Worked my butt off in the PTA and my son is in a "weaker" classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you "volunteered" because you thought it would curry you favors with the principal with class placement? If you'd just stuck to sharing about how frustrated you were that your communicated request for separating your child from another wasn't met, I would have offered some helpful advice. But you had to throw in the part about expecting some preferential treatment because you volunteered.

You're an idiot, OP. You fail to see how your kid will be fine, even with some kids who learn differently. Even worse, though, is that you're an entitled idiot. Please stay in MD.

-Principal of a Title 1 school in Fairfax

I think you're the idiot here, although OP is certainly way too entitled. I started volunteering for the same reason, because truthfully many fcps principals do grant favors to the PTA parents. However, I soon learned that it wasn't so much about favors as about avoiding an unhappy parent who might make waves. Many parents will never speak up, no matter what you do, but a parent that goes to the trouble to be in the school all the time is likely also to have the ability to cause trouble for an uncooperative or just not so great principal. Many principals need to learn that like it or not, there is a customer service element to the job. While I agree the children of PTA moms don't deserve special treatment, ALL children deserve to have the best possible placement, and if you are going to screw someone over then you screw over the pta moms at your own risk.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am actually pretty surprised with the placements. It looks like they took the top and bottom and put them together, and then the middle all went into the second classroom. Also, only two other MC families in our class, while the other one has 5. I had three go to parents for volunteering requests last year, they are all in the other class.

Actually, this could be case and part of a cooperative learning type plan where the top students help the students at the bottom, or could be that the teacher is equipped to teach both extremes, and the other teacher is teaching to the middle level.

[Anonymous]

OP here - I just wanted to check in quickly and say it seems like my son had a good day at school. Let's hope it continues!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I just wanted to check in quickly and say it seems like my son had a good day at school. Let's hope it continues!

Thanks for the update. That is great news! Hope he has an awesome year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I just wanted to check in quickly and say it seems like my son had a good day at school. Let's hope it continues!

Do you think anyone here was waiting to hear how it went? You're pathetic. Stop micromanging your kid's life. He's not special and you are not entitled to anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think you're the idiot here, although OP is certainly way too entitled. I started volunteering for the same reason, because truthfully many fcps principals do grant favors to the PTA parents. However, I soon learned that it wasn't so much about favors as about avoiding an unhappy parent who might make waves. Many parents will never speak up, no matter what you do, but a parent that goes to the trouble to be in the school all the time is likely also to have the ability to cause trouble for an uncooperative or just not so great principal. Many principals need to learn that like it or not, there is a customer service element to the job. While I agree the children of PTA moms don't deserve special treatment, ALL children deserve to have the best possible placement, and if you are going to screw someone over then you screw over the pta moms at your own risk.

+ 1
Very well said! I am a PTA mom now and I am in the school almost all the time. Yes, it takes a lot of my time but I find it worthwhile. Being at the school means that I have a fairly good idea of the good, bad and ugly among the staff, parents and students. The PTA and the principal have to find common ground to work together, realizing that sometimes their agenda may be different. I was a very involved parent at the school even when I was not in the PTA. However, I had to jump through hoops to to get things done and was not always given the time of the day by the staff and administrators. When I joined the PTA and became a PTA officer it became easier to get things done because unnecessary obstacles were not placed in my path. Don't get me wrong, I still have to do the heavy lifting and put in the grunt work, but now I have the backing of the PTA organization and it becomes much easier to get the wheels moving.

[Anonymous]

and I am in the school almost all the time

This is so wrong, and shouldn't be permitted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you "volunteered" because you thought it would curry you favors with the principal with class placement? If you'd just stuck to sharing about how frustrated you were that your communicated request for separating your child from another wasn't met, I would have offered some helpful advice. But you had to throw in the part about expecting some preferential treatment because you volunteered.

You're an idiot, OP. You fail to see how your kid will be fine, even with some kids who learn differently. Even worse, though, is that you're an entitled idiot. Please stay in MD.

