by Ned the Noodge, The DC area’s premiere pain in the butt educator
The views of Ned the Noodge are his and his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of DCschoolHUB and its employees.
One of my colleagues in the lower school was complaining at lunch about a new parent. She told me that the parent sent her an email 6 days into school with the following message (obviously I’m paraphrasing):
Dear [The Teacher’s Name],
Thank you for a great start of the year! My daughter enjoys your class, but her friends are scattered among the other classes in the grade. Per your school policy I’m coming to you first. I would like to have the following students moved into your class and the following students moved out:
Moved out – I’m totally making these names up
Huey, Duey, and Louie – these are the boys she’s been complaining about as being loud and bothersome.
Moved in – Again, totally making these up
Mary, Kate, and Ashley – my daughter really bonded with these girls at camp this summer.
Then it ended with something to the effect of ‘let me know when we can do this so I can tell my daughter’
The End.
Ummmm, where do I start?!? The big part of our discussion was the tenor of the email. Instead of being mean, vitriol, or accusatory it was like asking for a cup of sugar. Do parents know how much time and effort goes into creating a class schedule that works? Do they think we just through half the boys and half the girls in each class?
I know from experience that creating a schedule is like playing chess with your eyes closed. You can feel which pieces are which and generally where they are on the board, but…you get the idea. As teachers, this was our biggest stink.
But as a member of the human race, where does this parent get off thinking that just because her daughter isn’t happy with who is and who isn’t in her class that the school is going to make those changes? Obviously, the email was sent up the ranks. Then a few people popped into her room asking if the email was a joke.
So folks, here’s the skinny: If this kid gets her way she’ll have 8 jobs by the time she’s 30 because there was something wrong at each stop. And of course none of it was her fault.