Less personal touch?

[Anonymous]

Our son is starting public school after two years of private.

We have been impressed with his teacher after meeting her and the school looks very nice.

But should we expect less personal touch from teachers and staff than at our private?

Our son’s teacher seemed nice but was also a bit aloof and didn’t engage in conversation with me or other parents at the open house.

I’m still excited, just not sure what to expect as far as feeling part of a community. I’m not high maintenance but I do like to have relationships with teachers.

[Anonymous]

Less personal touch the older they get- which is to teach independence. What grade are you speaking of?

[Anonymous]

I agree with pp that grade level matters. But that aside, what kind of relationship are you looking to have with the teacher? If everything is going well, you really don’t need one beyond parent-teacher conferences. If there are issues, you will develop more of a relationship because you will be meeting with them more often.

If you’re looking to be part of the broader school community, the PTA is a better place to start.

[Anonymous]

Open house is about the kids, not the parents. Teachers are supposed to focus on talking to their students rather than getting sucked in by the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with pp that grade level matters. But that aside, what kind of relationship are you looking to have with the teacher? If everything is going well, you really don’t need one beyond parent-teacher conferences. If there are issues, you will develop more of a relationship because you will be meeting with them more often.

If you’re looking to be part of the broader school community, the PTA is a better place to start.

Agree. If all goes well you'll barely be in contact with the teacher. Not sure what you were expecting from a teacher who is supposed to be greeting 25 kids and their families in the space of an hour.

[Anonymous]

Personal touch ROFL

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you will have a relationship with the teacher. The teacher will develop a relationship with your child and will let you know how your child is doing
Through report cards and conferences. Teachers have a lot on their plates and it would be asking a lot of them
to develop a “relationship” with each child’s caregiver. Maybe your private school had smaller classes and less asked of each teacher during the course of the day? I know it’s hard, but try to let go of this expectation or you will be setting yourself up for disappointment.

[Anonymous]

we made the private school to public transition

yes was less personal than private

if people have only had a kid in public they really don’t get it and their idea of personal touch is much different
They will think bc the teacher responded to an email or she sends out an email once in a while saying what the class did as personal touch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we made the private school to public transition

yes was less personal than private

if people have only had a kid in public they really don’t get it and their idea of personal touch is much different
They will think bc the teacher responded to an email or she sends out an email once in a while saying what the class did as personal touch

Sorry you couldn’t afford private anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
we made the private school to public transition

yes was less personal than private

if people have only had a kid in public they really don’t get it and their idea of personal touch is much different
They will think bc the teacher responded to an email or she sends out an email once in a while saying what the class did as personal touch

Of course it's less personal. Personal is what the private school families are paying for.

[Anonymous]

It took me a bit to adjust after Preschool where we got daily updates from DS's Teachers. K was weird because we did not get regular updates, I wasn't expecting daily but I guess I figured weekly or monthly but nope. It turns out, not hearing from your Child's Teacher is a good thing, it means that they are doing fine and are not causing any issues in class.

We heard from DS's Teacher when she was worried about his speech, that led to his being evaluated and receiving speech therapy. We also heard from her when he was going to the bathroom for 20 minutes at a time. She was worried about a medical issue, working together we figured out he was avoiding a specific academic task he didn't like. She handled that as well, he could go to the bathroom of course but he needed to complete the assignment before he could play in the Centers. His bathroom breaks stopped taking forever.

We had friends who heard from their kids Teacher on a regular basis, there were conferences and daily progress reports. It wasn't a good thing for anyone but the ones who worked with the Teachers were able to decrease the communication because their kids behavior improved or the child was evaluated and received services.

You might hear about progress reports, you will only get one if your child is struggling with behavior or in one of their subject areas.

If your child is in ES, you can request a parent teacher conference. We do so after the first report card as a check in. If it seems that DS is struggling with something or worried about something, we make one after the second report card. If not, we make a conference after the third report card to check in.

You can offer to volunteer and see if there are opportunities in your child's class. Although that is more common in ES then other grades.

[Anonymous]

This must be for younger grades.

My kids are older and when they switched to private for MS we had little interaction with the teachers. Then, almost zero in HS.

My older kids have great relationships with their teachers, but I don't as a parent.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the teacher/school. I have friends who've had their kids teachers cell numbers and texted regularly. I've literally never had the phone number of a teacher. Most of our parent-teacher conferences have been boilerplate: kid is doing well, any questions? Report cards are useless. It's kind of the curse of public school: if your kid is doing well, you won't get any info from the teacher. It's only if your kid has special needs (either super GT or in need) that you get attention.