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Post by monklady123 on May 24, 2016 18:22:06 GMT
The band thread made me think of this question, and also all the grumbling in my town over the state-mandated tests. ugh. I was talking to teachers at the school where I sub about the testing which made me recall my couple of victories over the schools. lol. Mostly I wasn't even close to helicopter but there are just some times when you have to take them on. The first was when ds was in middle school, 8th grade (last year of middle). He'd played in the band since 6th grade, trumpet. The advanced band had been practicing since the beginning of the year for the annual trip to Hershey Park for a regional band competition and then time spent riding the rides. A band is an ensemble that needs to work together, just like any type of team -- sports, dance, choral, whatever. So it came time to take the 8th grade state tests and ds was sick. Legitimately sick, not just "oh mom my head hurts". A few days later I called the school to find out when he could make up the tests he'd missed. Keep in mind that these tests are not required to graduate from middle school. The only required ones come in high school where you have to have a certain number from each area in order to get an "advanced" or 'standard" diploma. Anyway, the school told me the date for make-ups. WHich happened to be the same day as the band competition. When I pointed that out the gal said "oh he'll just have to miss it" very casually.  Not only was that unfair to ds but it was also very unfair to the band teacher who had been working so hard all year. I said "no he won't be missing the competition." She said "well he'll have to because that's the make up day." I said "Please let me talk to Mrs. S. [head of counseling]" I explained to Mrs. S. that ds was going to the band competition, that the band teacher was depending on her whole group, that ds didn't need that test for anything, and in fact that he was going to score "advanced" which would look lovely for the school. hehehehe This was a school that had a large percent of second-language kids so my native English speaker and his "advanced" score was going to be a big help to the schools stupid statistics. Mrs. S. replied "oh yes, of course he'll go to the competition, here are some alternate dates, which one works for you?"  The kids I felt really sorry for were the kids who didn't have a pushy mom like me to advocate for them and for the band. Most likely the parents of those second-language kids whose culture often does not include arguing with the school about anything. grrrr... Well, I won, and ds did indeed pass "advanced." My 2nd time was with dd in high school. She took Algebra 2 online through our local alternative school. She needed this for college, but she already had the two required passing math scores on state tests (algebra 1 and geometry) so she didn't need it to graduate from high school. The school insisted that she take the state test. I asked why, since she hadn't taken the class there, and she was going to fail it anyway, and she didn't even need it for graduation. The counselor said "oh you need to have more confidence in your daughter, she will probably pass." I said no she would not, and it wasn't a matter of not having confidence in her, it was just that I know my dd. Well they insisted, and of course I know that the reason is it's a black mark on the school for each kid who doesn't take a standardized test. More of a black mark than ones who fail it. -- So dd, being my rule follower, just said "Mom, I'll go take it. But if I don't know how to do something I'm not going to stress about it, I'll just guess." Fine. She took the test. And she failed. Although I didn't "win" that argument exactly, I consider it a passive-aggressive win that she failed.  And, I so wish this area had a big opt-out movement like some areas do. If I had kids still in school I would totally participate. |
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Post by peasapie on May 24, 2016 18:26:23 GMT
Depends on the district. I worked in one school where it seemed like every parent ran to the principal and got their way. Another school, not so much.
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smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,725 
Location: Houston, TX
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Post by smartypants71 on May 24, 2016 18:35:28 GMT
A couple of weeks ago, my son's drama teacher called to tell me that she gave him after school detention. Well, that's never going to happen because I have no way of picking him up until after 5, so she agreed to lunch time detention instead. Then, I asked her what she gave him detention for and she said it was because he did something (she wasn't sure what) to another kid which caused the other kid to get mad and start throwing things. I tell her that there is no way in hell my kid is going to be disciplined because some other kid can't control his emotions. She then put me on the phone with DS to explain, but he was crying hysterically, so I couldn't get to the bottom of what was going on. When he got home, he told me what had happened. He was playing Uno with 2 boys and another girl. DS played out of turn accidentally, so they all started throwing their cards at him and telling him he was stupid. He got up and walked away, and as he walked away, the boy stuck gum in DSs hair and got other kids to start throwing balled up paper at him!!! Then they started videoing DSs reaction. DS picked up one of the balls of paper and threw it at the other kid, and of course that is the only thing the teacher saw.
