Switching teachers in HS - what advice to give DD

[Anonymous]

My DD has had her fair share of bad teachers over the years. Either ones who taught very little, or ones who seemed to have a personal vendetta against the students. But mostly she's had a good group of teachers in her FCPS years. She is now a junior and has the teacher who everybody dreads. DD actually did not know the reputation of this teacher before she came to her own conclusion. In a nutshell, the teacher randomly assigns grades (unless you are a favorite, forget getting an A or B), refuses to offer meaningful help to address the weaknesses she insists she sees in students' work, is mean and sarcastic when asked a question, and won't give meaningful answers to question.

DD wants to switch out of her class (not sure yet whether this is possible), and I wanted to get feedback from anyone parent who has guided their own DC through this. I will let my daughter handle this on her own, but I am not sure what advice to give her: 1) Life is not fair; suck it up and deal with the teacher, or 2) You can't win with this teacher and your GPA will suffer - try to switch if you can. She has to take this class, so switching would involve changing teachers. From talking with other families, if my DD stays in this class and is not a favorite, she will likely end up with a low grade no matter how hard she works.

Right now DD has a very high GPA and is planning to apply selective LACs.

Thanks for any input.

[Anonymous]

Is this a Spanish teacher?

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, my advice would be to tell your daughter to talk to her counselor. She should not mention anything about the teacher's reputation, just whatever she has experienced.

Second, do you have a copy of the syllabus? Do you know much she weighs categories within the grade your daughter earns? If your daughter is not switched out, tell your daughter to save every single paper graded by this teacher. This would help if she later has a dispute over her grade. Also, if a problem is the teacher's behavior, have your daughter keep a log of every time she asked for help/clarification and what the response was. This should be specific: what she asked and when.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Proceed very carefully. FCPS teachers are known for mobbing. Complain about one teacher and you'll see your child's grades and relationships begin to slip in all of her classes. Tarnish the name of one teacher and several others teachers will begin to belittle your child. If and when you complain in the future to the administrators they will tell you that your child is having problems with several teachers whom they trust completely. Then the logical conclusion is that your child is having problems. If you persist they will then suggest that you over protective and perhaps slightly crazy.

The practice is called "Mobbing". If different teachers do it on different days the pressure and abuse the child receives is constant so it become unbearable, but no single teacher can be identified as being abusive.

"Teacher Mobbing of Students" is a serious problem in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

I am the teacher that posted above. I seriously have never heard of "mobbing", nor have I ever known anyone to act the way you are describing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Proceed very carefully. FCPS teachers are known for mobbing. Complain about one teacher and you'll see your child's grades and relationships begin to slip in all of her classes. Tarnish the name of one teacher and several others teachers will begin to belittle your child. If and when you complain in the future to the administrators they will tell you that your child is having problems with several teachers whom they trust completely. Then the logical conclusion is that your child is having problems. If you persist they will then suggest that you over protective and perhaps slightly crazy.

The practice is called "Mobbing". If different teachers do it on different days the pressure and abuse the child receives is constant so it become unbearable, but no single teacher can be identified as being abusive.

"Teacher Mobbing of Students" is a serious problem in FCPS.

If this exists, it is far from universal. We have several kids and one kid eventually got a stinker of a teacher at one of the "better" FCPS high schools. We asked for, and then demanded, a change, and the administration eventually accommodated the request. It was beneficial for everyone, and there were no adverse consequences. We later learned that this particular teacher's problems are well known throughout the school, and that people are just waiting for her to retire or die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has had her fair share of bad teachers over the years. Either ones who taught very little, or ones who seemed to have a personal vendetta against the students. But mostly she's had a good group of teachers in her FCPS years. She is now a junior and has the teacher who everybody dreads. DD actually did not know the reputation of this teacher before she came to her own conclusion. In a nutshell, the teacher randomly assigns grades (unless you are a favorite, forget getting an A or B), refuses to offer meaningful help to address the weaknesses she insists she sees in students' work, is mean and sarcastic when asked a question, and won't give meaningful answers to question.