-Principal of a Title 1 school in Fairfax

The overwhelming number of parents who spend a lot of time volunteering, do so hoping for preferential treatment. Let's not kid ourselves.

And it is ALWAYS women doing this

Feminism at work currying favors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I just wanted to check in quickly and say it seems like my son had a good day at school. Let's hope it continues!

Do you think anyone here was waiting to hear how it went? You're pathetic. Stop micromanging your kid's life. He's not special and you are not entitled to anything.

But YOU did come back, didn't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am one of the few MC parents in a title 1 school. Worked my butt off on the PTA board for 2 years, plus classroom volunteering, plus working directly with principal to organize events for the school.
Part of the deal as I saw it was that my son was in a stronger teacher's class last year, plus a stronger and better peer group in his class. He almost always got into free enrichment activities where there was a lottery, which I also saw as part of the deal (never was stated by anyone openly but I was even asked for a preference for a summer program).
Last year, I was asked about the preferences for my son's classroom placement, which I stated (3 of them: teacher, best friend, avoiding one other child). Well I saw the class lists today and I got ZERO of my requests fulfilled. I am fine with either teacher, I am more or less ok that his good friend is not with him, but there is a boy I specifically told the school my son had some run ins with and who is just plain disruptive and physically aggressive, and he is in my son's class. Also, I can see that his class is just weaker than the other one. Two kids who were held back a grade, one borderline special needs slow learner, and only one strong student besides him.
I am just so disappointed. I tried to stay loyal to the neighborhood school, tried to make it better, but now I am just tempted to transfer the kid to a more decent school a bit further away. I am drastically scaling down my PTA involvement this year for sure, and looking into other school options.

this is why I hate SAHM at school. Schools should be a PARENT FREE ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1
The op's post is literally the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am one of the few MC parents in a title 1 school. Worked my butt off on the PTA board for 2 years, plus classroom volunteering, plus working directly with principal to organize events for the school.
Part of the deal as I saw it was that my son was in a stronger teacher's class last year, plus a stronger and better peer group in his class. He almost always got into free enrichment activities where there was a lottery, which I also saw as part of the deal (never was stated by anyone openly but I was even asked for a preference for a summer program).
Last year, I was asked about the preferences for my son's classroom placement, which I stated (3 of them: teacher, best friend, avoiding one other child). Well I saw the class lists today and I got ZERO of my requests fulfilled. I am fine with either teacher, I am more or less ok that his good friend is not with him, but there is a boy I specifically told the school my son had some run ins with and who is just plain disruptive and physically aggressive, and he is in my son's class. Also, I can see that his class is just weaker than the other one. Two kids who were held back a grade, one borderline special needs slow learner, and only one strong student besides him.
I am just so disappointed. I tried to stay loyal to the neighborhood school, tried to make it better, but now I am just tempted to transfer the kid to a more decent school a bit further away. I am drastically scaling down my PTA involvement this year for sure, and looking into other school options.

this is why I hate SAHM at school. Schools should be a PARENT FREE ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1
The op's post is literally the worst.

I'm a SAHM and I never hung around the school being a busy body. I would go in a couple of times a week and help out. That was all.

Please don't lump all PTA parents/classroom volunteers into this category. Most of us have lives, some of us work and the vast majority of us have other children and responsibilities that keep us busy. We volunteer because we see a need for our help and we want to do our part.

One year I spent the year helping to make sure that hundreds of kids had Orchestra uniforms and I went to concerts to make sure that everyone's attire looked good, they had their bow ties and sashes tied correctly, the right socks on, etc.

I can understand not wanting busy body "spies" in the school. I don't like that, either. At the same time, I know that running the "SAHMs" (and many of the volunteers you see do have jobs, btw) out of the school would not be a benefit to anyone.

[Anonymous]

I see the same three moms whenever I walk into my child's grade school. Doesn't matter what time of day it is, either. They are always there.