Once I found out the whole story, I called the teacher back to tell her my son wasn't going to detention, and while she agreed the other kids were at fault too, she was sticking to putting my son in detention. I told her that we should probably let the Assistant Principal decide what the best course of action was, and that's when she agreed to drop the whole thing. I guess she didn't want to explain to the AP she wasn't in the classroom when all this was going on.
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Post by nurseypants on May 24, 2016 18:39:05 GMT
ugh. Nothing more productive than creating an adversarial relationship with the school.
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Post by ntsf on May 24, 2016 18:42:35 GMT
I took the district to a special ed hearing three times... won 50% of private high school tuition for 4 yrs. painfully..had to do it but boy...misery.
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Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on May 24, 2016 18:45:29 GMT
Up until I was in Grade 7, girls in our district took home ec and boys took shop. There are no words to describe how much I sucked at home ec. After one particularly frustrating period where, after running my sewing project through the machine, I discovered that I had sewn it the sleeve of the shirt I was wearing. That was enough for me. I petitioned the school for a change in curriculum first and then had to take it to the board. A week or so before the board meeting, I received an envelope from the shop teacher (who also happened to be my debating coach) with a copy of the brand new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The board didn't stand a chance.  |
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Post by myshelly on May 24, 2016 18:45:52 GMT
A lot of times with a lot of schools.
When I practiced law I wrote "lawyer letters" to principals on power trips who thought they didn't have to obey state laws when parents chose to opt out of "mandatory" <eyeroll> vaccinations, state "mandated" <eyeroll> testing, or a host of other things. Or when districts tried to interfere with homeschoolers. Or when principals didn't want to reasonably accommodate and protect children with food allergies.
I always won. Because the alternative was me filing a lawsuit (which I would have won because the law was clearly on my side).
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Post by Linda on May 24, 2016 19:14:03 GMT
In general, I tend to work WITH the schools not fight against them but sometimes that doesn't work.
In high school, I passed Algebra 2 (barely - I had a C) but I knew I didn't understand it enough to move on to pre-Calculus. I wanted to re-take it - the school said No, you've already passed. I took it to the school board (this was the summer between 10th and 11th grade so I was 15) and won. Retook the class with the same teacher and passed with an A and more importantly, I understood it that time around. I also learnt that I could stand up for myself.
When my son was in high school, his 10th grade year, he was put into a video production course (elective) - he hadn't requested it, didn't want it, and it didn't count towards any of his graduation requirements. It was taught by the yearbook teacher at the same time/same classroom as the yearbook class...she was focused on yearbook and simply sent the video kids to the library to 'do research' with no guidence as to what to research or why. He talked to the teacher. He talked to guidance. Not fixable. We talked to the teacher who told us how important year book was and how she really didn't want to be teaching the video class. We talked to guidence and were told that he couldn't be switched out of the class. We talked to the principal who said the same. We told him we would take it up with the district and all of a sudden he was switched to weight lifting (which met a PE requirement).
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Post by mikklynn on May 24, 2016 19:18:32 GMT
Our high school started reducing grades for too many absences. My DD was an honor student and had knee surgery her senior year. She had doctor's notes for all the absences for surgical follow up and PT. We did the surgery during spring break.
She got notices about grade reductions due to excess absences. I wrote strongly worded letters to principal and superintendent and they dropped the issue. Ridiculous.
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Post by cmpeter on May 24, 2016 19:46:12 GMT
Those big opt out days sound nice and they were very popular here last year. But, a number of parents in my area are now regretting them. There are two main high schools for my town. Both normally score a 10 on the school ranking reports. One school (the more academically advanced school) had a very high number of kids opt out last year. The other did not. This year the opt out school is ranked a 6 and the other is still a 10.
Homeowners near the 6 school are not very happy.
