Since the first day of school I've had an off feeling about Robbie's teacher. He had such an amazing kindergarten teacher I had concerns about this year living up to last's expectations. A number of little odd things occurred, nothing REALLY offensive, just small red flags being raised with almost every encounter I had with Robbie's teacher. She struck me as a bit "spacey", like she didn't quite know what was going on or how to do things. I noticed inconsistencies in things she said and did, and she seemed a bit taken aback at my desire to be so involved in Robbie's schoolwork.
Robbie needs motivation. He is the kind of child that if nothing is given as motivation, nothing gets done. He is NOT self motivated in the regard that he does work just because it is required of him. I made a point chart for his performance in school, which worked AMAZINGLY last year. Based on his behavior at school, and his ability to get his schoolwork done I award points. He works toward a larger goal of his choice. This year his point chart is earning towards a trip to Chuck E Cheese's.
The first week of school she seemed discombobulated. I gave the benefit of the doubt since it was her first year teaching this particular grade (she had taught third grade before I believe), but intended to have a long conversation with her regarding her discipline system. I base the amount of points Robbie gets on the color card system they use in class and I was confused about a few things.
Things died down so I decided to talk to her during Robbie's second week of school. I asked her if the children have a chance to earn back their good card or if once they had a warning it was forever changed. She responded with "It's only the second week of school"
So essentially she could not tell me what the discipline policy was in her own classroom at that point.
Robbie was not making good use of his classroom time. This happened last year (hence the point chart). The teacher did not even bring this up, I discovered it on my own. She was making conversation about what Robbie had done that day and suggested he show me his classwork binder. I thumb through only to find incomplete sentences and blank drawing boxes. I inquire as to why Robbie did not finish his work (speaking to him) and the teacher butts in with "oh that's ok"
ummmm NO IT'S NOT!
So speaking to Robbie I say "You know sweetie, if work doesn't get done in the class time you have to either finish it during your recess and you miss it, or you bring it home as extra homework. It's very important you use class time wisely"
The next day I pick him up from school and the teacher says "If you were serious about him completing work at home (NO I was just f*cking around saying that) then I made a list of the pages he needs to have completed"
Again, Robbie needs motivation. In order for him to realize there was some kind of ramifications for him bringing schoolwork home, I told him for every incomplete page he brought home he lost two points; one point for the incomplete sentence and one point for not drawing a picture.
All his schoolwork was completed and returned the next day. The teacher noticed this and afterschool asked if Robbie "liked" drawing the pictures. I failed to see what difference that made. She explained that she only requires the children to finish the sentence and the picture can be drawn "if they feel like it"
WTF??
So that's just a sampling of some of the "small things" that had me anxious about her teaching ability. I kept telling myself I was looking for things to be picky about and should give her a chance to settle in. Meanwhile I'm telling my mom about all these weird goings on and she agrees to volunteer at his school once a week just to keep an eye on him and give me an outside perspective of what's going on in the classroom.
She left to volunteer yesterday morning and by midday was ready to bring him home.
I called to leave her a message about something and to my surprise her phone was on. I talked to her briefly but could hear in her voice that she was very unhappy about her day.
She comes home and tells me that all the suspicions i had abot this teacher had been confirmed. She does not address the children by name, she speaks in very general terms instead of direct discipline, and she's extraordinarily boring and not engaging to the students. Instead of specifically asking a student not to do something, then having them turn their card if they do not comply, she makes general statements like "you guys are not listening" She had Robbie turn his card because he was "not cooperating". No specific request to stop a particular behavior, just pointed at him and made him turn his card.
Robbie is reading at a third grade level. He was tested at the beginning of the year and scored the highest. At back to school night she referenced him three times and claimed she would have to "work hard to keep him engaged"
Her solution to this was to let him look at more books throughout the day.
At recess (which the teacher is nowhere to be found) my son had to use the restroom. He's been having bathroom issues for a few days and takes more than two minutes to "do his business"
My mom waited outside the restroom for him and watched to bigger kids go in. After a few minutes of shouting and ruckus she walks in to discover the two boys pushing on the door trying to force their way in and my son with his pants down holding the door for dear life.
The yard duties were twenty feet away talking to each other watching the 100 kids on the playground. The bathroom stall my son was in was one of two they have. TWO stalls for one hundred children and the other door didn't close all the way, which is why the big kids were fighting my son for his stall. So technically there is ONE boy's stall for that amount of kids.
After the incident my mom told the yard duty people what had occurred. They did not care.
My mom walks my son to the office so he can have some privacy and get his business done in peace. She explains to the office what happened and why he was required to use the bathroom there and they did not care.
She went back to the classroom and explained to the teacher why they were late coming back and what had occurred in the bathroom and SHE didn't care.
At lunchtime the children are herded into the cafeteria where the meek children are pushed to the back of the line. They are on a tight schedule and are only allowed a certain amount of time. Because the smaller kids get shoved to the back of the line, by the time the sit down they have about ten minutes to eat all their food. Then they are forced to throw away their food when the time is up and clear out for the next group of children.
My mom watched a little girl sit and look at her food. She didn't have a single bite. Instead of the staff asking the girl what was wrong, or trying to get her to eat something, she was simply instructed to throw away her food when the time was up and ushered out of the cafeteria. She left the lunchroom having eaten nothing and nobody cared.
My son is a very sensitive soul. I understand I can't shelter him from the whole world, nor do I wish to. But I have seen what things like this can do to a mind like his. Our family has some very messed up smart people because they were not in a nurturing caring environment.
If this was my daughter I doubt I would have even written this blog. She stands up for herself, is enormous for her age (LOL) and can hold her own wherever she goes.
My son is a bit different. The last thing I want is to have him in an environment where he withers away and falls through the cracks. He is SO excited about learning, and absorbs so much information wherever he goes, I'd hate for him to loose his passion and have all my years of hard work erased by one bad teacher. He is so vulnerable right now, and I know he will have many trials as he gets older, but at this particular age, this particular time, I can't in good conscience send him to a school that I know is destroying who he is.
I have an appointment to tour a private school about 15 miles away and I have told my husband in no uncertain terms that if I like the school I'm signing him up immediately. It's disgusting to me that should I not have had that option, I'd have to put up this horrible fight with the school system, principal and teacher and be labeled one of "those" parents.
Well, let them call me whatever the hell they want behind my back WHEN MY SON IS GOING TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL and their precious state money is gone b/c they can't get their shit together and run a decent curriculum.
I'm so sick to my stomach over this. It was very difficult to drop him off at school today. I have no desire to speak to that teacher and feel very sorry for the children still left in that class. But if I can improve the situation for my child that is no longer my battle to fight.
Wish me luck.
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