Horrible kindergarten teacher

[Anonymous]

we have a K teacher who is young but awful. She yells at the kids, especially boys, punishes them at the slightest infraction and does this with impunity. She's been at the school for about 5 years and rumors abound. When her name is brought up, parents of kids in older grades gasp. But the administration loves her, and in meetings when administration is present, she is all sweetness and charm. Is there anything that parents can do about this teacher?

[Anonymous]

How do you know this his how she runs the classroom? Kids' reports can be a bit off, especially when they sense that their parent hates the teacher and wants/expects to hear certain things.

[Anonymous]

My eldest had a terrible kindergarten teacher. She was a LTS after his teacher went out three weeks into the year on maternity leave. There was nothing we could do- she just truly sucked- had a room of 12 boys out of 14 kids and couldn't manage them at all. We worked with him at home and grinned and dealt with it. It was a shame and set him up poorly for first grade but by third grade he's fine. I'm sorry, OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we have a K teacher who is young but awful. She yells at the kids, especially boys, punishes them at the slightest infraction and does this with impunity. She's been at the school for about 5 years and rumors abound. When her name is brought up, parents of kids in older grades gasp. But the administration loves her, and in meetings when administration is present, she is all sweetness and charm. Is there anything that parents can do about this teacher?

How do you know this?

Also, what "rumors abound"? And did the kids in the older grades whose parents gasp actually have her as their teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we have a K teacher who is young but awful. She yells at the kids, especially boys, punishes them at the slightest infraction and does this with impunity. She's been at the school for about 5 years and rumors abound. When her name is brought up, parents of kids in older grades gasp. But the administration loves her, and in meetings when administration is present, she is all sweetness and charm. Is there anything that parents can do about this teacher?

How do you know this?

Also, what "rumors abound"? And did the kids in the older grades whose parents gasp actually have her as their teacher?

NP here. Why such skepticism PP? There are truly atrocious teachers out there. At our school we had some that had dozens of complaints filed against them and adults who were volunteering personally heard yelling and aggressive, punitive behavior. Thankfully, our school's new principal is weeding them out.

[Anonymous]

DOp here I volunteer in the classroom so I saw her lose her shit and have a tantrum over silly little things like talking during a fire drill or getting out of line walking from recess. And I am not talking About raising her voice I am talking a full melt down. The parents who gasp all had boys in her class years prior and their experience has been that admin believes she is great and loves kids tremendously. There are rumors that she will single out a "victim" once a year and try to make that child's life difficult. The reason I am concerned is that she sent me an email that my son did xyz at a pajamas day party. But my son was not in school that day. So she then said that he did it another day. Just makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DOp here I volunteer in the classroom so I saw her lose her shit and have a tantrum over silly little things like talking during a fire drill or getting out of line walking from recess. And I am not talking About raising her voice I am talking a full melt down. The parents who gasp all had boys in her class years prior and their experience has been that admin believes she is great and loves kids tremendously. There are rumors that she will single out a "victim" once a year and try to make that child's life difficult. The reason I am concerned is that she sent me an email that my son did xyz at a pajamas day party. But my son was not in school that day. So she then said that he did it another day. Just makes no sense.

This actually is really serious. There should be no tolerance for misbehavior during a fire drill. If there is a real fire, I don't want any chance of my kid being hindered because your kid couldn't control himself and learn proper procedure, or respect the teacher and rules enough to do what he was supposed to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DOp here I volunteer in the classroom so I saw her lose her shit and have a tantrum over silly little things like talking during a fire drill or getting out of line walking from recess. And I am not talking About raising her voice I am talking a full melt down. The parents who gasp all had boys in her class years prior and their experience has been that admin believes she is great and loves kids tremendously. There are rumors that she will single out a "victim" once a year and try to make that child's life difficult. The reason I am concerned is that she sent me an email that my son did xyz at a pajamas day party. But my son was not in school that day. So she then said that he did it another day. Just makes no sense.

This actually is really serious. There should be no tolerance for misbehavior during a fire drill. If there is a real fire, I don't want any chance of my kid being hindered because your kid couldn't control himself and learn proper procedure, or respect the teacher and rules enough to do what he was supposed to do.

You are a tool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DOp here I volunteer in the classroom so I saw her lose her shit and have a tantrum over silly little things like talking during a fire drill or getting out of line walking from recess. And I am not talking About raising her voice I am talking a full melt down. The parents who gasp all had boys in her class years prior and their experience has been that admin believes she is great and loves kids tremendously. There are rumors that she will single out a "victim" once a year and try to make that child's life difficult. The reason I am concerned is that she sent me an email that my son did xyz at a pajamas day party. But my son was not in school that day. So she then said that he did it another day. Just makes no sense.

