Teachers have any of you had bad PARENTS?

[Help Please!]

Here's my bad parent story. I have lots of great parents, and a few awful ones.

I have lunch duty once a week. Last week, a kindergartener brought 2 frozen pancakes and a juice box for lunch. She doesn't like pancakes (ie. she's not a quirky kid who just chose pancakes). This week, a bag of cereal...no drink. Luckily, we pay attention and she qualifies for reduced lunch, so we made sure she had lots of good food to eat. Find out, mom's a drug addict and can't be trusted to pick her kid up from school...so a teacher walks the girl across the street to her house each day. DCF is involved, but I just want to take the poor girl home. ugh.

On a nicer note, I had a mom volunteer to label/ copy/ stuff chorus folders for me for next week! 50 folders, such a huge help, especially when she comes to school right after work. Blessed to have parents like her!

 

[disneyismyname]

Teachers can be awesome and annoying.
Students can be awesome and annoying.
Parents can be awesome and annoying.

We are all the same.

 

[HsvTeacher]

Can I just say that I hate it when parents schedule a (very early!) morning conference and then not show? They requested the conference, not me.

I worked around their schedule for their convenience and everyone involved (principal, counselor, etc.) had to make other arrangements to be here. I realize things come up in the morning, but at least make a quick phone call to say you won't be able to make it.

Ugh!

 

[Pigeon]

Can I just say that I hate it when parents schedule a (very early!) morning conference and then not show? They requested the conference, not me.

I worked around their schedule for their convenience and everyone involved (principal, counselor, etc.) had to make other arrangements to be here. I realize things come up in the morning, but at least make a quick phone call to say you won't be able to make it.

Ugh!

I had a teacher do this to me. She didn't show up until school was supposed to start, and of course then she couldn't talk to me. Very inconsiderate.

 

[HsvTeacher]

I had a teacher do this to me. She didn't show up until school was supposed to start, and of course then she couldn't talk to me. Very inconsiderate.

That's even worse than a parent not showing! I keep a list of my classroom parents' numbers in my school bag for that exact reason. There's no excuse for someone to be that inconsiderate.

 

[SydSim]

Teachers can be awesome and annoying.
Students can be awesome and annoying.
Parents can be awesome and annoying.

We are all the same.

 

[mickeyboat]

Bingo! Since grades are online all the time now, we not only hear about the grades, but we get comments from parents about the types of assignments, frequency of assignments, etc. I had a parent email me to tell me that I had mistakenly put the same grade online twice. Since she could only see her child's grade, and the assignments had similar titles-one was a quiz and the other a homework grade-and her child had the same grade for both, she assumed I had made a mistake. Of course, I could see the whole grade book and knew the assignments were in different catagories. Now, this doesn't make her a bad parent, but it does make me wonder what she was thinking. Does she think that I just never look at the grade book online and have no idea what I'm doing?

Well, I check my DDs' online grades daily, and I have found mistakes. When I have inquired about it, the teachers have made sure to tell me they they were glad I brought it to their attention. Both times a 0 was entered for an assignment my DDs had graded in their binders. I don't think that the teachers didn't know what they were doing, I just figured people make mistakes sometimes.

Even if it wasn't a mistake, it is a good opportunity for a teacher to explain her grading system and her expectations to the parents. DD10 complained about a grade she got in band. I emailed the teacher to inquire about it, and she responded with a very long email detailing her expectations for her students. DD was not telling me the entire story, but she was also not clear on what the expectations were. I was very glad to have the information so I could talk to DD about it.

I would think that teachers would be glad to have parents who were involved and interested in what their children are doing.

This is the first year I have had access to grades, and I really like it. I have told my DDs, though, that after this marking period, since they know their teachers better now and are clear about their expectations, they would be in charge of talking to their teachers if there were questions about their grades.