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Post by myshelly on May 24, 2016 19:48:50 GMT
Those big opt out days sound nice and they were very popular here last year. But, a number of parents in my area are now regretting them. There are two main high schools for my town. Both normally score a 10 on the school ranking reports. One school (the more academically advanced school) had a very high number of kids opt out last year. The other did not. This year the opt out school is ranked a 6 and the other is still a 10. Homeowners near the 6 school are not very happy. But imagine if all the kids everywhere opted out and then no one could use that as a ranking criteria. Oh what a wonderful world it would be. As more and more parents opt out we might achieve that goal. |
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Post by monklady123 on May 24, 2016 20:30:58 GMT
Those big opt out days sound nice and they were very popular here last year. But, a number of parents in my area are now regretting them. There are two main high schools for my town. Both normally score a 10 on the school ranking reports. One school (the more academically advanced school) had a very high number of kids opt out last year. The other did not. This year the opt out school is ranked a 6 and the other is still a 10. Homeowners near the 6 school are not very happy. But imagine if all the kids everywhere opted out and then no one could use that as a ranking criteria. Oh what a wonderful world it would be. As more and more parents opt out we might achieve that goal. Yes. And these rankings are often silly anyway. In my county people will look at a school's test scores and judge the entire school based on those test scores, and think that their child needs to go to a school with higher scores. I'm talking about elementary school here. You know, because everyone's kindergartner is brilliant and won't succeed if they go to a school with a lower score. But what they don't understand is that the score is an AVERAGE. What they need to look at is how their demographic does on the test. These are mostly middle to upper income white parents who act like this. They need to look at the white kids' scores. Or even not look at all, and just go to the school and see what's going on. All our schools are good in this county but the schools with a higher proportion of second-language kids are going to have a lower average on the state tests. That's just a given, especially since the darn math test is so heavily language based (word problems). But it says nothing about the school itself. I hate standardized tests, and I especially hate how the teachers are blamed when kids don't score well. I know wonderful teachers who can't possibly overcome Susie's home situation, or Bobby's previous school, or Billy's dad's recent transfer from another state where the curriculum was totally different. None of that is the fault of the teacher. Anyway, I can rant on about standardized tests so I'd better not keep typing.  |
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Post by Basket1lady on May 24, 2016 21:14:09 GMT
We are a military family and my kids' schooling took the brunt of it in the early years. Both had 2 different preschools in 2 different countries (actually kind of cool, but still a change.) K in one country/one state, 1st in another, ... DS had 6 different schools in 6 years, DD had 4 schools in 4 years.  We were finally stationed somewhere for more than a year and then they changed the school boundaries on us. We were the only ones affected by the change (and there were only 5 possible houses on the street--and us with the only kids). Instead of going to the elementary school in walking distance, they were supposed to go to the elementary school 2 miles away. I talked to the principal and she assured me that it was good for the kids to move around--that it was a good experience. I suggested that perhaps it was time to give another child that experience and let my kids stay. Nope, they had to change schools. So I took it to our school board rep, who then took it to the Superintendent, who then signed the "transfer" papers for the kids to stay in the same elementary school. Needless to say, the principal was not my friend after that. Really, this was the best thing I could have done. When DS didn't have any real friends in his second year at the school, it was apparent that something was different about him. He was tested, we tried new things, he was put into a regular classroom but with a 5th grade teacher with a special ed background. When I went to her mid year and asked if she had seen signs of Asperger in him, she said she thought he had already been diagnosed--that we had just with held the information. It took over a year to get him in to see a specialist, and he was 12 when we finally knew. We then moved again and put him into a smaller, more hands on middle school where he just thrived. He went on to graduate summa cum laude from high school (another move!) and is in his sophomore year of college right now, on a huge merit scholarship. I firmly believe that if he hadn't been moved around so much in those early years, we may have caught things sooner. But I'm so very happy that I fought for him all those years ago. |
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Post by ntsf on May 24, 2016 23:11:37 GMT
one of my kid's teachers in high school asked them to write a paper on their personal religious beliefs. I wrote him and the principal a note that this was against the state's ed code and my child will not be doing this assignment. never heard back but my kid did not do the assignment.
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Post by cmpeter on May 25, 2016 0:36:08 GMT
It would be nice if everyone opted out and if folks didn't use those rankings. But, that's just not very realistic. And if you are looking for a home and not familiar with the area, many wouldn't bother to consider the homes with the high school ranked 6 vs the one ranked a 10.
