Teachers How Many Overbearing Helicopter Parents do you have

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

This is so telling. There’s always a subset of parents who seem to think you are their employee. I hope your admin nipped that sh*t in the bud.

When they pay tuition to a school, many parents do literally think of the teachers as their employees. Given that many of them also employ nannies and housekeepers, and simply treat you the same. I worked at a local k-8 for 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

This is so telling. There’s always a subset of parents who seem to think you are their employee. I hope your admin nipped that sh*t in the bud.

Who pays the taxes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

This is so telling. There’s always a subset of parents who seem to think you are their employee. I hope your admin nipped that sh*t in the bud.

Who pays the taxes

Go try ordering a cop around, see how far your theory here gets you.

[Anonymous]

I hope you involved your admin the second she asked for your schedule (and did not give it to her). That's the perfect opportunity for your admin to respond with something like "Ms. Payne, Teachers at Great Day are teaching and working with students from 7:30am - 3:30pm. It is not feasible for your child's teacher to respond to daily emails that are not critical in nature, but if you feel you need to speak about an urgent matter you can always email me, and if it is urgent I will arrange a meeting with you." Or whatever. You shouldn't even had to have responded to that egregious request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

This is so telling. There’s always a subset of parents who seem to think you are their employee. I hope your admin nipped that sh*t in the bud.

Who pays the taxes

I mean we all do but this is a private school forum so what exactly is your point, ma'am?

[Anonymous]

OMG. This is exactly why I work in public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

Dear Mrs. Smith,

I am so glad that you are so invested in Larla's success in the classroom. I appreciate your desire for prompt and regular communication from me, but unfortunately with 25 students, a full-time teaching schedule and all the administrative duties, I do not have time to have daily communication with every parent. Please continue to send your messages to me and I will review them and respond as my other duties allow. When there is an urgent need, I will communicate with you promptly. Thank you for your understanding.

Mrs. Jones.

Please cut it out with Larla it's annoying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope you involved your admin the second she asked for your schedule (and did not give it to her). That's the perfect opportunity for your admin to respond with something like "Ms. Payne, Teachers at Great Day are teaching and working with students from 7:30am - 3:30pm. It is not feasible for your child's teacher to respond to daily emails that are not critical in nature, but if you feel you need to speak about an urgent matter you can always email me, and if it is urgent I will arrange a meeting with you." Or whatever. You shouldn't even had to have responded to that egregious request.

Yes, please do that, Teacher Poster. I hope this parent doesn't take out their obvious mental illness on their child. You can deal with it, you're a grown up and not living or dependent on this parent. But the poor child has to endure that level of anxiety and obsession day after day. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope you involved your admin the second she asked for your schedule (and did not give it to her). That's the perfect opportunity for your admin to respond with something like "Ms. Payne, Teachers at Great Day are teaching and working with students from 7:30am - 3:30pm. It is not feasible for your child's teacher to respond to daily emails that are not critical in nature, but if you feel you need to speak about an urgent matter you can always email me, and if it is urgent I will arrange a meeting with you." Or whatever. You shouldn't even had to have responded to that egregious request.

Yes, please do that, Teacher Poster. I hope this parent doesn't take out their obvious mental illness on their child. You can deal with it, you're a grown up and not living or dependent on this parent. But the poor child has to endure that level of anxiety and obsession day after day. Ugh.

Teacher back.

Yes, I flagged for our assistant head of school. We have discussed a path forward and I am being supported by school leadership.

I send short, direct emails back at the end of the day in response. She’s not ruffling my feathers but a more junior teacher in the future may feel differently. Her child is sweet and well behaved. It seems that the parent wants to assert her dominance as opposed to a genuine concern or anxiety about her child. I respond to the emails not out of fear of her taking complaints above me, but in a direct - yet polite - way to enforce I take the lead in my classroom and do it for the betterment of all my students, not one.

