Terrible Elementary Teacher - what to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, how long has the principal been at the school? What is the principal’s history of dealing with poor teachers? Same questions apply to the teacher— how much experience does the teacher have and how long at that particular school? We had a new principal “inherit” a bad teacher years ago when my son was in first grade. Several parents transferred their kids out to catholic schools for the year, others just went the tutor route. Teacher was gone the following year.

Has the administration send anyone in to observe the class? We had an issue with a 5th grade teacher pre-Covid and parents made so much noise that the AP and another teacher (forgetting her title, but she’s sh teacher who teaches/coaches the teachers) spent much of the fall in that room. Original teacher improved in classroom management and at least stopped insulting the students.

Staff development teacher

[Anonymous]

I would work on a letter with the other parents in the class and request to meet with your principal’s supervisor. You should document in the letter your concerns and any evidence you have.

Good luck. I’m sorry your child is having such a rough time.

[Anonymous]

Just to ask: how do you know the school is doing nothing? We have had situations like this, and while they don’t tend to just fire a teacher, they will put in “supports” in the form of assistance and coaching from other teachers, professional development plans for the teacher, etc. None of that would have suddenly changed things in the first 2 weeks of school.

[Anonymous]

What is so tough about the class that is setting the teacher off? Not saying the teacher doesn’t deserve blame, but an adult wouldn’t act like this unless they were very frustrated.

[Anonymous]

Just some things to think about: the teacher union is very strong, so even if a lot of parents complain and voice valid complaints (as opposed to not liking the teacher's style), the administration has to follow whatever rules for performance improvement/management the union lays out. The principal can't just fire the teacher. And, even if the principal were to fire the teacher, you will likely be stuck with a long-term sub. You will NOT get, as a permanent replacement, the staff development teacher who has observed the class. Many long term subs are bad. No teaching, no motivation to respond to parents, no grasp of classroom technology, no control over children who see a substitute as playtime. There is a serious shortage right now of both teachers and substitutes, so you might not even get a long-term sub for a while, which means you'll have a rotating door of substitute teachers with zero continuity in the classroom and no one who knows your child at all. So, you may not end up with anything better for your child. If you are right that many parents are complaining, the school cannot start moving individual students to other classrooms, or else they'll face from every other parent "well, Larlo was able to switch, so why not my Larla?" You might be better positioned to work with the school on specific things that the teacher is doing and correct specific behavior - does she keep the kids back from recess? does she use discipline that the school doesn't endorse (I'm not talking physical here - I'm assuming that's not happening - I mean more like depriving the kids of recess or something)? Does she publicly embarrass children for mistakes? Work on that.

[Anonymous]

OP remove your kid from that class.

Every single day til your kid is moved. I did it you can too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are not going to like this answer but this happened to our son in 1st grade and we pulled him out and homeschooled him. We moved to a small private after that. We were very unhappy with the teacher and the curriculum in MCPS and just didn’t see how we were going to make it work long term. The move has worked out well, although I wish I didn’t have to spend so much money to get the education I excepted when I moved to MoCo. I do think other elementary schools in the County are better and we hit a school in crisis just before it hit bottom. It seems to be getting better but we are now settled at our private and will just stay.

That's the opposite of my experience. The teachers we had were completely professional and the curriculum was wonderful. Sure I get some people will never be happy with anything though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not going to like this answer but this happened to our son in 1st grade and we pulled him out and homeschooled him. We moved to a small private after that. We were very unhappy with the teacher and the curriculum in MCPS and just didn’t see how we were going to make it work long term. The move has worked out well, although I wish I didn’t have to spend so much money to get the education I excepted when I moved to MoCo. I do think other elementary schools in the County are better and we hit a school in crisis just before it hit bottom. It seems to be getting better but we are now settled at our private and will just stay.

That's the opposite of my experience. The teachers we had were completely professional and the curriculum was wonderful. Sure I get some people will never be happy with anything though.

What a ridiculous comment. Every school has a few teachers who are either incompetent, nasty to the kids, or both. Just because your kids haven't experienced that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I know this from being on the inside of school staff, not as a parent, parents generally are often clueless about which teachers are bad. It's kind of mind boggling.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, you get what you get with public. We moved to private and later, homeschooling. It's so much better out of public if you can swing it.