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Post by refugeepea on May 25, 2016 0:38:56 GMT
It took me 5 years, but my daughter is finally getting an IEP. I guess with enough meltdowns and disruptive behavior her high functioning Autism is more believable. Yet, if she had some small supports in place, we wouldn't be here.
Probably sounds like a failure to some for it taking so long, but I'll take what I can get!
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Post by Merge on May 25, 2016 1:10:24 GMT
But imagine if all the kids everywhere opted out and then no one could use that as a ranking criteria. Oh what a wonderful world it would be. As more and more parents opt out we might achieve that goal. Yes. And these rankings are often silly anyway. In my county people will look at a school's test scores and judge the entire school based on those test scores, and think that their child needs to go to a school with higher scores. I'm talking about elementary school here. You know, because everyone's kindergartner is brilliant and won't succeed if they go to a school with a lower score. But what they don't understand is that the score is an AVERAGE. What they need to look at is how their demographic does on the test. These are mostly middle to upper income white parents who act like this. They need to look at the white kids' scores. Or even not look at all, and just go to the school and see what's going on. All our schools are good in this county but the schools with a higher proportion of second-language kids are going to have a lower average on the state tests. That's just a given, especially since the darn math test is so heavily language based (word problems). But it says nothing about the school itself. I hate standardized tests, and I especially hate how the teachers are blamed when kids don't score well. I know wonderful teachers who can't possibly overcome Susie's home situation, or Bobby's previous school, or Billy's dad's recent transfer from another state where the curriculum was totally different. None of that is the fault of the teacher. Anyway, I can rant on about standardized tests so I'd better not keep typing. Preach! The single best predictor of high test scores is income and the second strongest predictor is race. Parents choosing the "best" school based on test scores are, in reality, choosing the richest, whitest school. It's an endless cycle, too. More rich, white folks flock to the schools with the highest test scores/most rich white folks, and the other schools become poorer and less white and their average test scores subsequently fall. Not because the teaching has changed, not because the kids aren't smart - but because the tests are skewed and the best teaching in the world can't erase the effects of poverty. The state then punishes the school with less funding for its low scores, and now the school is trying to do more with less. The lower-income folks can't afford thousand-dollar donations to the PTO, so the school fires its music and art teachers to find the money to buy science equipment, and cancels all field trips. Meanwhile the "good" school across town benefits from increased funding, generous parent donations and a student body that generally has plenty to eat, a safe place to sleep, and access to tutors and test prep courses. Sorry, obviously I can rant, too. |
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paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,813
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
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Post by paget on May 25, 2016 1:20:19 GMT
It would be nice if everyone opted out and if folks didn't use those rankings. But, that's just not very realistic. And if you are looking for a home and not familiar with the area, many wouldn't bother to consider the homes with the high school ranked 6 vs the one ranked a 10. Cindi, which school is ranked 6? I never heard about that! Dd just asked me to sign to opt her out and I did. :/ |
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Post by cmpeter on May 25, 2016 1:21:23 GMT
I am not arguing for state testing at all. I completely agree with you. I was just pointing out one of the consequences of the mass opt outs. The school that is now a 6, is the better choice academically they also have a much better music, arts and theater program and are more racially and economically diverse. The school that is still rated a 10 is great school for academics, has a better sports program, not such a great music/arts program and is less racially and economically diverse.
It's a shame because some might not consider the 6 school now and it's an excellent school. It would be my school of choice but the other school is our home school and variances are impossible to get unless you have a sibling at the 6 school. Which goes to show how popular it is. But, that won't be known to someone coming from outside of the area.
