Is this an absolute 'no no'?

[Anonymous]

....attempting to request a certain teacher in a MCPS? At the elem. level.

[Anonymous]

I think you are more likely to have success if you write a note to the principal articulating your child's learning "style" and what sort of teacher/classroom you think your child would thrive in (try to explain *why* you want a certain teacher, without actually requesting a teacher). Not saying it will work, but I think it's more reasonable/likely to have some effect than just requesting a teacher.

[Anonymous]

It's a no-no. Think about it. Think about what your request will say to the school admin about you and, by extension, your child. Please don't mark yourself and your child in this bad way. You must have an inkling of how wrong it would be, since you know to ask whether it's a no-no.

[Anonymous]

It is a guarenteee that you won't get that teacher and you will be laughed at all the time in the teachers lounge and labeled a PTIA and when your kid isn't thriving in the class YOU wanted her in, then what?

[Anonymous]

Its been done before and will be done again. The request should be made to the principal at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its been done before and will be done again. The request should be made to the principal at the school.

That it's been done is no argument for doing it. Some schools explicitly state that requests for a specific teacher will not be considered.

[Anonymous]

If you're considering doing this for the 2010-2011 school year, don't bother because teacher assignments have already been made. That's something that gets done before the end of the school year - just doesn't get published until later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its been done before and will be done again. The request should be made to the principal at the school.

That it's been done is no argument for doing it. Some schools explicitly state that requests for a specific teacher will not be considered.

What is the down side of asking? The principal says no? The principal thinks you are an over active pia parent? So what. OP, I would ask.

[Anonymous]

We tried to get our kid moved to a new classroom because the teacher was a disaster and the school had (brilliantly) also stuck her with the grade's 3 worst discipline problems, so zero learning was going on.

We met with the school's vice principal who acknowledged all the problems; said they were providing special training to the teacher; and also said they were also adding TAs to this one classroom only, in order to help the teacher with the discipline problems. Apparently lots of other parents were complaining too.

But no dice to our request to move DC to a different class. The only transfer they would consider was something they called an "antiseptic bump," which apparently meant moving one or more of the kids with discipline problems to a new class where they would be ... sterilized, I guess ... by being separated from their friends. In the end the school didn't even do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its been done before and will be done again. The request should be made to the principal at the school.

That it's been done is no argument for doing it. Some schools explicitly state that requests for a specific teacher will not be considered.

What is the down side of asking? The principal says no? The principal thinks you are an over active pia parent? So what. OP, I would ask.

Where there is a stated school policy against teacher requests, the downside of your making such a request is that you reveal yourself to be a person who does not respect rules and policy, who believes that you are the exception to the rule, and who wastes the school administrators' time and resources. These negative inferences that can reasonably be drawn about you can affect the school's impression of your child as well.

But go ahead: be the PITA parent. Someone has to be on the bottom rung.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its been done before and will be done again. The request should be made to the principal at the school.

That it's been done is no argument for doing it. Some schools explicitly state that requests for a specific teacher will not be considered.

What is the down side of asking? The principal says no? The principal thinks you are an over active pia parent? So what. OP, I would ask.

Where there is a stated school policy against teacher requests, the downside of your making such a request is that you reveal yourself to be a person who does not respect rules and policy, who believes that you are the exception to the rule, and who wastes the school administrators' time and resources. These negative inferences that can reasonably be drawn about you can affect the school's impression of your child as well.

But go ahead: be the PITA parent. Someone has to be on the bottom rung.

Let me add that the upside is that your acting like a PITA parent makes cooperative parents like me look even better to the school admin and faculty!

[Anonymous]

Oh for crying out loud. It's OK to set a meeting with the principal and discuss your kid's school experiences, and see if s/he has any input re: classroom placement. That's a little different than a direct ask, but perfectly fine.

[Anonymous]

10:05 here.

And if you need to be PITA, so what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:05 here.

And if you need to be PITA, so what?

I totally agree, and would add that in my experience, based on 8 years of having kids in MCPS, it's better to be a (selective) PITA than not. Squeaky wheels definitely get the grease, and quiet mice get the shaft.

Sad but true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:05 here.

And if you need to be PITA, so what?

I totally agree, and would add that in my experience, based on 8 years of having kids in MCPS, it's better to be a (selective) PITA than not. Squeaky wheels definitely get the grease, and quiet mice get the shaft.

Sad but true.

Quiet mice are the parents of the children who will grow up having learned from a variety of teachers with different teaching styles and will do well in their careers, where there are always a variety of bosses with different management styles. The children who have had their teachers hand-picked for them to suit their personalities will have a hard time in the real world.