Dealing with a Bad Teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adult bullies are not that different from child bullies. They will attack the ones they perceive as being weaker and often back off when confronted. If the teacher perceives that you are fearful of her she will not stop.

If you say nothing, you can be assured that this teacher will continue bullying your child. If you say something to the principal and are tactful but firm its much more probable that the teacher will back off not retaliate and risk further action. If she does retaliate, you are no worse off since she is already being mean. If she raises the level of inappropriate behavior you are armed for further action.

16:00 and 15:30 here -- and I wholeheartedly agree!!
I know it is tough when you feel your kid is unprotected and in a bad situation without you -- but dang...I want to beat the teacher down for you!!
Do. Something!!

Sometimes being right doesn't matter. What matters the most is your child's safety and emotional security.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adult bullies are not that different from child bullies. They will attack the ones they perceive as being weaker and often back off when confronted. If the teacher perceives that you are fearful of her she will not stop.

If you say nothing, you can be assured that this teacher will continue bullying your child. If you say something to the principal and are tactful but firm its much more probable that the teacher will back off not retaliate and risk further action. If she does retaliate, you are no worse off since she is already being mean. If she raises the level of inappropriate behavior you are armed for further action.

16:00 and 15:30 here -- and I wholeheartedly agree!!
I know it is tough when you feel your kid is unprotected and in a bad situation without you -- but dang...I want to beat the teacher down for you!!
Do. Something!!

Sometimes being right doesn't matter. What matters the most is your child's safety and emotional security.

And how is anything I said contradicting this??
I am saying do something, I did not say you were necessarily going to win.
Sometimes the doing something may mean removing the child from the school, it may mean suing the teacher and the school, it may mean keying the teacher's car(sarcasm)...the whole point of doing something is to protect the child and others by default.

[Anonymous]

Im at Wayside too, I always thought it was strange that they dont allow parent volunteers in the classroom. Its ok in the lunch room and recess but not the classroom. As if they have something to hide. At a practical level, its not easy with the class sizes so big to dump more than two dozen kids on one teacher. These teachers are probably pushed to the brink so hard at this place they have no choice but to lash out to deal with their stress. Nonetheless, that is no excuse. Im afraid in terms of the mean teacher, my recommendation is to lay low. If you tell Wayside admin, they are arrogant, not willing to discuss issues, and get highly defensive. wont work. I hate to say it, but just trying to ride out the year the best you can may be the best thing. And, pray that next year the ball rolls on a better roulette number for your kid

[Anonymous]

Send a e-mail with all the facts and your views to the teacher copying the principal. If she never received complaints before this will be the first hard time for her and will remember for ever. She might change for good or she might take action against your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send a e-mail with all the facts and your views to the teacher copying the principal. If she never received complaints before this will be the first hard time for her and will remember for ever. She might change for good or she might take action against your DC.

Best way for the teacher to ensure she bullies your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principals are afraid of the unions.

DEFINITELY NOT
Prinicpals don't want unions to come to the school. But afraid, absolutely not. If they like the teacher, then parents won't be able to do much. On the other hand, if they don't like the teacher, they will harrass him/her until the teacher quits or transfers.
Unions are not going to take the teacher's side unless something totally illegal/against the contract has been done.

[Anonymous]

So if I'm tallying things correctly, that makes 3 of us who have chimed in as having concerns about our Wayside teacher. That sounds like s lot considering this is just a thread on a website that you may not necessarily be monitoring all the time.

[Anonymous]

My kids went through Wayside and they stopped allowing parents to volunteer in the classroom when my oldest was in 1st grade (which was quite a while ago). The administration claimed that parents talked about other people's children that they worked with. I thought it was very odd and disappointing that we could no longer volunteer in the classroom. I know the teachers could have used the help.

[Anonymous]

In MCPS parents can file the anti-bullying form (230-35) against adults (including teachers) and other students. If my child were being bullied by a teacher, this is what I would do, because filing the form mandates an investigation and that the results be entered into a database and provided to the parent/student filing the complaint. The complaint will likely become part of the personnel file as well.

Also, retaliation is prohibited when reporting bullying. I'm not saying it won't happen, but for a teacher to retaliate after being reported in writing in this way would be a very serious thing.

[Anonymous]

PP- I had no idea about the form. Many of us have given you advise. OP- What are you plans?

[Anonymous]

In MCPS parents can file the anti-bullying form (230-35) against adults (including teachers) and other students. If my child were being bullied by a teacher, this is what I would do, because filing the form mandates an investigation and that the results be entered into a database and provided to the parent/student filing the complaint. The complaint will likely become part of the personnel file as well.

Also, retaliation is prohibited when reporting bullying. I'm not saying it won't happen, but for a teacher to retaliate after being reported in writing in this way would be a very serious thing.

This +10000. The principal, the guidance counselor and other levels of MCPS bureaucracy can just ignore or sweep things under the rug. They don't what to do so they do nothing. This allows a bad employee to continue acting inappropriately toward children. The Wash Post article about the pedophile who was caught in MCPS is another indication of this. Many MCPS employees after he was arrested came forward reporting how they had complained about odd behavior for years but no one in MCPS did anything.

[Anonymous]

don't do it. They will retaliate. I know. Experienced it first hand. You have two options: go to private school. Or sue them. That's it. Negotiating does not work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In MCPS parents can file the anti-bullying form (230-35) against adults (including teachers) and other students. If my child were being bullied by a teacher, this is what I would do, because filing the form mandates an investigation and that the results be entered into a database and provided to the parent/student filing the complaint. The complaint will likely become part of the personnel file as well.

Also, retaliation is prohibited when reporting bullying. I'm not saying it won't happen, but for a teacher to retaliate after being reported in writing in this way would be a very serious thing.

This +10000. The principal, the guidance counselor and other levels of MCPS bureaucracy can just ignore or sweep things under the rug. They don't what to do so they do nothing. This allows a bad employee to continue acting inappropriately toward children. The Wash Post article about the pedophile who was caught in MCPS is another indication of this. Many MCPS employees after he was arrested came forward reporting how they had complained about odd behavior for years but no one in MCPS did anything.

I really wish I had known about this form when my child was being bullied in K and 1st. We ended up pulling her from school.

[Anonymous]

PP Did you go private?

[Anonymous]

i think it is sad that Wayside does not allow parents in the rooms. Makes you think they have something to hide. Maybe they dont want witnesses to what is happening. I can certainly say that this is not the norm. Schools that have nothing to hide actaully plead for more parents to help in the classrooms