Experience with removing a bad teacher
Hi all,
A teacher who my son had for 1st grade has now been moved to 5th grade at his public school. For all sorts of reasons, none of which I'll go into here, we do not want our son (entering 4th grade soon) to experience this teacher a second time around. At least a dozen other families feel the same way and we know that she has been moved from school to school (and from grade to grade) in the past due to parental disapproval. I'm looking for advice as to how to convince the school board to remove her from teaching. I'd say remove her from our school, but then she'll just go wreak havoc elsewhere. I'm not looking for advice to be more empathic, etc., this person is really not good for our kids and there seems to be consensus on this on the part of the parents. We know that there are so many great teachers out there (many at our school!), and some struggling ones who do as well as they can. She is neither. Many of us have already called meetings with the principal and the teacher to discuss our problems (the teacher always brings her union rep and refuses to consider any changes to her teaching - the principal has asked her to do some basic things to mollify parents to increase communication with parents, allow volunteers in her class, etc., but to no seeming avail). But I think it's very hard on the principal to do much more. Should a group of parents comment at school board meetings? Meet with the superintendent? Advice appreciated.
Parent Replies
Hi, sounds SO familiar to our situation in the Berkeley public schools, some years back. SO difficult to deal,with all of "our" families did everything we could, together, in various combinations, with the teacher herself, the principal, the board... More time spent fighting that battle than any of us had. Successful? Nope. (Of course by then all of our kids had suffered the damage and weren't going to be subjected to it again). Absolutely heartbreaking? Yep. Words of advice? Not so much. We all felt morally compelled to follow through and did. I wish I had something more helpful to share. Without knowing any details, sounds like you are doing the right thing, and I wish you luck.
The reason you are having a hard time is because, in general, parents do not have the expertise to judge who is an effective educator, and parents are not in charge. Yes, after the principal, you and the like-minded parents who formed this consensus should ask for an appointment at the district office. It probably won't be with the superintendent, more likely they have a department for student and family services or something similar. I would NOT "out" the teacher at a board meeting, because the union will go wild, and you will come off looking like the bad guys. I don't question your concerns about the teacher, but the issues you mention are all about the parents - communication and volunteering, not about teaching and learning. I would stick to student-centered concerns in your meeting.
As a parent, teacher, and former school board member, I'd say start with very firmly making a concrete request, such as having a different teacher assigned to next year's fifth grade class. Then encourage the other interested parents to do the same. Having the same teacher that many years apart would be unusual in any case and not necessarily good for students' growth even if there weren't past problems. Be as specific as you can in order to convey why the teacher is wrong for your kid(s), especially the second time around. But DO NOT take on the mission of overtly trying to get the teacher fired (though of course, with any justice, your documented negative comments should help make that happen). Frankly, if you get too pushy, the administrators and board are very likely to assume you have a personal grudge rather than an objective judgment, and they might become more protective of the teacher than they would have been otherwise. Sadly, I have seen that happen!!! And there's another aspect that's just basic human psychology: giving the administrators evidence that the teacher sucks (and prodding them them to figure out what to do about it) will be much more effective than telling them how to do their jobs. Objectively speaking, you are an expert on your child and have a right to be heard as such, but you are not likely to actually know what is best for the school or the district, given all the constraints they work under and trade-offs they have to make.
Important: to present your request/complaint, you MUST go through the steps or chain of command described in your district's "uniform complaint procedure." Be sure to persist and keep taking the steps, and documenting the results via written follow-up memos. Even when a principal or other official tells you it's all going to be okay, if you're not satisfied you still have the right to move on to the next step. Also, though parents should confer and support each other, they should make requests individually - it is more legitimate that way, since each parent is really only a specialist about their own child. But if and when it gets to the point where a complaint goes to the school board, parents can and should all show up in force, even though they won't be allowed into any "closed session" discussion of personnel matters.
In the worst case, if you are stuck with the teacher next year, keep trying, tactfully, to minimize damage. This doesn't necessarily mean being nice; it means being vigilant and persistent in the most professional way you can. In my experience, teachers. like the rest of us, often resist criticism very strongly but then go ahead and make some positive changes, discreetly in order to save face. Remember you don't need to win arguments or be publicly vindicated, you just need to help your child as much as possible. And don't tell your child the teacher is Bad, which will make things much more antagonistic; instead help your child learn to cope with very imperfect people, as sometimes is necessary in life, alas.
Good luck!