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Post by cakediva on May 25, 2016 1:44:00 GMT
Up until I was in Grade 7, girls in our district took home ec and boys took shop. There are no words to describe how much I sucked at home ec. After one particularly frustrating period where, after running my sewing project through the machine, I discovered that I had sewn it the sleeve of the shirt I was wearing. That was enough for me. I petitioned the school for a change in curriculum first and then had to take it to the board. A week or so before the board meeting, I received an envelope from the shop teacher (who also happened to be my debating coach) with a copy of the brand new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The board didn't stand a chance. Maybe you went through just before me LOL! We got bused from our little country school to the city school for home ec and shop. The year I started in Grade 7, only 3 of us girls took home ec, the rest of them took shop! |
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Post by txdancermom on May 25, 2016 1:56:35 GMT
when dd was a junior in hs, they got a new french teacher, the one they had got married and moved out of state with her husband. dd and friends were in French 3.
new teacher allegedly had the qualifications to teach french, but would not conduct the class in french (strange for any language class I have ever been in). she did not speak to the students in french, and only had them do reading/writing assignments. after a couple weeks, the students were frustrated. I was emailing the teacher getting nonsense answers about this is what the curriculum was, etc. after a number of emails, I finally sent it on to the principal, and at the same time, my dd and fellow students went to the principal and he listened and the teacher was replaced almost immediately. found out the teacher had been a librarian and while she could read french, she couldn't speak it but somehow was qualified as a language teacher.
I am sorr someone got fired, but dd got a teacher that did speak french and the rest of the year went well.
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Post by CarolT on May 25, 2016 3:42:05 GMT
Honestly, there were very few times throughout my kids' educations that I had a disagreement with the school. Before my twins started kindergarten, I went to the school and requested that they be in the same class. I was told that the district policy was to separate twins. I made an appointment with the principal, and told him that I had researched the district policy and learned that in fact the placement of same-grade siblings in the same or different classes was a decision to be made collaboratively by the school and parents. As I knew my children, and was confident that they would both benefit from being together, I was requesting that they be placed in the same class. The principal told me he believed it was a mistake, but he would place them together. It was the right thing for my kids and they stayed in the same class until 3rd grade - the principal later told me he was happy he was wrong  When my kids were in high school (by the time they were in 9th grade, I had been teaching at their high school for 8 years), the pressure to schedule kids for as many AP classes as possible was just getting started. I believe in AP courses, but I don't think AP is the be all and end all. Every year from 10th grade on, I had to write an official letter to have my kids removed from certain AP courses. Both kids took and passed plenty of AP courses and tests, but they didn't take "AP everything". Incidentally, both kids got into their first choice (highly competitive) colleges and earned full academic scholarships, even though one "only" took 5 AP courses and the other "only" took 7 - and both of them had more AP credits than their colleges allowed them to apply towards their degree! |
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Post by cindytred on May 25, 2016 3:59:42 GMT
When my son was in middle school his math teacher was a pill.
One time she wanted to punish my son because he "lost" a project. I called her to discuss the issue and discovered that all of the projects were kept on a window ledge at the back of the classroom - the students didn't personally keep up with their own projects. Anyone from 8 classes of students could have taken my son's project - this being highly likely because my son was an A student. As soon as I pointed this out she was kind enough not to punish my son. LOL!
Another time this same teacher called me in for a conference about how my son comes into class, sits down, and stares at the board. Before we went any further I asked her if she knew what my son's NRT and FCAT scores were for the previous year. She immediately pulled them up on her computer and said, "Oh, sorry!". (He always scores in the 99th percentile on the NRT and at the highest level on the state testing.) BAZINGA B!tch! Leave my kid alone! BTW, my son was staring at the board because he was reading whatever she had written up there.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
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Post by scrapaddie on May 25, 2016 4:01:11 GMT
