How easily accessible is your child's teacher? What is your grading system for behavior?

a reply to: mblahnikluver

It has been many years, but when my children were in school I was shocked that when I made arrangements to speak to one of my children's teachers I was led into a room and sat in a chair in the middle of the room with every one of my child's teachers surrounding me in a circle. They then ganged up and attempted to bully me into keeping my mouth shut- even though I only had issue with one particular teacher. Not being one to be bullied or silenced and having the gift of a rather large vocabulary (when I choose to use it) I stated my issue very eloquently and within minutes had all of the older, more experienced teachers won to my cause. The problem was a very young, inexperienced teacher whom apparently nearly every parent of her students had a problem with- and who probably should not have been a teacher to begin with.

I was never one to act like "one of those" parents and 99.9% of the time I backed up my children's teachers, but when the problem was very evidently NOT my child I went in with my "ducks in a row" and refused to back down or be bullied, regardless of intimidation tactics!

From what I gather this is still the way they do it now (I have a grandchild in 3rd grade) and fortunately her mother has taken a page from my book. Be polite, be respectful, understand you probably will not get the full story from either your child OR the teachers- but DO NOT be intimidated!

a reply to: mblahnikluver

I don't know.

Our teachers have less time than that and they do a really good job. Also, the sessions are in their classrooms, so you can look around, get a feel for things, and one of things I look for are the posted classroom rules which tells me quite a bit. Those will be the criteria she should be measuring him against to hand out those codes.

And when I say general terms for ClassroomDojo I mean labels like:

+1 for On Task
+1 for Working Hard
+1 for Helping Others
+1 for Following Directions

Sometimes those have no label and sometimes they are for whole class. And sometimes they are -1 for not doing those things, etc.

So when I say general terms, I mean I don't know exactly how or why the class wasn't following directions and if it was everyone or nearly everyone, but I know it was enough that she dinged the whole class for not following directions in some way.

a reply to: GeauxHomeYoureDrunk

My child's kindergarten teacher was a force of nature. No one could get a word in edgewise against her, and once her mind was made up, she was right about it and that was all that mattered.

So glad we're done with her.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

You might laugh but one of the absolutely best schools my kids ever attended was in Florida (Seminole county). Seriously, the teachers my kids had were the most gifted, inspirational teachers i've ever met. The facilities rivaled most colleges too. It was an affluent area and those schools were awesome. The difference between affluent areas and poor or middle class areas is like a third world country and lifestyles of the rich and famous. I hate to say it but if poor people ever visited a PUBLIC school in a rich area they would probably lose it. In Seminole county they went great lengths to keep the "riff raff" out of certain public school. They way they drew lines defining the school districts were humourous, immoral, maybe even illegal?

I've learned from personal experience that individual teachers decided on how "accessible" they are regardless what the schools say.

My suggestion to you is to follow protocol. Always remember you'll get more bees with honey.
Email if that is the first step, make sure to allow a good business day.
Keep track of everything. If you don't get answers in an acceptable amount of time, then escalate. It's sad it has to get like that but sometimes you do have to hold them accountable. Get principals and administrators involved if you have to. Teachers really hate that, but sometimes there is no other choice.

Good luck and don't worry, the days are long but the years are fast!

Mblah, just make the damn appointment and suck it up.

Back in the 70's/80's when my older brother was in elementary school, they had Parent/Teacher nights/Open House nights for that, and if you missed one, you made an appointment for later on. That was in Michigan.
They did the same things for me and my younger brother in the 90's in Florida when we were in elementary. I know damn well it's an old "tradition" because my mother hated both P/T Nights, AND making appointments, she thought she should just be able to yank a teachers out of their classroom before class or after it to talk to them, and bitched that nothing had changed since my older brother was in the same grades way back when.

Honest to god, this is not new, and you're not the most important person in their day regardless of what you want to discuss. Wait your turn for your appointment, don't accost them at the door. That's just beyond rude, and why teachers hate what is perceived as "uppity" parents.

Another thing to keep in mind is the increased security precautions around schools these days. Requiring an appointment might be a means of instituting a "cool down period" for an irate parent to calm down before meeting with a teacher.

a reply to: mblahnikluver
Also, since for some odd reason you are getting yelled at now, you could try to inquire with your childs teacher if they have a class mass text list.

My boys fifth and fourth grade teachers the last two years would add you to their group text to let the parent know if there was homework or events we needed to know about. We caught the little bugger in a couple of lies we did thanks to those nice teachers and their dedication to education.

I always had a pretty good rapport with the teachers. They like my smile.