[Anonymous]

I think you need to bring up the specific issues and have them addressed. Example, they are not allowed to take away recess time as a consequence. My kid told me the lunch aide would make them
Miss recess and sit at the table for making too much noise while eating. It got addressed because it’s specific. You need to address the bathroom issue. Every child in 1st grade should be able to go if they need to. My kid is in 4th now and got her period. We talked to the teacher and she said any girl can ask anytime to go to the bathroom and they let them go. They’re not trying to make it awkward for girls dealing with period issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would work on a letter with the other parents in the class and request to meet with your principal’s supervisor. You should document in the letter your concerns and any evidence you have.

Good luck. I’m sorry your child is having such a rough time.

Is there a chart of which directors are supervising which clusters/principals this school year? I know there were several changes at the director and associate superintendent level recently, and the MCPS website still has the chart from last year.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/clusteradmin/FY22%20OTLS-SSI%20Area%20Associate%20Superintendent%20Team%20Assignments%20REVISED%202-2-22.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are not going to like this answer but this happened to our son in 1st grade and we pulled him out and homeschooled him. We moved to a small private after that. We were very unhappy with the teacher and the curriculum in MCPS and just didn’t see how we were going to make it work long term. The move has worked out well, although I wish I didn’t have to spend so much money to get the education I excepted when I moved to MoCo. I do think other elementary schools in the County are better and we hit a school in crisis just before it hit bottom. It seems to be getting better but we are now settled at our private and will just stay.

That's the opposite of my experience. The teachers we had were completely professional and the curriculum was wonderful. Sure I get some people will never be happy with anything though.

Except she literally said she was very happy with the new school.

[Anonymous]

DP. A more effective strategy is to open your wallet and hire a tutor, or tutor yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to bring up the specific issues and have them addressed. Example, they are not allowed to take away recess time as a consequence. My kid told me the lunch aide would make them
Miss recess and sit at the table for making too much noise while eating. It got addressed because it’s specific. You need to address the bathroom issue. Every child in 1st grade should be able to go if they need to. My kid is in 4th now and got her period. We talked to the teacher and she said any girl can ask anytime to go to the bathroom and they let them go. They’re not trying to make it awkward for girls dealing with period issues.

Yes, this is specifically what we went to school administration with. While the administration listened, the principal was also quick to dismiss this. I think they discount what 8 year olds report in general which is so frustrating as a parent. I told my child he can go to the bathroom whenever he wants while in this classroom if she won’t allow them to.

The teacher also has regularly held the kids from recess (not explaining why) because they won’t be quiet or sit still. She does it before class dismissal too with some kids nearly missing their buses home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just some things to think about: the teacher union is very strong, so even if a lot of parents complain and voice valid complaints (as opposed to not liking the teacher's style), the administration has to follow whatever rules for performance improvement/management the union lays out. The principal can't just fire the teacher. And, even if the principal were to fire the teacher, you will likely be stuck with a long-term sub. You will NOT get, as a permanent replacement, the staff development teacher who has observed the class. Many long term subs are bad. No teaching, no motivation to respond to parents, no grasp of classroom technology, no control over children who see a substitute as playtime. There is a serious shortage right now of both teachers and substitutes, so you might not even get a long-term sub for a while, which means you'll have a rotating door of substitute teachers with zero continuity in the classroom and no one who knows your child at all. So, you may not end up with anything better for your child. If you are right that many parents are complaining, the school cannot start moving individual students to other classrooms, or else they'll face from every other parent "well, Larlo was able to switch, so why not my Larla?" You might be better positioned to work with the school on specific things that the teacher is doing and correct specific behavior - does she keep the kids back from recess? does she use discipline that the school doesn't endorse (I'm not talking physical here - I'm assuming that's not happening - I mean more like depriving the kids of recess or something)? Does she publicly embarrass children for mistakes? Work on that.

OP here. Thanks for this. This is what I’ve gathered too from the administration and parent community I’ve spoken with. There’s capacity in other classrooms, but I agree this is unlikely for my kid to be moved to another classroom given the amount of unhappy parents in my kid’s classroom who are also trying to transfer their kids to another classroom. So far, no child has been moved.