The band thread made me think of this question, and also all the grumbling in my town over the state-mandated tests. ugh. I was talking to teachers at the school where I sub about the testing which made me recall my couple of victories over the schools. lol. Mostly I wasn't even close to helicopter but there are just some times when you have to take them on. The first was when ds was in middle school, 8th grade (last year of middle). He'd played in the band since 6th grade, trumpet. The advanced band had been practicing since the beginning of the year for the annual trip to Hershey Park for a regional band competition and then time spent riding the rides. A band is an ensemble that needs to work together, just like any type of team -- sports, dance, choral, whatever. So it came time to take the 8th grade state tests and ds was sick. Legitimately sick, not just "oh mom my head hurts". A few days later I called the school to find out when he could make up the tests he'd missed. Keep in mind that these tests are not required to graduate from middle school. The only required ones come in high school where you have to have a certain number from each area in order to get an "advanced" or 'standard" diploma. Anyway, the school told me the date for make-ups. WHich happened to be the same day as the band competition. When I pointed that out the gal said "oh he'll just have to miss it" very casually. Not only was that unfair to ds but it was also very unfair to the band teacher who had been working so hard all year. I said "no he won't be missing the competition." She said "well he'll have to because that's the make up day." I said "Please let me talk to Mrs. S. [head of counseling]" I explained to Mrs. S. that ds was going to the band competition, that the band teacher was depending on her whole group, that ds didn't need that test for anything, and in fact that he was going to score "advanced" which would look lovely for the school. hehehehe This was a school that had a large percent of second-language kids so my native English speaker and his "advanced" score was going to be a big help to the schools stupid statistics. Mrs. S. replied "oh yes, of course he'll go to the competition, here are some alternate dates, which one works for you?" The kids I felt really sorry for were the kids who didn't have a pushy mom like me to advocate for them and for the band. Most likely the parents of those second-language kids whose culture often does not include arguing with the school about anything. grrrr... Well, I won, and ds did indeed pass "advanced." My 2nd time was with dd in high school. She took Algebra 2 online through our local alternative school. She needed this for college, but she already had the two required passing math scores on state tests (algebra 1 and geometry) so she didn't need it to graduate from high school. The school insisted that she take the state test. I asked why, since she hadn't taken the class there, and she was going to fail it anyway, and she didn't even need it for graduation. The counselor said "oh you need to have more confidence in your daughter, she will probably pass." I said no she would not, and it wasn't a matter of not having confidence in her, it was just that I know my dd. Well they insisted, and of course I know that the reason is it's a black mark on the school for each kid who doesn't take a standardized test. More of a black mark than ones who fail it. -- So dd, being my rule follower, just said "Mom, I'll go take it. But if I don't know how to do something I'm not going to stress about it, I'll just guess." Fine. She took the test. And she failed. Although I didn't "win" that argument exactly, I consider it a passive-aggressive win that she failed. And, I so wish this area had a big opt-out movement like some areas do. If I had kids still in school I would totally participate. Keep in mind that in some states, state funding is tied to test scores and require a certain percentage of students to take the tests. That's why we bribed kids with a pass on final exams if they achieved certain scores |
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Post by AussieMeg on May 25, 2016 4:08:34 GMT
Mine is really minor, and nothing to do with grades, so I feel a bit embarrassed sharing it but anyway....
My son is in Year 6 which is the last year of Primary school here. Next year he starts high school (Year 7). He wants to grow his hair long-ish and hasn't had it cut since March last year. The school is VERY strict with its rules about uniform, hair and even jewellery. The policy regarding hair states "Students are required to wear their hair in a style and manner approved by the school." If your hair is past your collar you have to tie it back. DS's teacher has been telling him for weeks that he has to get it cut. He said that he would tie it back but she said that was not acceptable. I know from friends with older kids that it has been acceptable in the past, although not common for boys to have longer hair.
I rang the office and the Assistant Principal said that as long as it was tied back neatly it was acceptable. The next day DS tied his hair back and one of the other Year 6 teachers told him to take it out, but because they were in the middle of Devotion he couldn't explain to her that he'd been given permission from the Asst Principal to tie it back. The next day he wore it tied back again and has done so every day this week. I think the office must have told his teacher it was OK because no-one has said anything more about it.
In 13 years of attending this school I have never ever challenged any of the rules, or had cause to ring the office for anything like this. I am a firm believer that if you know the rules before starting school, you must abide by them. In fact, the main reason I chose the school I did for my kids is the strict uniform and makeup rules, particularly in high school. But the thing is, the rules regarding hair are very airy fairy, and nowhere does it say boys cannot tie their hair back. In high school they are allowed to.
I'm still not sure I have won the battle. It will be interesting to see what the Principal says when he returns to work. If he says that DS has to cut his hair I will concede defeat and cut his hair.
