Principal wants to move my kid to new class (transfer, schools)

[Pintea]

The funny thing is that I come from a country where I was told (or encouraged if you want to call it that) to accept whatever...
My kid has had this happen before, he dealt with it just fine and so did I. I am going to say this again - this teacher is a very good match for him.
I don't know what other parents are going to do about this, maybe some of them don't like their current teacher, others may have strong feelings about it - like I do. Yes, I happen to think that the principal should care about our point of view - mine hasn't even been heard.
So yep, comrade is nothing new to me. Which is exactly why I am extra outraged by the way this is being handled - pure dictatorship, I tell you!

[Cha Ching]

Do you have any lawyers in the family? Or do you know any? Even one you know casually through church or a social circle? You wouldn't even need to "consult" one officially, but just someone who would let you put them down as a "reference."

If you send the principal another letter, put a CC list at the bottom of everyone you're sending the hard copy letter to. The superintendent of the school district, the original teacher, and so-and-so, esquire.

Often, the THREAT of legal action is enough to make stubborn people back down. I've found that it can work wonders in a tough situation like this.

Good luck! I hope your son can keep his original teacher. The gems are hard to find, and he needs that support.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Cha Ching

Do you have any lawyers in the family? Or do you know any? Even one you know casually through church or a social circle? You wouldn't even need to "consult" one officially, but just someone who would let you put them down as a "reference."

If you send the principal another letter, put a CC list at the bottom of everyone you're sending the hard copy letter to. The superintendent of the school district, the original teacher, and so-and-so, esquire.

Often, the THREAT of legal action is enough to make stubborn people back down. I've found that it can work wonders in a tough situation like this.

Good luck! I hope your son can keep his original teacher. The gems are hard to find, and he needs that support.

what the devil are you saying? Threaten the principal, what a thing to do. this could damage her son for as long as he is in the school district. We are talking about being moved from one teacher to another.

I have read and heard a lot of responses and comments on these threads over the years, but this one takes the cake..
Nita

[loves2read]

the way this usually happens in elementary school is that they take basically every 3 or 4 child out of a room--they don't take half from one teacher and 2 or 3 from another
depending on how they do their reading levels
frankly this is the 2nd or 3rd week of school--by Thanksgiving you could have fallen out of love with the original teacher and want someone else

what ChaChing recommends is guaranteed to put your child's name on the Shi-List--just what you want for your child--the knowledge that the mother is a bully and will pull the legal card whenever there is anything she does not like going on

I would actually be wanting to know more about the new teacher's credentials before I made a dustup about leaving the old teacher...
BE GLAD they are hiring a new teacher vs having overcrowded classes in the 4th grade--lots of schools are not hiring for their overflow--they are either routing to the least filled up grade at whatever school in the district or just crowding them in and getting an exemption from the state since 4th is the last grade that has the max cap rule

[Big G]

Yeah, threatening legal action over this is ridiculous. PISD has a long history of standing behind their administrators. Heck, they didn't even fire that principal who gave away SAT test questions to Karen Dillard.

But let's play along and assume PISD caves. Now, they need to take some other kid and move him/her instead. What if that kid's parents do the same thing? It will never end.

I do have sympathy for the OP. This is a tough situation. But let's have some empathy for the school administration as well. I bet the principal could see this coming all summer long. Probably every single year, there have been a dozen or more kids just showing up the first day without being enrolled. Still, the principal can't hire based on hypothetical kids. Then the school is stuck doing this kind of re-jiggering.

Plano doesn't use the overflow school approach. Maybe it should.

[Pintea]

They knew all along this was going to happen, but for some reason waited until after the start of the school year to hire someone else. One of the fourth grade teachers moved to second grade.
I don't know that I will agree with this teacher all the time, I know I like what I've seen this far - way more than any of his previous teachers. I understand it isn't easy for the school, but it still bothers me that no one seemed interested to hear my point of view.
I didn't care at all for last year's teacher, I didn't ask the school to do anything about it. I wouldn't ask for my son to stay in this class, but I know she's right for him.
Didn't anyone have one of those teachers that made a difference in your life? It's hard to explain, sometimes you just know. She deals with his problems like no one else before her. Others didn't even see them, or didn't seem concerned. As a parent I'm more informed than I've ever been before, she's also a great communicator.
She's so much more than I expected, I guess I was so used to having not so great teachers that I almost couldn't believe she was real! It is very obvious she loves her job, it is more than just being well prepared.
When you are lucky enough to get a teacher like that it's just not so easy to give up.
I'm sure for every parent who wants to keep their kid in a certain class there may be others who feel very different. I know it's unusual to have such strong feelings after only a couple of weeks, but sometimes you just know...

[FarNorthDallas]

Maybe after a couple of weeks with the new teacher and perhaps if your child starts to regress with another less than adequate teacher, maybe then you can appeal to the principal.

[loves2read]

the one thing that would not be a good idea is to move and then move back--

sometimes it is difficult to get everyone in train when a new hire needs to be done at the first of school--
at my local elem--there was a vacancy on the first grade level and an oversupply on the 6th--the 6th grade lead teacher was the only one who was certified for all levels in elementary
she was bumped down to first--and found out about the move the weekend before teachers returned--she had nothing appropriate for that grade level--was incensed that she was asked to do it vs someone with less senority--but those people were only certified for the older grades...
teaching the younger kids is not what she enjoys and does well--at least in her mind--teachers in elementary usually have a calling to certain age groups...
now she is stuck in first for the rest of the year--not enough 6th grades registered when school got underway to open another class...
frankly I think the principal made a bad choice because this teacher will probably have such a bad year she will retire vs return to that classroom next year and the school will lose a great teacher...she may be good enough to reeducate herself about teaching this age group but there is almost NO connection between what she has taught for the past 20 yrs and this one...it was the easy choice for the principal vs shuffling three teachers vs two if someone from say 4th went to first and the 6th grade teacher went to 4th which is somewhat more like her expertise--(the first grade teacher was sent to another school in K--so she was close to her normal assisgnment)
I am sure she is trying to do the best job possible but she is learning the curricula right along with the first graders---very difficult and that is a demanding grade year

[fratermus]

Originally Posted by nmnita

oh sure, really **** the principal off?

The P is already ignoring requests to meet. I am not entire sure the P is acting in good faith.

If the P is going to retaliate against the parent or kid for applying pressure, then the school has far deeper problems than inaccurate staffing levels.

Originally Posted by nmnita

Is the principal supposed to answer to each of them or re-consider? If they re-consider for one child, what about the other 15 or 20?

Most parents don't care.

The OP cares not because the kid is being moved, but because the student has a highly functional relationship with the teacher.

[Grainraiser]

OP I understand the issue you are having but I don't think this is a fight your going to win. Your son was chosen to be placed in the new class for a reason. Like earlier stated these decisions are not made in a willy-nilly fashion. It is quite possible that for them to grant you your wish 3 other kids would have to be shuffled around. You then open yourself with 3 more parent complaints. Heaven forbids they found out there kid was moved because of the wish of another parent. Things just take a snowball effect whey you do this. Most schools have hundreds of kids and it is all but impossible to make everyone happy all the time. Since you seem passionate about the subject I suggest you go to the school and ask for a face to face with the principal (nicely of course). If you get it be very cordial to the principal and share your thoughts with them. It's a small shot but one worth taking.