Has Anyone had the Teacher ask for a Letter of Introduction from the Parents?

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

If I were you I would pull my kids out of that school NOW!! Not only are they not teaching your children, but now they are the object of gossip, by the whole office staff and parents. WOW, the school must truely be against you!
From your post, I just do not think that your family will ever be successful in this school.

FainFamily5---congrats on that NBCT--big honor

Hmm...I'm trying to deside upon the seriousness of this post...

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I laughed out loud when I read this post. I'm not sure what your ideas are about teachers, but we honestly do not have time to rank & judge the parents' lives, nor are we interested in spying on any of you. Sorry, but we've got enough going on in our own lives, as well as with our extremely busy & stressful jobs.

What the teacher is trying to do is find out anything she can that will help her in her dealings with your child. I frequently encounter home situations that have HUGE impacts on the child's performance & behavior in class: one or both parents dead, single parent homes, child being raised by Grandma, parent(s) in jail, homeless parents, children in foster situations, children living in group homes without any sort of parent figures, etc., etc., etc.

If I know one of my kids is living in a group home, I will avoid giving assignments where they have to interview a relative, for example. If I know one of my kids is living in a rented room with her mom & siblings, and is sleeping on the floor, I can be sensitive about her not having the privacy to get her homework done on time always. I'm not in any way interested in judging these parents; everyone has things going on in their lives, and I haven't walked a mile in their shoes. But, because there are CHILDREN involved, not automatons, it is absolutely in everyone's best interests to educate the teacher as much as possible. Often, children will either be unable or unwilling to articulate their needs. The teacher then relies on your assistance to provide her with that information.

This sounds like a very caring, interested teacher, and I'm sorry she has to deal with this kind of suspicion from the parents of her kids.

Heather W

I was going to reply with the same exact points. Thanks Heather for saving me some time the day before school starts! It is so sad that asking for background information is a cause for suspicion. Afterall, one should be proud to have a teacher who cares so much. It definitely sounds as if the OP is feeling in the spotlight here and she shouldn't.

The fact that people here believe that this was sent out for gossip material is sickening. Wake up. We don't have the time nor the desire to read countless papers just to gossip.

 

[Fainfamily5]

If I were you I would pull my kids out of that school NOW!! Not only are they not teaching your children, but now they are the object of gossip, by the whole office staff and parents. WOW, the school must truely be against you!
From your post, I just do not think that your family will ever be successful in this school.

FainFamily5---congrats on that NBCT--big honor

Thank you!!! A lot of people are not aware of what a big deal this is!!!! I could not have done it without the help of a lot of people. Especially my sister!!!!

 

[kristytru]

I worked as a teacher and an aide in 2nd grade. My guess is that the teacher, in addition to showing the similarities and differences of autobiographies and biographies, was looking for an assignment that would be fun and promote discussion within the family. Too often, homework consists of boring worksheets. ONe of my favorite assignments to give to my 2nd graders on the first day of school was to find out why their parents chose their child's name. The children were always so enthusiastic about this writing assignment unlike the usual "what I did on my summer vacation". I 'm sure your child's teacher is not trying to judge you, but rather make learning fun and rewarding for her students.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Last year I had to take dd out of school one day/week for vision therapy (she had a muscle imbalance). Of course, the school officials knew why I was taking her out. However, seems the office ladies got the wrong impression--they'd say "Oh, you're here to get dd for her therapy". Well, I never bothered to set them straight. Then one day dd wanted to play with another child and her mother called me to ask how well supervised the play would be, because she understood that dd had "mental problems". When I asked her where she got that idea she said "its well-known that she's been seeing a psychiatrist for almost a year". Waaaat???????? Apparently it was gossip that had spread that I was taking dd to some sort of mental health therapy, not eye therapy. DD has NEVER had any problems at school and is very well-behaved. However, gossip has put her in another category, and I'm afraid it will never be changed in people's minds. We're seriously considering transferring to another school, just to get a fresh start. BTW, that wasn't the only issue, there's been many more misconceptions about both my kids at school. Seems once a child becomes the object of gossip it just snowballs. That's why I try so hard to protect our privacy, but the only real way I can is to start with another school.

Seems to me the office staff has been inappropriately (illegally?) divulging very personal information to non-staff, and this needs to be addressed with the school immediately. Not only is it not OK to gossip about this kind of thing, but they got it completely twisted around so that other parents are worried about their children being around your child! Unbelievable.

Also, I don't believe the OP is upset because she is 'guilty' of something, I believe she (like vhoffman) sees no reason to divulge very personal information without a good reason and to someone who can be trusted with private information.

However, I don't think the teacher specified what kind of info she was looking for and for what purpose. I seriously doubt she was expecting people to disclose their household income or method of birth control, for pete's sake. Probably looking for the child's interests, strengths, areas they may need extra help with, or any area the parent has concerns with. This is about your child and things that may impact your child's ability to learn. Instead of trying to guess at or assume the teacher's ulterior motives, why not just ASK the purpose of the assignment?