[Anonymous]

While I appreciate the difficult situation the OP is in- that parent sounds awful, their post title is provocative and hostile.
You have a bad apple but you seem to imply there are tons of terrible evil helicopters out there.
I'll give you the flip side of the coin:
We are the parents that don't speak up for fear of retribution. We have multiple kids in our k-12, Private is a very serious financial investment for our family yet we do not feel empowered to speak up for our kids for fear of being labeled trouble-makers. We have run into snotty
self-righteous and entitled teachers in our journey. We have paid for the private option to have smaller class sizes with opportunities to interact with teachers and most are great, but some are really terrible . However we understand the bad ones are not the majority and therefore would not make post like the Op's trying to stir up animosity between teachers and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I appreciate the difficult situation the OP is in- that parent sounds awful, their post title is provocative and hostile.
You have a bad apple but you seem to imply there are tons of terrible evil helicopters out there.
I'll give you the flip side of the coin:
We are the parents that don't speak up for fear of retribution. We have multiple kids in our k-12, Private is a very serious financial investment for our family yet we do not feel empowered to speak up for our kids for fear of being labeled trouble-makers. We have run into snotty
self-righteous and entitled teachers in our journey. We have paid for the private option to have smaller class sizes with opportunities to interact with teachers and most are great, but some are really terrible . However we understand the bad ones are not the majority and therefore would not make post like the Op's trying to stir up animosity between teachers and parents.

You are confusing OP and the teacher with the whacko controlling mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

This is so telling. There’s always a subset of parents who seem to think you are their employee. I hope your admin nipped that sh*t in the bud.

Who pays the taxes

Oh, sweetie, the pittance of your property taxes earmarked for public schools don't cover a month of the school year, Get so very much over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

Dear Mrs. Smith,

I am so glad that you are so invested in Larla's success in the classroom. I appreciate your desire for prompt and regular communication from me, but unfortunately with 25 students, a full-time teaching schedule and all the administrative duties, I do not have time to have daily communication with every parent. Please continue to send your messages to me and I will review them and respond as my other duties allow. When there is an urgent need, I will communicate with you promptly. Thank you for your understanding.

Mrs. Jones.

Please cut it out with Larla it's annoying

No. Deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I appreciate the difficult situation the OP is in- that parent sounds awful, their post title is provocative and hostile.
You have a bad apple but you seem to imply there are tons of terrible evil helicopters out there.
I'll give you the flip side of the coin:
We are the parents that don't speak up for fear of retribution. We have multiple kids in our k-12, Private is a very serious financial investment for our family yet we do not feel empowered to speak up for our kids for fear of being labeled trouble-makers. We have run into snotty
self-righteous and entitled teachers in our journey. We have paid for the private option to have smaller class sizes with opportunities to interact with teachers and most are great, but some are really terrible . However we understand the bad ones are not the majority and therefore would not make post like the Op's trying to stir up animosity between teachers and parents.

I can’t imagine paying all that money and not speaking up. It’s like a hostage situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The week teacher assignments came out one parent emailed to discuss her child. I agreed to do so but now it’s turned into emails daily if not more than one a day. I typically respond at the end of the day but that is not enough as her employer expects a prompt response from her therefore she expects the same from me. I reminded her that I teach throughout the day and don’t have access to email. She then went as far to request my daily schedule so she could “better time her correspondence to ensure a prompt response.”

I’m not a new teacher so this doesn’t rattle me as it would have 15 years ago. I spoke to the child’s teacher from last year and there was eventually an intervention with the assistant head of school.

Her child has no special needs that have been publicly disclosed so it’s not even related to accommodations, just touching base on how I am supporting learning needs, offering challenges specific to the strengths of her DD, etc. Less than a week of school and my inbox is already full!

Dear Mrs. Smith,

I am so glad that you are so invested in Larla's success in the classroom. I appreciate your desire for prompt and regular communication from me, but unfortunately with 25 students, a full-time teaching schedule and all the administrative duties, I do not have time to have daily communication with every parent. Please continue to send your messages to me and I will review them and respond as my other duties allow. When there is an urgent need, I will communicate with you promptly. Thank you for your understanding.

Mrs. Jones.

Please cut it out with Larla it's annoying

No. Deal with it.

Think it's the same person posting with Larla and agree that it's annoying. We can all do without it.