PSA To Parents Who Launch Complaints Against Teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is this coming from? Are you a teacher trying to scare people off? I have rarely heard of parents doing this and when they did there was justification. This is actually where SOLs can be helpful. When a group of AAP kids suddenly are not passing or barely passing an SOL when they haven't gotten homework ll year and the parents have been telling you the teacher has poor mastery of the material all year suddenly it becomes clear why they were so pissed.

A parent with true justification would address the teacher then school directly instead of rounding up a bunch of frustrated moms via group chat and parking lot gossip.

At least once a year I think "I wish parents knew this..." Then I read the thread about the nose-picking teacher and decided "They need to know this."

The complaints about every single little thing a teacher says or does is often laughable. Sometimes annoying. There's a whole lot that goes on that adults need to be focused on to ensure the best educational experience for a building full of young people. A teacher picking his nose ranks so far down on that list I'd never expect it to appear. And what do you really expect the principal to do? Fire the nose picker? Demand that he stop?

I'm curious:

How did you know the teacher had poor mastery of the material?

How did you present this concern to the teacher?

How was it presented to school leaders and what was the response?

What did you expect or what would you have liked the outcome to be?

[Anonymous]

I don’t like your tone, OP, even though I agree with your point. You’re expressing yourself as if parents are childish, mean mobs. They’re not. You probably helped create this mess by your behavior towards parents. Our Principal never intimates to anyone how she felt about parents who complained. She is courteous to everyone and takes them seriously. Above all, she explains to inexperienced parents how the school works and the limits on what the teacher can and cannot do. This is generally the sticking point.

I hope you walk past classrooms and drop in often. I have observed teachers acting one way when they thought there was no adult watching, and another when they knew they were watched. Please be wary!!!

[Anonymous]

I’m a little mystified by this OP. I’ve never complained to the administration about a teacher and I’ve never been solicited to join an “complaint mob”, but I’ve definitely seen problem teachers stick around year after year. Everyone, including school employees, seem to know the teachers are lousy, but nothing changes. I realize that teaching is a hard job, but I’ve got a kid who works hard and used to love to learn and it’s hard to see teachers who seem at best indifferent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don’t like your tone, OP, even though I agree with your point. You’re expressing yourself as if parents are childish, mean mobs. They’re not. You probably helped create this mess by your behavior towards parents. Our Principal never intimates to anyone how she felt about parents who complained. She is courteous to everyone and takes them seriously. Above all, she explains to inexperienced parents how the school works and the limits on what the teacher can and cannot do. This is generally the sticking point.

I hope you walk past classrooms and drop in often. I have observed teachers acting one way when they thought there was no adult watching, and another when they knew they were watched. Please be wary!!!

I'm addressing the childish, mean mobs. There are parents with legitimate complaints. No one takes issue with them. Those are the parents we'd like to have our phone lines and offices cleared to speak with.

Your principal never intimates to a teacher that she doesn't believe a parent complaint has merit? That's interestingly odd. Does she run to those teachers each and every time a parent complains? It sounds that in telling you that she has shared X, Y & Z with a parent, she is indeed telling exactly how she feels about that complaint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a little mystified by this OP. I’ve never complained to the administration about a teacher and I’ve never been solicited to join an “complaint mob”, but I’ve definitely seen problem teachers stick around year after year. Everyone, including school employees, seem to know the teachers are lousy, but nothing changes. I realize that teaching is a hard job, but I’ve got a kid who works hard and used to love to learn and it’s hard to see teachers who seem at best indifferent.

As a parent, I've never complained or been solicited to join a "complaint mob" either. But it happens. And we all know it happens. It happens A LOT. More in some zip codes/schools than others.

Please understand that you're limited view of that teacher's abilities from the outside may not reflect what the people inside the building see up close on a daily basis. In some cases, they've seen that teacher in action for years. It may not be the most popular teacher with colleagues which is why other teachers may let on that they don't think the teacher is good. (You don't see the lack of professionalism in that?) Workplace jealousy is another beast I may address in another thread some day. Some teachers are absolute jewels. But they don't go to happy hour or want to join the cliques. Another topic for another day.

Also understand that you will encounter a tremendous deal of frustration trying to make a teacher move from what you consider indifferent to behave in a way that meets your threshhold for engaged. You simply cannot regulate another person's behavior or personality. What you can do, however, is teach your child to adapt to the various differences in such that he'll encounter throughout life.

