard. She was very quiet in school and never caused any trouble! One day Kris called me at home because she had wet her pants in school. I asked Kris why she did not go to the bathroom and she said her teacher would not let her. I spoke to the principal’s sectary and the Principal was in. I told her I would be down there in 5 minutes and wanted to speak to him…I first went to the teacher and she said if she let one kid go to the bathroom they all would want to go and they just go there to get out of class. I asked her if Kris had ever asked to go in class before and she admitted no she had not. I told the teacher if she did not have good enough sense to tell which kids took advantage of that and which kids did not then she had just better let them all go when asked because I did not ever want to hear my kid had been refused to let go to the restroom and had to wet her pants in front of all of her classmates ever again!…”Oh yes, and by the way…Have that puddle of pee cleaned up before I get her back in the classroom because I do not want her any more embarrassed over this incident!” It was still puddle in her chair and on the floor by her seat!
When we got back to the room the pee was gone but when I went to see the Principal so was he!...Good thing the school was small and I was able to track him down while he was peeking around a corner trying to avoid speaking to me! That did not work…I was much younger and faster than I am now.
When Kris was in 5th grade she got a very tough man teacher. The first night on meet the teacher night I explained if I knew what was due in the week I could make sure Kris had her homework finished but Kris sometimes forgot something was due and did he write up a weekly or daily agenda…He assured me he did, but he did not…The first week of school Kris had a Social studies test. It was a fill in the blank. Kris had studied for it but we did not practice spelling the words…So when she got her test back she had miss spelled almost every word by a letter or two and he counted all of them wrong…no partial credit or anything…Which is fine if that is the way he teaches but I needed to know that. I had a meeting with him and he said he does this in every subject…all of the words must be spelled correctly in Math, Social studies, and every subject…Now I did not agree with that but as I told him he was the teacher and I just needed to know what she needed to know so we could make sure we were studying the proper way..
The next day when I went to pick up Kris after school I quizzed her on if she had her homework, books, ect before we left the school. She had forgotten a book. I told her I would go back to the room with her and we would get her book…As I was walking on the sidewalk towards her room her teacher was at least 50 feet ahead of me walking with a group of Kris’ school mates. He was walking towards me. He yelled, ‘Mrs. See I want you to know I do not have time to speak to you every day!’ I told him we were just going to the room we had forgotten a book.
The next morning I called the principal and the three of us met that afternoon. Her Teacher came armed with all of Kris’ work and wanted to explain why if the word was spelled wrong why he counted the entire answer wrong…I came armed with letters from a few letters from Kris’s past teachers explaining how Kris needed extra help at home because she learned from repetition and if her Mother had not went over and over class work and home work with her she would have really struggled in school.. But with the extra help at home she was a solid ‘B’ student. My point was if the Parent and Teacher could not work together this student was not going to succeed. And after the comment on the playground yesterday in front of all of Kris and all of Kris’ class mates we could no longer work together. The Principal and teacher were both surprised I was not there to discuss how he taught. The next day she had a new teacher…
But the worst Teacher she had was in 9th grade. It was a drama / debate teacher. He was to teach drama and debate…Both…That is why the district hired him…But when it came down to it he only wanted to teach drama…So after about two weeks into school he got his hand full of debate students together and tried to convince them to do Drama….there were about 4 kids that would not be swayed.. My daughter was one of them…So he had a debate class of about 4 kids and he decided he was not going to teach them. He just refused; they went to class and tried to research on their own. He refused to set up debates with other schools ECT…He refused to help them in any way….I spoke to him. He was gay, by the way, just a side note…Then I went to Santa Cruze, the principal, and got the run around. Then I went to the superintendent of schools. Dr Delecke, he called the principal while I was there and he was livid…He told the principal he did not care if he only had one debate student that he was hired to teach debate and he had damn well better do it and he wanted Santa Cruze and the teacher in his office after school that day….the Teacher taught debate but called Kris up in front of the class and explained since her mother complained he had to now teach debate but no one was going to have a good time there…That day I went to the school board…That teacher was no longer employed with Gilbert Public Schools and we had a new debate Teacher…
Now when Mackenzie started school the first week her teacher told some little girl to pick up her papers off the floor and she did not listen. He SLAMBED his hand down hard on his desk and said, “Pick up those paper!.” It about scared Kenzie to death. Then a few days later a little girl went up to his desk and said she did not have the study guide to turn in because his substitute teacher had not told them they had to return it. He said she was lying he had told the sub to tell the kids to bring them back and she was getting a zero for the paper and to go sit down, he did not even let his six year old lie to him. Kenzie said the girl was not lying, the sub had not told them but she was afraid to speak up for the little girl. By this time Kenzie was totally afraid to say anything to her teacher and she did not understand some instructions but was to afraid to ask any question…Then the next week he told a little girl if she did not straighten up she was going to be working at Taco Bell all of her life and when a boy snickered he asked why he was laughing, he was no better he would be working at Burger King all of his life.
That is when I had to have a face to face with the teacher
I did not want Kenzie to change teachers because it was now 3 weeks into school she had made friends and I did not want to make an enemy of the Teacher…I just wanted him to fall in line, so to speak..
So brother Clayton said suggested I go to the teacher and say Mackenzie was afraid of him. At that point the Teacher would ask why, then I could explain and he would not be so defensive, after all HE had asked…It worked just like brother thought it would.
I imagine the Teacher is going through some personal problems for which I am sorry but too bad, we all have issues, leave them at home…
Winnie said after being a teacher for so many years she would have brought the Principal in on the meeting if she was the teacher. But a Teacher only wants to get the Principal involved if he is right. I am sure he knew he had been doing things that were not good and I know he would like to just keep it between us. I thought that way also if I could get the results I wanted. So far this has worked. Kenzie has even asked him a few questions. If he is belittling kids it is not in front of Mackenzie which is the only one I really care about….I know that seems crass but I am not ready to take on causes for the whole world, just the little part I am responsible for.
As a side note…Just in the last two weeks Arizona passed a law stating teachers no longer have ten year…or is it tenyer…Regardless Arizona can get rid of all of those old teachers who are not doing a good job and replace them with new cheaper paid teachers…BTW Betty I am not in favor of that!
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