Can U give me input re: son's school and constant substitute teachers

[Guest guest]

My 2nd grader has had hardly any homework for about a month. I *thought* he had

a consistent fill in teacher while his current teacher is out on medical. Come

to find out today by the special ed teacher that it has been, " chaos " in his

classroom since the regular teacher has been gone.

I'm frickin pissed. I asked her what is being done. NOthing she says. I asked

her if she talked to the principal she said yes, but it did no good. Fwiw, I

think the principal is an uncaring idiot, so I bypass her every step of the way.

The V.P. is out this week--that's who I would normally go to with a problem.

My ds is begging not to go to school tomorrow. It's not the first time, but he

asked me who would he go see if he's upset (good point). My dh says ds HAS to

learn he has to go to school. How do I document this mess? A letter/email to the

principal asking for an explanation of what's going on? Appreciate any comments.

[Guest guest]

>

> How do I document this mess? A letter/email to the principal asking for an

explanation of what's going on? Appreciate any comments.

It has helped me, when people are clearly breaking rules, to find out what rules

exactly are being broken. Then you can confront them with it. What has worked

for me is e-mailing one of the special ed directors and discussing it with them

(they always call back), not to file a complaint, but just to find out what is

supposed to be happening in such and such situation. They usually offer to call

the building principal and discuss it with them. Before that happens though,

once I find out what rule/law is being broken, I give them some examples and let

them know I expect something to happen. I think the key is to get in touch with

someone outside of the building your child is in; since they are not personally

involved, they will be able to see things clearer. In your case, you need to

find out what exactly is supposed to happen when a teacher goes on a long leave.

I know my kids usually have a long-term substitute, so I suspect that that is

what is supposed to happen. I would think there are some rules on continuation

of classwork/homework, but I really don't know.

Ruth

[Guest guest]

My son had a similar situation when his teacher in 2nd grade injured her knee

and the classroom had one substitute after another for several weeks. I sent my

child to school everyday, not knowing until later that other kids in the class

were begging to stay home or were just staying for half a day because the

classroom was just out of control, especially in the afternoon. I later found

out that one of the substitutes was clueless about my son's learning

disabilities and decided that my son was a " troublemaker " and so had him sit

facing the wall in a corner most of the time. She also made him stay inside

during lunch and recess because he was too slow to complete his classwork. I

talked to the principal and was able to get his desk moved back with the other

kids. I still feel bad about how long it took for me to discover what was going

on in the classroom. My son never said a word to me about it. During this

period, I made up homework assignments for my son in reading and math. When his

regular teacher came back, the kids had lots of homework, even on weekends and

school breaks because they were so far behind schedule.

Maybe you could offer to volunteer in the classroom sometimes to see what is

going on and to make sure that your son is safe and not shutting down? Does your

classroom have a room parent? Maybe that parent can ask parent volunteers in the

classroom to help keep things under control and to complain about problems they

see? Of course you want your son to go to school, but he can't learn if he's

scared or too anxious. I'd keep him home for at least a day if he was going to

be in a situation where the classroom is out of control. And I'd make sure that

everyone (the special ed teacher, the principal, the vice principal) at the

school knew why your son was at home, too.