School Daze

It's been ugly....

If you're just stumbling across this blog by chance, let me tell you. I love teachers. I respect their level of education, and the amazing things they can do with my children. Even so, there are a very few bad apples out there that can really ruin the experience.

Meet Ms. M. Oh, wait, you can't....because she's only worked for 5 days so far this year. Not to mention the 5 month "disability vacation" she took last year. See, she has tenure, which means that the dumbass school district is more afraid of a lawsuit from her than they are from me. They dumped her at our school because the teachers and administration at her last assignment had had enough.

The first time I met her, I didn't like her. I just hoped my son liked her. Turns out the whole experience was a colossal waste of time. She's claiming some sort of medical issues, but really? I don't give a rats ass. The 6th day of school, she didn't bother to call, she just stopped showing up. Left 18 kids standing outside a classroom without telling anyone she couldn't make it. Five days in a row, before she faxed in a doctors note about being on disability for the next 6 weeks.

It's third grade. There were no times tables on the bulletin board. No maps, no calendars, no weather charts, no Presidents...NOTHING. I've never seen a classroom so white. Turns out there were no lesson plans either. Who starts a school year without lesson plans? NOT a tenured teacher!! My son used his time wisely for the first 10 days of school and made paper airplanes and drew pictures of SpongeBob being tortured by aliens. He is 8 years old.

I complained, but the Vice Principal is a very PC woman. She advised me to wait for the Principal to return in a few days. So I waited. Turns out the Principal (great guy, really understands that parents, teachers and children ALL should have a voice) agreed with me. Of course, he's got to crunch numbers and what have you, but he was wiling to discuss a transfer to another class. He can't fire her until he has followed due process. He told me it takes him an average of 461 days to do that.

As an interesting sidenote, my kids go to year round school. Basically, they go for three months and are off for one month. For example "Yellow" track has July, November and March as vacation months. "Blue" track has August, December and April, Green has September, January and May, and Red has October, February and June off. We were on Green track. We have one teacher assigned to each grade on each track. If you need to change teachers, you have to change tracks. It's used to alleviate overcrowding, so most classes are full, most of the time.

Still, it should be simple enough, right? Not a chance. Problem is, I have more than one child. The 8 year old has a 9 year old brother at school. Having a terrific start with his teacher, settling in very well, handling growing responsibilities on his own....I couldn't ask for anything more. There are tracks with a 3rd grade position open, and tracks with a 4th grade position open, but they are not the same tracks. So I have to either sacrifice my 3rd grader to a terrible teacher for an entire year, or sacrifice my family life, with kids on two different schedules. Everybody wins....NOT!

I want this teacher out of here. I don't trust her to show up at work, how can I trust her with my kid? I don't trust her with anyone's child, and I really feel for those parents who haven't met her, haven't been in the classroom, haven't seen how much the other teachers at school dislike her. I feel a moral obligation to stand up not just for my own, but for all these kids. It's not OK, I'm not going to get over it, and I can't afford to wait and see if she gets better. I'd really like to confront her, but SHE'S NOT HERE!!!

I checked into filing a complaint with the district over her actions, but was completely discouraged. I pulled a form off the website on Complaint Procedures. While it mentions the rights and responsibilities of the district employee, it does not even once mention the welfare of the child. It speaks about "trusting our teachers", but apparently we don't give a shit if they've already proven to be untrustworthy.

I'm filing a complaint anyways. The Principal needs it, along with the other disciplinary actions he filed in order to eventually get rid of her. He's told me he is not going to look the other way when made aware of a bad teacher. If he can't use paperwork to remove them, he plans on making their lives unpleasant enough to reconsider a teaching position at his school. He took the time to listen to me over the past week, and finally begged a spot so that my children could both be moved.

My 3rd grader didn't just get a better teacher, he got Mrs. C, who was the Teacher of the Year for the county we live in just last year. She got an honorable mention at the State Level too. I've sat with her on a community board for the last 19 months and I really like her. Her class is so popular, it is always full, and impossible to get into. My 4th grader told me late last year that he'd like to be in Mrs. F's class someday. I told him that would be impossible as she didn't teach on his track. He is her newest student, and just as thrilled to have him as he is to have her.

While I'm very relieved, I feel like I've been thru 15 rounds with the titleholder. This one woman's amazingly selfish actions have been like a tsunami in my life for the past three weeks. I'm so very glad it's over, a bit resentful of the forced change, yet it went much better than I thought. I fretted and worried about the kids, as they were wary of leaving their friends. We had a terrific school year last year, and I hoped for more of the same. This was our first experience with a truly bad teacher, and I hope I don't have to go thru it again.

Oh, did I mention that as part of the complaint process, I'll be meeting with her face to face? This should be quite interesting. I'm going to see how many other parents I can get involved.