They sit with their child at the lunch table every day (my child says), which makes me feel sad for their child who never gets the chance to decompress with classmates. I volunteer occasionally, and I can feel these moms staring at me in the hallway as if I'm a cat about to mark their turf. It can feel unsettling.

In the long run, these hover moms aren't doing their child any favors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am one of the few MC parents in a title 1 school. Worked my butt off on the PTA board for 2 years, plus classroom volunteering, plus working directly with principal to organize events for the school.
Part of the deal as I saw it was that my son was in a stronger teacher's class last year, plus a stronger and better peer group in his class. He almost always got into free enrichment activities where there was a lottery, which I also saw as part of the deal (never was stated by anyone openly but I was even asked for a preference for a summer program).
Last year, I was asked about the preferences for my son's classroom placement, which I stated (3 of them: teacher, best friend, avoiding one other child). Well I saw the class lists today and I got ZERO of my requests fulfilled. I am fine with either teacher, I am more or less ok that his good friend is not with him, but there is a boy I specifically told the school my son had some run ins with and who is just plain disruptive and physically aggressive, and he is in my son's class. Also, I can see that his class is just weaker than the other one. Two kids who were held back a grade, one borderline special needs slow learner, and only one strong student besides him.
I am just so disappointed. I tried to stay loyal to the neighborhood school, tried to make it better, but now I am just tempted to transfer the kid to a more decent school a bit further away. I am drastically scaling down my PTA involvement this year for sure, and looking into other school options.

this is why I hate SAHM at school. Schools should be a PARENT FREE ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1
The op's post is literally the worst.

You need to go back to school and learn what literally means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am one of the few MC parents in a title 1 school. Worked my butt off on the PTA board for 2 years, plus classroom volunteering, plus working directly with principal to organize events for the school.
Part of the deal as I saw it was that my son was in a stronger teacher's class last year, plus a stronger and better peer group in his class. He almost always got into free enrichment activities where there was a lottery, which I also saw as part of the deal (never was stated by anyone openly but I was even asked for a preference for a summer program).
Last year, I was asked about the preferences for my son's classroom placement, which I stated (3 of them: teacher, best friend, avoiding one other child). Well I saw the class lists today and I got ZERO of my requests fulfilled. I am fine with either teacher, I am more or less ok that his good friend is not with him, but there is a boy I specifically told the school my son had some run ins with and who is just plain disruptive and physically aggressive, and he is in my son's class. Also, I can see that his class is just weaker than the other one. Two kids who were held back a grade, one borderline special needs slow learner, and only one strong student besides him.
I am just so disappointed. I tried to stay loyal to the neighborhood school, tried to make it better, but now I am just tempted to transfer the kid to a more decent school a bit further away. I am drastically scaling down my PTA involvement this year for sure, and looking into other school options.

this is why I hate SAHM at school. Schools should be a PARENT FREE ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1
The op's post is literally the worst.

I'm a SAHM and I never hung around the school being a busy body. I would go in a couple of times a week and help out. That was all.

Please don't lump all PTA parents/classroom volunteers into this category. Most of us have lives, some of us work and the vast majority of us have other children and responsibilities that keep us busy. We volunteer because we see a need for our help and we want to do our part.

One year I spent the year helping to make sure that hundreds of kids had Orchestra uniforms and I went to concerts to make sure that everyone's attire looked good, they had their bow ties and sashes tied correctly, the right socks on, etc.

I can understand not wanting busy body "spies" in the school. I don't like that, either. At the same time, I know that running the "SAHMs" (and many of the volunteers you see do have jobs, btw) out of the school would not be a benefit to anyone.

How do bow ties and sashes benefit the children? How can that possibly be seen as a "need"?

I do think that volunteers do some wonderful thing for schools, but micromanaging children's clothing is the kind of thing I associate with busy bodies.

[Anonymous]

I think PTA volunteers shouldn't be allowed in their own child's classroom. It's too much influence.