DD wants to switch out of her class (not sure yet whether this is possible), and I wanted to get feedback from anyone parent who has guided their own DC through this. I will let my daughter handle this on her own, but I am not sure what advice to give her: 1) Life is not fair; suck it up and deal with the teacher, or 2) You can't win with this teacher and your GPA will suffer - try to switch if you can. She has to take this class, so switching would involve changing teachers. From talking with other families, if my DD stays in this class and is not a favorite, she will likely end up with a low grade no matter how hard she works.

Right now DD has a very high GPA and is planning to apply selective LACs.

From your brief description of your daughter's past scholastic achievements she will probably be successful whether she transfers or not, because she must already have the ability to navigate through the minefield of arbitrary teachers which exists in FCPS. Nevertheless, proceed with care. Make no mistake about the fact that the same practice of mobbing which coaches teach their soccer players to harass all-star players on opposing teams as a group while no single player receives a red card is also being employed by FCPS teachers. The practice is to harass and belittle individual students every single day, but it is always different teachers on different days. It becomes unbearable for the child, but no teacher can ever be given a "Red Card". This is a wake up to the FCPS Teachers who have been employing the practice mobbing to diminish the stature of your students and to increase your own. The administrators know who you are and they are coming after you. THE GIG IS UP!!!!

Thanks for any input.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter needs to get out of this teacher's class and you, as a parent, should make sure you are involved if the school does not help. I can't tell you how frustrated I am with the FCPS high school my child goes to. Poor leadership by the administration, students in situations exactly like your DD, and guidance counselors who do not help. My child's guidance counselor looks about 25. My DD has a horrendous math teacher who literally can't teach and English teachers who write 7-8 pages of requirements for one 2 paragraph essay.

Unions make teachers very powerful in public schools. It's up to you as a parent, as the teacher's PEER, to get in there and fight. Your child HAS no power.

[Anonymous]

OP you sound like my mom - thanks to her inaction I would have been tracked into low level English classes because of one Freshman year teacher like the one you are describing. I got lucky because I stood up for myself but looking back, my mom should have been the one to be a the school demanding something get done.

They did not take my complaints seriously because I was the kid. The age doesn't matter - freshman, senior, - whatever, they simply aren't going to take your DD as seriously as they are going to take you.

It took me almost all year to fix the issue on my own. Other kids with complaining parents got a fix in a much quicker time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you sound like my mom - thanks to her inaction I would have been tracked into low level English classes because of one Freshman year teacher like the one you are describing. I got lucky because I stood up for myself but looking back, my mom should have been the one to be a the school demanding something get done.

They did not take my complaints seriously because I was the kid. The age doesn't matter - freshman, senior, - whatever, they simply aren't going to take your DD as seriously as they are going to take you.

It took me almost all year to fix the issue on my own. Other kids with complaining parents got a fix in a much quicker time.

why didn't your mom care? I am really very interested in this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proceed very carefully. FCPS teachers are known for mobbing. Complain about one teacher and you'll see your child's grades and relationships begin to slip in all of her classes. Tarnish the name of one teacher and several others teachers will begin to belittle your child. If and when you complain in the future to the administrators they will tell you that your child is having problems with several teachers whom they trust completely. Then the logical conclusion is that your child is having problems. If you persist they will then suggest that you over protective and perhaps slightly crazy.

The practice is called "Mobbing". If different teachers do it on different days the pressure and abuse the child receives is constant so it become unbearable, but no single teacher can be identified as being abusive.

"Teacher Mobbing of Students" is a serious problem in FCPS.

If this exists, it is far from universal. We have several kids and one kid eventually got a stinker of a teacher at one of the "better" FCPS high schools. We asked for, and then demanded, a change, and the administration eventually accommodated the request. It was beneficial for everyone, and there were no adverse consequences. We later learned that this particular teacher's problems are well known throughout the school, and that people are just waiting for her to retire or die.

It's far from universal for you . I've seen it go on. When I've complained about a particular teacher (rightfully), the teacher has pulled my DC out in front of some of the other students and told her 'your mother embarrassed me'. Seriously? That's so inappropriate I don't know where to begin.

