DD's teacher has a "cry board" in her classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the school board info poster. To the teacher apologist - I’m sorry for your innocent friend. You are on a board of special needs parents. I can’t speak for any other parent but in addition to my child, I also have diagnoses and grew up with an IEP. The list of teachers who have broken district rules / federal laws / rules of human decency and kindness grows and grows as the years go by. By the time your kid is a teenager, and crying, with video evidence of something that is just plain mean, you have run low on your desire to “hear them out”

If an innocent teacher gets accused of something I’d hope their admin or union will be able to sus out the real truth. In my experience even going all the way up the chain to the Captain does little unless truly egregious things have happened or the teacher has a thick HR file already.

What you don’t know is that I’m also a parent of a special needs child, one who has had a teacher bully him. We actually demanded a move to another school because of that. That’s why I follow this board.

My issue remains the immediate ire and the refusal by some posters to even BOTHER with fact finding before trying to destroy the teacher.

If the majority of posters on this board are comfortable with a take-down, then there’s nothing I can do about that. I simply feel bad for the dedicated, hard-working teachers who have may have no idea how ready some parents are for blood.

[Anonymous]

To the PP who keeps saying to talk to the teacher- is that the same advice you would give of the student told her mom she’d been touched inappropriately by a teacher? Go in and see if the teacher can talk it away, maybe it was a misunderstanding? I sure hope not.

This is not to that extreme but I have a child who has been repeatedly lied about by a teacher in the past. Kids need to feel believed especially when someone is being a sh*t to them and they have video evidence. This is not one of those times I’d be pushing my child to see the teachers side of things. I’d be going directly to the principal on her behalf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This would be something worth bringing up before the end of the school year.

+1

Admin is still around right now. Don’t wait.

I emailed the IEP coordinator, the principal and assistant principal yesterday to ask about appealing her grade but haven’t heard back. I did not mention the cry wall because I was hoping to try and appeal her grade based on medical concerns versus the cry wall bullying.

I absolutely understand why you did that, but this is about BOTH things. Don’t bury the lede here OP. You need to clearly tell them that the teacher is shaming a child with a disability. That’s the story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the school board info poster. To the teacher apologist - I’m sorry for your innocent friend. You are on a board of special needs parents. I can’t speak for any other parent but in addition to my child, I also have diagnoses and grew up with an IEP. The list of teachers who have broken district rules / federal laws / rules of human decency and kindness grows and grows as the years go by. By the time your kid is a teenager, and crying, with video evidence of something that is just plain mean, you have run low on your desire to “hear them out”

If an innocent teacher gets accused of something I’d hope their admin or union will be able to sus out the real truth. In my experience even going all the way up the chain to the Captain does little unless truly egregious things have happened or the teacher has a thick HR file already.

What you don’t know is that I’m also a parent of a special needs child, one who has had a teacher bully him. We actually demanded a move to another school because of that. That’s why I follow this board.

My issue remains the immediate ire and the refusal by some posters to even BOTHER with fact finding before trying to destroy the teacher.

If the majority of posters on this board are comfortable with a take-down, then there’s nothing I can do about that. I simply feel bad for the dedicated, hard-working teachers who have may have no idea how ready some parents are for blood.

Dedicated teachers do not have a student with video evidence of a cry board in their classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD's 9th grade photography teacher has a board hanging up in her classroom called "closet tears". Yesterday, DD was told by this teacher that she was going to fail her for "not trying hard enough". DD started to cry, as she HAS been trying as best she could to catch up, but the teacher refused to reduce any of the workload despite legitimate absences. DD has been very sick the second half of this year, including being in the hospital and finally getting diagnosed with an autoimmune disease a few weeks ago. The teacher told DD to walk over and put a hash mark on the "closet tears" board.

I was already livid and now I'm just in an absolute rage. She has an IEP for dyslexia, dysgraphia and slow processing speed. I contacted the school on May 24th after we got her diagnosis and asked for an IEP meeting to address her medical conditions. After several email reminders, they finally scheduled it for August 14th.

Do we have any recourse to fight the failing grade? And the teacher bullying her students by boasting about making them cry? WTF?

