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toobusytoday, how am I turning my daughter's life upside down by asking for opinions in this forum? She is not even aware of the situation. Let's dial down the drama please.
I don't consider myself to be "the parent the teacher is having trouble with", and don't know why you would consider me to be that person either.
My guess is the teacher either didn't read the e-mail or decided to think about it over the weekend wondering why the Parent that's she's been having trouble with wants to have the journal.
As a parent I don't feel I have to explain myself to the teacher. If I want to see my child's work I should not have to explain why.
I would say it is the teacher and the principal that got their panties in a wad over this and making it a "Mountain out of a mole hill".
Really, what did it hurt that the FIVE YEAR OLD did as her mother instructed by bringing home her journal that day? NOTHING! The journal that they ONLY get to write a few sentences in everyday and is a very good indicator of their development. Throw in the added bonus of getting the enjoyment of how they see things that happen in life while reading their journal. BIG DEAL the 5 year old MINDED AND OBEYED her mother. She didn't break any rules and I'm going to assume that the journal has come home on numberous occassions if the mom is asking for it to come home on THAT DAY. The mom did not ask the 5 year old to bring home Susie's journal for her to look at. The mom also told the appointed responsible adult to insure that the daughter remembered the journal. If the teacher and the principal are out of the office/school on that day.......... too bad. It is not like she was asking for them to send home important documents and they did not answer and she went rifling for them on her own. The teacher should have let this drop and it NEVER should have been brought to the attention of the principal. The TEACHER got her panties in a wad over nothing. If the principal gets as easily offended........ I'd find another school and it would not matter what my child thought. Sounds like mom has just been asking her child how she enjoys school and her teacher and that is why the child is happy and thinks the teacher is great.
I find this thread very interesting. We enrolled our children in public school for the first time this year. All we hear at the parent meetings is how "education only works with parents being involved", "we need parents working with us" and several iterations of the same over and over. I'm sure this poster's school is the same.
So here we have a parent who wants to be involved and is interested in her child's education. And she is scolded.
Somewhere there is irony in this story...
No, not only irony....a very sad and frustrating reality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toobusytoday
I just think that the OP is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
My guess is the teacher either didn't read the e-mail or decided to think about it over the weekend wondering why the Parent that's she's been having trouble with wants to have the journal.
Again - is this worth turning your daughter's life upside down for? Is she not learning and happy?
I have to agree with PP, it is the teacher and principal who are turning this into a mountain. It is apparently worth it to them to attempt to intimidate the parents, enforcing 'rules' that don't exist.
As for guessing the teachers motives...It is none of her business why the parents wanted to review the journal, they didn't need a justifiable reason. Even under FERPA they do not need to provide a reason and it isn't up to the teachers or principals to delay why they wonder why the request was made. The request was made, the 'records' were available to the parents and they took them home to review. It was returned Monday morning. Now why does the principal want to fuss over it??
Yes I am very serious, and seriously fed up. It is a public school and I am facing the decision of having to move my daughter to a new school for next year because I just don't think I can take any more of this. I have had a previous post called Problem with Kindergarten Teacher that you can read if you want the background. We had a conference with the teacher & principal at the end of January, and since that time, my daughter gets on "blue" a whole lot more than she did before the conference. I thought everything went well at the conference, but the teacher is upset apparantly and taking it out on my child and now this as well in my opinion.
But when I ask my daughter if she likes her school, she says yes and that she doesn't want to change schools. So I am torn on what to do.
My point is that it should never have been a big deal for your daughter to bring her journal home and it would not have been had you been another parent who didn't have the history with this teacher. Frankly, it's hard for me to imagine how much content there could even be in a kindergarten journal. I think the teacher is probably on pins and needles because she knows that you are scrutinizing everything and I'm sure she's worried about that. Once you saw the journal, that should have been it, unless there was something shocking in there. I'm kind of wondering what your note was that you sent back with the journal that made the Principal respond.
I'm not saying that you are talking with your daughter about this. I understand that bulletin boards are a great way to vent and talk things over with semi-objective strangers instead of the family. BUT, surely, your daughter knows that you are stressed over this whole thing and it's got to affect how she sees her teacher. Or, maybe you are not stressed, just venting. Guess I don't know everything.
It may well be some kind of law because in my school originals are never given to parents (even of report cards).
Originals are not given to parents?? So all the little worksheets that our children complete are copied for the parents and the originals go into their records? No, the originals come home because they are school work not records.
We are talking about a JOURNAL here, not a report card.
OP, if you ask the teacher to send something home, give her a chance to do so. If she doesn't answer, I'd call her. If she says she can't and you don't feel her response is justifiable, I'd then call the principal. It is sometimes hard to relinquish some authority over our children but we have to recognize that at school the teacher is their authority figure. We need to work around the teacher, not against her, however this doesn't mean we take her word as law. I know this is very hard to do sometimes when the teacher does something you don't agree with, but I find that communication is the key, whenever possible.
IMHO, parents have a right to see ANY material that is part of a child's grade or progress at school. Children should not be encouraged to keep secrets from parents and any type of "private" journal that a teacher wouldn't allow a parent to see is just that. Frankly, even at the high school level, if the teacher wants the child to have a private journal, a permission slip should be sent home first.
I once had an issue with the teacher. I wrote her a note and she responded with what I felt was an completely unsatisfactory resolution, and her reasons to justify her resolution were not even legitimate. I really debated whether to continue the discussion w/her or move up the chain, and in the end, as she made her position pretty clear, I felt better in moving on and contacting the Vice Principal and Principal, which I did. I prepared myself with research & stats and ended up coming up with a more appropriate resolution with the Principal, which I was extremely happy about. I never discussed the issue again with the teacher and have no idea how she felt after that, maybe annoyed at me for going over her head but oh, well, you have to do what you have to do when it concerns your child. (And if the Principal hadn't worked with me, I would have gone to the Superintendent with this issue.)
Honestly, I don't quite understand why the journal isn't sent home for you to review every so often (every week or 2 weeks). My son's schools since K (in 2nd now), has always sent home his major work, tests, and journals, so we have an idea of where he's excelling or where he's having trouble. This way, when his 9 weeks grades come in, we're not surprised. We cooperate with the teachers and they cooperate with us.
If I were concerned about my child's journal writings, I would have done exactly what you did, however, I would have waited until the teacher replied. The teacher may not have gotten your original call or email. If a week had gone by with no reply, I would have walked in and grabbed it myself.
Since you've been having problems with school prior to this incident, I'd consider a new school for next year. Your reputation as a "problem parent" will follow you in that school.
toobusytoday, my note was very short, said something like, I wanted to review my daughter's journal so I brought it home to review, thanks. It was just a note explaining why my daughter came in Monday morning with it.
IEP data is Individualized Education Program data. Children with identified special needs have IEPs that outline the needs and set forth a program to address them within the framework of the classroom and school experience.
Its all supposed to be private (even who has an IEP and who does not). My 3rd child went to a developmental preschool and many of his classmates from there are in his kinder class with him, so I kind of know who has IEPs in his room, but the teacher would not be allowed to mention them by name to me or answer my question if I asked if they had IEPs and/or what for. Mine does group work in speech therapy but the other kids in the group are never mentioned by name to me.
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