[Anonymous]

Are you a teacher, op?

[Anonymous]

OP's post is very strange. I don't think parents complain without cause.

I have had to complain about two teachers. Both situations were extremely justified and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

One was physical violence against a student. The teacher was removed immediately.

The other was a violation of school policy that put young students' safety at risk and that too was taken seriously.

[Anonymous]

Honestly the op comes across as a rude and difficult teacher and she probably does get a lot of parents complaining. Maybe it’s time to move on op. Find something else to do for a living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We know who the bad teachers are. And we deal with them.

Yeah right. That’s why they stay employed at the same jobs for years.

How about this:

We will complain how we like, about whoever we want to complain about, as often as we want to complain, and you can get bent.

You work for us, the taxpayers, so can it with the scoldy haughty tone.

Not the person you're responding to. I'm another parent. Teachers are taxpayers, too.

[Anonymous]

We have a mini-mob of parents at our school. They are coming very close to forcing a teacher out of the school and if that teacher goes then two or three others will follow. The teacher is really outstanding, as are the others who will follow. We will lose a strong core because of a few parents who don't like it if their children are marked tardy each and every time the children are tardy, and that points deducted for assignments turned in late. It is sickening to see how easily a few bullies can derail an entire school.

[Anonymous]

I experienced this for the first time this year. I have taught for over a decade and always had good relationships with parents, but this year somehow it became a witch hunt. Parents went straight to administrators with the most ridiculous things—an error in an answer key, a seating chart not changing frequently enough, tests being returned 2 days later instead of 1 day. I have spent more time in the APs office this year trying to explain to them what is going on than I have in the last 10 years combined. I don’t think I’m any different than usual this year...But I feel like I’ve been targeted, and it’s extremely frustrating and hurtful not to be trusted/respected enough for parents to contact me first instead of going to admin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We know who the bad teachers are. And we deal with them.

Yeah right. That’s why they stay employed at the same jobs for years.

How about this:

We will complain how we like, about whoever we want to complain about, as often as we want to complain, and you can get bent.

You work for us, the taxpayers, so can it with the scoldy haughty tone.

You can continue to complain.

And we will continue to look you in the eye, nod, ensure you've been heard....Then go on about our business.

Keep spending precious hours of your life trying to coordinate attacks and worrying about petty matters. Keep showing your crazy as your kid watches how you handle conflict. And we'll continue to enjoy our work. While you wallow in misery.

Don't pay your taxes for a whole year. And watch. The schools will remain open.

You're not as important as you think.

Gee, the state complaint we filed as a group of parents sure got noticed in middle school. Teacher and Special Education director are both history.

And everyone in that district pays attention to us now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a mini-mob of parents at our school. They are coming very close to forcing a teacher out of the school and if that teacher goes then two or three others will follow. The teacher is really outstanding, as are the others who will follow. We will lose a strong core because of a few parents who don't like it if their children are marked tardy each and every time the children are tardy, and that points deducted for assignments turned in late. It is sickening to see how easily a few bullies can derail an entire school.

Mind sharing the school? Curious what area is this happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We know who the bad teachers are. And we deal with them.

Yeah right. That’s why they stay employed at the same jobs for years.

How about this:

We will complain how we like, about whoever we want to complain about, as often as we want to complain, and you can get bent.

You work for us, the taxpayers, so can it with the scoldy haughty tone.

You can continue to complain.

And we will continue to look you in the eye, nod, ensure you've been heard....Then go on about our business.

Keep spending precious hours of your life trying to coordinate attacks and worrying about petty matters. Keep showing your crazy as your kid watches how you handle conflict. And we'll continue to enjoy our work. While you wallow in misery.

Don't pay your taxes for a whole year. And watch. The schools will remain open.

You're not as important as you think.

Gee, the state complaint we filed as a group of parents sure got noticed in middle school. Teacher and Special Education director are both history.

And everyone in that district pays attention to us now.

Then you likely had a legitimate complaint. Not everyone does. And Special Education is a completely different beast with its own set of laws.

[Anonymous]

OP, I hope you're a troll.

If you were a real educator genuinely interested in decreasing parent-school conflicts, you wouldn’t take this aggressive stance.

If you are an educator, shame on you. There are better ways to address this problem.