Teacher Question

[Whitehouse Quail]

tOkay, so my neighbor kid is freaking out right now. He's in, 9th grade? I think.

Anyway, today, he got in HUGE trouble. Supposedly for 'spitting quarters' at a student. But, there are four students next to him that say it never happened! I believe this kid, he's straight As, never lies, Student Council sort of kid.

The teacher then asked him 'Are you always this much of an idiot? Or is today some type of special occasion?' then proceeded to tell him off. In front of his classmates, and the senior class. She then called his parents, and the teacher whos class he was in.

What would you do? His parents are threating to move him to a nearby, prime school district, which he supports, because the schools around here SUCK!

(Oh, he is formulating a letter to the newspaper about the 'inappropraite teachers' at our high school. He promises he won't name names... :\\ )

ETA: My term 'OUR' high school is referring to the fact that everyone in my family has gone to this highschool. It is the center of our social network, which is why I referred to it as 'our.' Sorry to issues that may have arisen from the wrong pronoun.

 

[welasharon]

They need to contact the school and set up a meeting with the principal and the teacher.
sharon

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
x2

You're only hearing 1 side of the story

 

[Robo]

Quote:
Sadly, this doesn't always work. I used to be hated by the teachers, they accused me of cussing them out... I had my Mom, and Grandpa come in saying it wasn't true but I got suspended. I was in first grade! It never happened, they just wanted me gone I guess. Get the news out there and hopefully they will get fired...

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Sadly, this doesn't always work. I used to be hated by the teachers, they accused me of cussing them out... I had my Mom, and Grandpa come in saying it wasn't true but I got suspended. I was in first grade! It never happened, they just wanted me gone I guess. Get the news out there and hopefully they will get fired...

I don't know your situation but I would never "invent" charges against a student.

A student in one of my classes repeatedly made disparaging remarks to another student for stuttering (despite an aside from me and a written write-up) and then threatened to punch the student. When I sent the student down to the principal's office after the threat, he threw spitwads at the other student and tossed all of his [own] notes over the floor because he was mad at me, when I told him to pick them up before he left, he picked them up and put them in the trash. When I spoke to the principal at the end of the day, she said she was going to suspend him (he has had write ups and detentions for insubordination and disruptive behavior in my class AND others). And when his mother found out about this, she was mad at ME. Apparently it was MY fault her son was suspended. He has been suspended before, I only have him for a 13 week exploratory class, so I know it is not just me. Mom was just mad and needed someone to blame.

This student did stay after school to make up some assignments. And the day after his suspension he was on task and his grade has raised from a 40% to a 68%.

Again, Robo, your situation was probably different, but teachers do get blamed for a lot of things that are not their fault. Students need to learn to take responsibility for their own behavior.

 

[WriterofWords]

I would get BOTH sides of the story IN the principals office BEFORE I did something out of line.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Spitting quarters is a strange enough accusation that I wouldn't think it would just come out of the blue. As a former straight A student who was a student council member, and as a parent of a smart little sometimes jerk, being smart and popular sometimes makes kids think that they don't need to follow the rules. For some being at the top of the totem pole means you can pick on anyone below you. I think I would be talking to the teacher and the principal before any other action was taken. If all the other kids were the first one's buds, the truth will be even harder to find.

 

[PineappleMama]

I still remember Mrs J, geometry. This jerkwad Justin would hurl coins across the room at me. Literally, totally opposite sides of the room, no WAY I could possibly be annoying him with nail tapping or breathing or anything. What does she do? Yells at ME... like I was hurling coins at my own head, and btw that HURT, just to annoy her.

Donno what her deal was... or his come to that... but it never got to any more than her glaring at me so no big.

Even if the kiddo gets moved I'd still make sure that the Principal/etc are made aware... if this teachers is going gonzo on one student, once he's gone the teacher may find a new target... the staff needs to be aware of that so they can keep an eye, prevent harm, and prevent their arse ending up in a sling...

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Like the coin this story has two sides. Find them ALL out..... politely professionally, leave the press out of this until you are dead certain of the facts.

 

[woodmort]

My question would be "Why are you getting involved?" Sounds to me like it is a problem between the kid, his parents, the teacher and the school administration. Since you're getting a filtered, one-sided story, you're better off keeping yourself right out of it. BTW, one of my teacher friends used to tell the parents that if they didn't believe everything the kid said went on at school then she wouldn't believe every thing the kid said went on at home.