incompetent teacher -- what can parents do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Word from my child, who is now in 8th grade, is that this teacher has returned. Seventh grade parents, talk to your children and find out what is going on in their World Studies classes. Be proactive and make your concerns known. Go to back to school night and observe the teacher. Call the principal. Call MCPS headquarters and talk to Eric Minus, who is the superintendent in charge of Pyle. You can find his email on the mcps web site. Find out what the plans are for dealing with this teacher. Good luck.

And for anyone who needs/wants to take the route I did last year -- call around to the neighboring middle schools and talk to the heads of the World Studies departments. See if any of their teachers are interested in tutoring. It's not perfect, but you can do an end run around the lousy instruction and help your child learn the curriculum.

I second this. I teach WS 7, but am too busy to tutor this year. I can tell you that by now, your children should have a list of seven vocabulary terms about political systems and a double-sided handout with five "principles" of political systems. Next is five "forces of change". These are all on the County unit test. If your child has no idea what these are by the end of next week, email the teacher to ask when they were taught. If the answer is not yet, be very worried as there's a lot more ground to cover before late October. The County posted a pacing calendar on the new Google site for SS teachers so no one has an excuse for being weeks behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Word from my child, who is now in 8th grade, is that this teacher has returned. Seventh grade parents, talk to your children and find out what is going on in their World Studies classes. Be proactive and make your concerns known. Go to back to school night and observe the teacher. Call the principal. Call MCPS headquarters and talk to Eric Minus, who is the superintendent in charge of Pyle. You can find his email on the mcps web site. Find out what the plans are for dealing with this teacher. Good luck.

And for anyone who needs/wants to take the route I did last year -- call around to the neighboring middle schools and talk to the heads of the World Studies departments. See if any of their teachers are interested in tutoring. It's not perfect, but you can do an end run around the lousy instruction and help your child learn the curriculum.

This isn't really surprising. Isn't teacher evaluation a two year process?

[Anonymous]

This same school lost about 25% of its (good) teachers this year. Surprised people aren't talking about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher has all the strength that the Union is going to provide him/her.
Not any more.

[Anonymous]

what do you mean?

[Anonymous]

Did this teacher leave Pyle?

[Anonymous]

TLDR. You can't do anything about an incompetent teacher -- the union defends them.

[Anonymous]

OMG she's back. Has to be a major screw up on the part of admin at this point. I have very good info that the teacher will be back teaching WS7 for the 17/18 school year at Pyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG she's back. Has to be a major screw up on the part of admin at this point. I have very good info that the teacher will be back teaching WS7 for the 17/18 school year at Pyle.

So sorry! I met her this summer. About 5 min into the conversation, something clicked and I knew this was the teacher from these two threads. Something is very wrong. I haven't seen her teach obviously, but I felt very confused just speaking with her with 20 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why teacher's unions are a bad thing. I can't believe people don't jump on this!!

Eliminate teachers unions and you will soon see schools filled with the relatives of school administrators and local politicians. Patronage hiring is already ruining local government. Now you want to ruin schools, too?

[Anonymous]

Do not "ride" the teacher. Word will spread like wildfire. Good teachers will go out of their way to make sure your kid doesn't land in their class.
Everyone gets bad teachers and bad bosses once in awhile. Make it a learning experience in "coping." Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why teacher's unions are a bad thing. I can't believe people don't jump on this!!

Eliminate teachers unions and you will soon see schools filled with the relatives of school administrators and local politicians. Patronage hiring is already ruining local government. Now you want to ruin schools, too?

Lots of towns in Texas like that. No teachers' union. Lots of nepotism. Still can't fire incompetent teachers. And good teachers are reluctant to go to districts where they know they have no power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not "ride" the teacher. Word will spread like wildfire. Good teachers will go out of their way to make sure your kid doesn't land in their class.
Everyone gets bad teachers and bad bosses once in awhile. Make it a learning experience in "coping." Move on.

That's bullshit. Teachers have no say over who is in their class. Trust me I know. I do the scheduling.

[Anonymous]

If anything it's the opposite. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher with HCPS, I have a large say of who is and who is not in my class.