This actually is really serious. There should be no tolerance for misbehavior during a fire drill. If there is a real fire, I don't want any chance of my kid being hindered because your kid couldn't control himself and learn proper procedure, or respect the teacher and rules enough to do what he was supposed to do.

I agree, and also for a lockdown drill. My DD told me about the "real" lockdown they had. I'm pretty sure it was just a drill, but she said it was real because they had to stay quiet, close all the blinds, lock the doors and "hide". If it was the real thing, you want the kids to know how to be quiet during such a drill.

[Anonymous]

How is your son handling his interactions with his teacher and what's his general attitude towards school this year? When you talk with him about school, does he seem worried or frown? Does he not talk about school much, or change the subject when you ask? Refusing to go? It's hard for them to verbalize at that age, but those are red flags.

Absent those, I wouldn't worry about it. Some kids don't mind strict teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DOp here I volunteer in the classroom so I saw her lose her shit and have a tantrum over silly little things like talking during a fire drill or getting out of line walking from recess. And I am not talking About raising her voice I am talking a full melt down. The parents who gasp all had boys in her class years prior and their experience has been that admin believes she is great and loves kids tremendously. There are rumors that she will single out a "victim" once a year and try to make that child's life difficult. The reason I am concerned is that she sent me an email that my son did xyz at a pajamas day party. But my son was not in school that day. So she then said that he did it another day. Just makes no sense.

This actually is really serious. There should be no tolerance for misbehavior during a fire drill. If there is a real fire, I don't want any chance of my kid being hindered because your kid couldn't control himself and learn proper procedure, or respect the teacher and rules enough to do what he was supposed to do.

I agree, and also for a lockdown drill. My DD told me about the "real" lockdown they had. I'm pretty sure it was just a drill, but she said it was real because they had to stay quiet, close all the blinds, lock the doors and "hide". If it was the real thing, you want the kids to know how to be quiet during such a drill.

Talking during a fire drill is not a "silly little thing", OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DOp here I volunteer in the classroom so I saw her lose her shit and have a tantrum over silly little things like talking during a fire drill or getting out of line walking from recess. And I am not talking About raising her voice I am talking a full melt down. The parents who gasp all had boys in her class years prior and their experience has been that admin believes she is great and loves kids tremendously. There are rumors that she will single out a "victim" once a year and try to make that child's life difficult. The reason I am concerned is that she sent me an email that my son did xyz at a pajamas day party. But my son was not in school that day. So she then said that he did it another day. Just makes no sense.

Then take all your concerns (that you have witnessed, not the rumor mill/hearsay stuff) to the principal for discussion. But do be prepared to be told that kids must remain quiet during fire drills and other drills.

[Anonymous]

So a child deserves to be yelled at for talking during a fire drill? These are not 10 year old, these are kindergartners. No one deserves an adult in position of authority scream in their faces. Especially vulnerable 5 year olds. My son is really hard to get something Out of so I don't know if she is yelling at him I am monitoring it. However my concern is that I am getting these strange emails from her

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So a child deserves to be yelled at for talking during a fire drill? These are not 10 year old, these are kindergartners. No one deserves an adult in position of authority scream in their faces. Especially vulnerable 5 year olds. My son is really hard to get something Out of so I don't know if she is yelling at him I am monitoring it. However my concern is that I am getting these strange emails from her

If the fire alarm is blaring, she probably had to raise her voice at the child so the child can hear. She may have been at the head of the line, and he at the back of the line, and she can't leave her position at the lead. I sometimes "yell" at my kids because it's so loud that they otherwise wouldn't hear me.

Not saying the teacher isn't yelling. But, my DCs have told me of some substitute teachers that yell in class. I have to really drill down to find out if she's screaming at them out of anger, or just because it's too loud in the class and she's just trying to get their attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So a child deserves to be yelled at for talking during a fire drill? These are not 10 year old, these are kindergartners. No one deserves an adult in position of authority scream in their faces. Especially vulnerable 5 year olds. My son is really hard to get something Out of so I don't know if she is yelling at him I am monitoring it. However my concern is that I am getting these strange emails from her

If the fire alarm is blaring, she probably had to raise her voice at the child so the child can hear. She may have been at the head of the line, and he at the back of the line, and she can't leave her position at the lead. I sometimes "yell" at my kids because it's so loud that they otherwise wouldn't hear me.

Not saying the teacher isn't yelling. But, my DCs have told me of some substitute teachers that yell in class. I have to really drill down to find out if she's screaming at them out of anger, or just because it's too loud in the class and she's just trying to get their attention.

Yes, actually. The children must follow the procedure quietly and quickly, or they endanger others. There is not time in a procedure like this to softly-softly help your child choose to behave: the teacher MUST make all of the children behave in a fire drill procedure. It is especially important with small children because they tend to panic in a "real" fire situation, and the best way to ensure that they follow procedure in that context is to make them behave during the drills.