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Post by miominmio on May 25, 2016 5:03:05 GMT
In 8th grade DS was placed in sports (they can chose a subject, but they will not necessarily get the one they chose, depends on how many who did). After six weeks, he injured his ankle (nearly four years, and his ankle still hasn't healed properly). The school refused to let him change subject, nor did they let ham only do things that he could without injuring his ankle further....and then he nearly failed the subject. When I complained, I was told that he needed a doctor's notice every single week (total BS), so I took it further and won!
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Post by melanell on May 25, 2016 12:17:09 GMT
I don't believe ever fought with the school. I did disagree with something a teacher did once, and to make the situation more tricky, I didn't receive the mailed notification of what she did until after the school year was over. Plus, something seriously wonky happened with his grades online around the same time in that class. At that point, I had no easy way to contact her, so I did contact the vice-principal instead. I knew DS would not have this teacher the following year no matter what and I had already spoken to the teacher he would have the next year. So it was a concerned, but friendly and calm call to the vice-principal, and we worked things out easily & quickly. No fight required. |
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psiluvu
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,217
Location: Canada's Capital
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Post by psiluvu on May 25, 2016 13:13:32 GMT
I have only once with each kid and both times it was totally ridiculous. DD is in grade 11. Since the summer between grade 9 and 10 she has tried to sing up for Civics and Careers at summer school - it is a necessary credit but an easy course so she didn't want to "waste" school time on it. First summer she didn't get registered in time totally her fault, the summer between 10 and 11 she didn't get in totally due to her guidance counsellors misinformation and mishandling. This year she went in March to talk to him and he said she should just take it next year in grade 12 and not bother him about it. He also asked her what she wanted to do after grade 12. She said go to Queens' university. he said don't even bother applying if your parents didn't go there. Now she had arranged her schedule since grade 9 to have a spare in grade 12 including taking two grade 12 maths in grade 11 and she has had her heart set on Queens since grade 9 and has the marks to get there. In her school guidance counsellors are assigned purely on the basis of what letter your last name stats with. So I called asking to get her assigned to another counsellor as I thought there was a personality conflict and with her senior year coming up I wanted someone who she would be comfortable with. I thought it would be an easy switch, no such luck. I was informed by him that I had to write a formal letter. I was surprised that he wanted a formal complaint for something that is assigned purely on the basis of a Last name. But I wrote the letter, sent it to the principal and spoke to him about it and got is changed. Funny part of the story is that the principal's dd goes to Queens and he or his wife didn't. The new counsellor had her signed up for the summer class within a matter of days and has already given her great info about scholarships offered by Queens and McGill that she might want to look into next year
DS is in grade 7 and had a detention for disrupting the class. They were doing a test he noticed a girl copying his paper, he covered it up and she stabbed him with a pencil, he hollered what the hell. The girl was sent to the principals office and he was sent to the nurse. His science teacher called me to tell he had been hurt and it would bruise but he thought it was okay and he would keep the girl away from him and keep an eye on her and apologized to me. By the time he got home that night his arm was red and starting to bruise. The next morning I got a call from the vice principal (who I am not a fan off, and I think the feeling is mutual) who told me ds would be getting a detention for swearing in class. I said I don't think so, there was no way he was going to be punished for being physically assaulted. It was a complete double standard, if the roles had been reversed there would be no doubt ds would probably have been suspended. He argued with me I said I wanted to speak to the principal. Once I spoke to him and mentioned that ds was the victim of physical assault he changed his tune and no detention for ds. Thankfully the vp is leaving this year and ds has been staying far away from the stabber.
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Not only was that unfair to ds but it was also very unfair to the band teacher who had been working so hard all year. I said "no he won't be missing the competition." She said "well he'll have to because that's the make up day." I said "Please let me talk to Mrs. S. [head of counseling]" I explained to Mrs. S. that ds was going to the band competition, that the band teacher was depending on her whole group, that ds didn't need that test for anything, and in fact that he was going to score "advanced" which would look lovely for the school. hehehehe This was a school that had a large percent of second-language kids so my native English speaker and his "advanced" score was going to be a big help to the schools stupid statistics. Mrs. S. replied "oh yes, of course he'll go to the competition, here are some alternate dates, which one works for you?" 