Oh, DD has video of the closet tears board. She took it before leaving class yesterday (last day of school).

sorry to hear your DC had a rough quarter. But, the teacher can not reduce one student’s workload because that would not be fair to all of the other students. And, you mention special needs in an IEP, but how does that relate to this photography class? Also, is the closet tears an avenue for a kid to pull themselves together when tears well up? There’s always 2 sides to a story. The internet is not allowing due process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my goodness. I don’t usually say things like this but that teacher needs to be fired or shoved into an office job. I don’t know what your recourse is but I hope you have one and that you’re daughter’s okay.

+100

[Anonymous]

These poor teachers. You can’t just declare firing someone. There would need to be an investigation. It doesn’t sound like the student had their act together either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These poor teachers. You can’t just declare firing someone. There would need to be an investigation. It doesn’t sound like the student had their act together either.

Sounds like a teacher who would rather just fail a student recently out of the hospital than help her plan a way to get the work done.

Humiliating students with this cry board is taking it to another level.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and I have never heard of a "cry board." What exactly does this mean, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These poor teachers. You can’t just declare firing someone. There would need to be an investigation. It doesn’t sound like the student had their act together either.

Sounds like a teacher who would rather just fail a student recently out of the hospital than help her plan a way to get the work done.

Humiliating students with this cry board is taking it to another level.

How do you know what the teacher did you get this kid caught up? All you know is that the kid wasn’t successful. I’m with PP who is shocked at the assumptions and the lust for blood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These poor teachers. You can’t just declare firing someone. There would need to be an investigation. It doesn’t sound like the student had their act together either.

Sounds like a teacher who would rather just fail a student recently out of the hospital than help her plan a way to get the work done.

Humiliating students with this cry board is taking it to another level.

How do you know what the teacher did you get this kid caught up? All you know is that the kid wasn’t successful. I’m with PP who is shocked at the assumptions and the lust for blood.

And the cry board? Video evidence remember. Any teacher with in her classroom is suspect in all her methods.

[Anonymous]

What school is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and I have never heard of a "cry board." What exactly does this mean, OP?

+1

I'm a parent and don't know what OP is saying. It's not clear what she is referring to.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure the teacher didn’t create a closet tears safe space? An art student at the a university of Utah created a closet tears safe space in the library so students feeling overwhelmed during finals can have a place to have a 10 minute cry to relieve stress.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/04/26/cry-closet-installed-finals-university-utah
https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/04/cry-closets-are-a-great-idea-thanks-millennials.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

Last time I’m going to try this.

Can we get more info first? Before the pitchforks come out, talk to the teacher.

I’m also a teacher. Yes, I absolutely believe that this could be true. I just haven’t read anything on this thread yet that justifies a huge take-down.

I know a teacher who had her reputation destroyed by a parent who was working on false information. Get the facts first. Always.

How will OP feel if she takes this to the board before talking to the teacher, only to have new info revealed?

Where did I say she shouldn't talk to the teacher??

Read the post I am actually responding to.

I was responding to this:
“F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.”

Or should go higher in this sub thread, where there is a reference to “weaken[ing] the teacher”?

This thread is filled with calls to take the teacher down.

I’ve seen this happen to an innocent teacher. Someone on this thread has to remind people how altercations SHOULD be handled.

If OP can get into the teacher’s classroom to talk in person. Otherwise, the teacher has a chance to remove the evidence and claim the student misunderstood. If there’s no cry board, it shouldn’t be a problem, yes?

The fact that this teacher did not cut this student - a ninth grader with multiple disabilities who endured a hospitalization with a chronic disorder - some slack makes me much less likely to give her the benefit of the doubt on anything.

If the OP cannot meet with the teacher in person with another admin present, preferably in her classroom, then OP is well within reason to meet with admin without the teacher and lay out the situation. The teacher should not be allowed to dodge this.

You do hear this tone, correct? That the teacher is already guilty?

I’ve ONLY asked that the teacher be included in a conversation. Again: I have seen an innocent teacher destroyed because a parent took a false story to admin and above. She was proven innocent later, but the damage was done. I’m now sensitive to witch-hunts.

The student very well may be correct here and should be supported. Any effort to take the teacher down or “weaken the teacher” shouldn’t occur until AFTER a conversation with the teacher and admin.

I’m an innocent-until-guilty believer, but I suppose many aren’t.

I don’t think you’re wrong in principle, but I think you’re being incredibly naive regarding the lengths that teachers and and admins will go to ignore or even cover up malfeasance. The circumstances and video strongly suggest malfeasance occurred, and the OP should absolutely be careful to not give the school an opportunity to destroy evidence or sweep the incidents under the rug.