Nasty letter from a Parent.....
Friday, at the end of my teaching day, I was served with a letter from an "irate" parent that ended with these words: "We have fretted and worried for 2/3 of the school year. We are not going to let (our student) give up and quit and we will continue to help him no matter how hard you try to keep (our child) from succeeding. We hope (our student) makes you proud when (our child) repeats (current school grade).
This parent wrote the same letter to four of her child's teachers. And provided a copy to the principal. She noted that she and her husband feel it was a big mistake to talk to her child's teachers right after Thanksgiving, and that the problems for their child would only get worse if they chose to meet with us now or in the future.
She specifically cited my failure to respond to questions in her child's daily planner and is baffled as to why her child's teachers cannot write down exactly what assignments are missing in the child's daily planner.
She goes on to say how her child gets home from school and tells "us" how much four of his teachers HATE (the student).
Anyhow, if you have taught for awhile, letters like this crop up from time to time. Parents get frustrated with their child's lack of performance in school, and sometimes there are other things going on within the family that lead to a lashing out at the teachers.
I personally have a major problem with this letter, in that I have only had this child in my classroom for about the past five or six weeks. This child entered my class in February, transferred out of his previous History class and into my class. These parents have NEVER spoken to me, regarding this child (I have had other children of their pass through my classroom, and there were no problems). This child has been absent from my class about 20% of the time. IF there were any notes or questions from the parents in this child's daily planner for me, the child failed to show them to me. I have no idea what I may have done to this child to lead this child to use the word HATE about me or my class. Maybe telling him he could do better or that he needs to make up missing work led to this ?
At this time, I am not going to respond to this letter. IF there is a meeting, which I will not attend unless the principal is present, I will show the evidence in my grade and attendance books to justify the child's current grade. He is not a behavior issue for me, other than he often drums on the desk.
Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments!
This parent wrote the same letter to four of her child's teachers. And provided a copy to the principal. She noted that she and her husband feel it was a big mistake to talk to her child's teachers right after Thanksgiving, and that the problems for their child would only get worse if they chose to meet with us now or in the future.
She specifically cited my failure to respond to questions in her child's daily planner and is baffled as to why her child's teachers cannot write down exactly what assignments are missing in the child's daily planner.
She goes on to say how her child gets home from school and tells "us" how much four of his teachers HATE (the student).
Anyhow, if you have taught for awhile, letters like this crop up from time to time. Parents get frustrated with their child's lack of performance in school, and sometimes there are other things going on within the family that lead to a lashing out at the teachers.
I personally have a major problem with this letter, in that I have only had this child in my classroom for about the past five or six weeks. This child entered my class in February, transferred out of his previous History class and into my class. These parents have NEVER spoken to me, regarding this child (I have had other children of their pass through my classroom, and there were no problems). This child has been absent from my class about 20% of the time. IF there were any notes or questions from the parents in this child's daily planner for me, the child failed to show them to me. I have no idea what I may have done to this child to lead this child to use the word HATE about me or my class. Maybe telling him he could do better or that he needs to make up missing work led to this ?
At this time, I am not going to respond to this letter. IF there is a meeting, which I will not attend unless the principal is present, I will show the evidence in my grade and attendance books to justify the child's current grade. He is not a behavior issue for me, other than he often drums on the desk.
Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments!
posted by Dan Edwards | 10:31 AM
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