You do realize that waiting for a bad teacher to die or retire is ridiculous right? I'm not insulting you, just frustrated that this might be seen as ok?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you sound like my mom - thanks to her inaction I would have been tracked into low level English classes because of one Freshman year teacher like the one you are describing. I got lucky because I stood up for myself but looking back, my mom should have been the one to be a the school demanding something get done.

They did not take my complaints seriously because I was the kid. The age doesn't matter - freshman, senior, - whatever, they simply aren't going to take your DD as seriously as they are going to take you.

It took me almost all year to fix the issue on my own. Other kids with complaining parents got a fix in a much quicker time.

I'm glad you see this situation for what it is rather than blaming yourself. No student should EVER have to go in front of an adult and continuously complain. You are obligated only to ask ONCE, and if guidance doesn't fix the situation, your mother should have gone in and handled it for you. That's her job as she is on the same peer level as the staff. Furthermore, her tax dollars pay their salary - they work for HER. Those who say 'free education' ... well it's not free. We all pay for it and should get services rendered. We don't due to politics and unions, etc.

I'm sorry you had to go through this. I hope you discussed this with your mother and told her how disappointed you were in her behavior and how much you struggled. If you have younger sibs, you will be helping them out immensely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If this exists, it is far from universal. We have several kids and one kid eventually got a stinker of a teacher at one of the "better" FCPS high schools. We asked for, and then demanded, a change, and the administration eventually accommodated the request. It was beneficial for everyone, and there were no adverse consequences. We later learned that this particular teacher's problems are well known throughout the school, and that people are just waiting for her to retire or die.

It's far from universal for you . I've seen it go on. When I've complained about a particular teacher (rightfully), the teacher has pulled my DC out in front of some of the other students and told her 'your mother embarrassed me'. Seriously? That's so inappropriate I don't know where to begin.

You do realize that waiting for a bad teacher to die or retire is ridiculous right? I'm not insulting you, just frustrated that this might be seen as ok?

Maybe I wasn't clear. "Far from universal" means that the sort of semi-orchestrated retribution that you described, in response to a request for a transfer, does not happen at all schools. It may have happened to you. At our school, there was no retribution at all against our DS or other children because we demanded a transfer from a single teacher's class. In retrospect, we wished we'd done it sooner. I'd hate for the OP to think that, if she and her daughter decide to proceed with a transfer request, they will necessarily be tagged for all time as "difficult." Sometimes the administrators simply have to know that you mean business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you sound like my mom - thanks to her inaction I would have been tracked into low level English classes because of one Freshman year teacher like the one you are describing. I got lucky because I stood up for myself but looking back, my mom should have been the one to be a the school demanding something get done.

They did not take my complaints seriously because I was the kid. The age doesn't matter - freshman, senior, - whatever, they simply aren't going to take your DD as seriously as they are going to take you.

It took me almost all year to fix the issue on my own. Other kids with complaining parents got a fix in a much quicker time.

I'm glad you see this situation for what it is rather than blaming yourself. No student should EVER have to go in front of an adult and continuously complain. You are obligated only to ask ONCE, and if guidance doesn't fix the situation, your mother should have gone in and handled it for you. That's her job as she is on the same peer level as the staff. Furthermore, her tax dollars pay their salary - they work for HER. Those who say 'free education' ... well it's not free. We all pay for it and should get services rendered. We don't due to politics and unions, etc.

I'm sorry you had to go through this. I hope you discussed this with your mother and told her how disappointed you were in her behavior and how much you struggled. If you have younger sibs, you will be helping them out immensely.

In some cultures, teachers are so respected that a parent would not dream of questioning them. I came from such a background myself and there were a number of occasions where, looking back, I see that my parents should have advocated for me, but it just never would have occurred to them that a teacher could be wrong. Things worked out for me, but some aspects of my education would have gone more smoothly had my parents known to go to bat for me.

[Anonymous]

If "teacher mobbing of students" does not exist in Fairfax County Schools then Superintendent of Schools, Jack Dale should make a public statement saying two specific things. He should say that FCPS Policy is that mobbing, gossiping, and/or conspiring among FCPS teachers to the detriment of students is strictly prohibited and that any teachers found to be engaging in such practices will be immediately terminated.