Parenting 101: Don’t Give Up

This is a continuation from my Parenting 101 post on Saturday…Parenting 101: Persistence is Key

By now, my tempers are flared and we are going to have to talk face to face because this is ridiculous. I asked her to call me in the first email which she didn’t. So, I sent this email to her:

I’m beyond frustrated. I’ve still not received the paperwork.  It did not come home on Friday as your teacher indicated.  It’s been almost 2 weeks of me requesting it.  I received classwork from 2/19 on 3/18. The assignment was graded at 35% for class work not 15%.  I want to see the assignment. Please have it sent to me by tomorrow.

Do you see what I’m seeing from the back and forth? The paperwork can’t be found. Now, remember that I asked for the paperwork on 3/10 and it’s now 3/22 and I still haven’t received it. I felt a set-up coming on…they were going to try and blame Munch for the missing assignment.

Not on my dime buddy.

The Principal then called me at this point. She could sense my “I’m about to set it off up in here mood”. I didn’t set it off, but I did let her know that I’m disappointed, discouraged and outright disgusted at her email and her blowing me off and trying to analyze my child without seeing the “missing paperwork”. I told her that apparently they’ve misplaced the paperwork and why didn’t the teacher send a copy home or PDF it to me on 3/10? Why wait until 3/18 when she had already given the grade? I told her that I was disappointed that her attitude regarding the policy is that the teacher can do whatever he/she likes even though their is specific criteria regarding children in grades 2-5 and that I should be checking the district’s School Max portal for updates on assignments when this teacher has told me that she’s falling behind on putting grades in. Are you going to manage her and tell her the guidelines say that grades have to be recorded by 11:59 pm on Sunday night each week that they are done or are you going to tell me that policy doesn’t apply here either?

She then tried to back peddle and say that she was new to the school and that she’s sorry that I don’t find the teachers compassionate. What? I responded, “Don’t do that. I’ve never said that. I expect that if I’m corresponding with you on a weekly basis that if you gave my son a zero that you would have notified me. What part of that isn’t clear?” She asked “Do you meet with the teachers?” “Yes, I’ve already had 3 this school year and the last one was last week on 3/15 which I asked her to be at and she informed me that she had a prior commitment.”

I explained that I’m trying to teach my son accountability but apparently that’s not a requirement for her or her staff. She apologized and said she was trying to locate the paper and would call me back. This is right before spring break so she would call me the next day.

She didn’t call back as she promised. Another disappointing outcome from the educator. So, I tabled it because we had a meeting scheduled on April 5th to discuss the bullying and this would be included in that meeting.

Here are my 4 concerns with how this situation is being handled:

1. No one can produce the said assignment. They tried to blame Munch for losing it when they know that they didn’t send it home. Even if they did send it home, why didn’t they make a copy since it was a zero? Why didn’t she PDF it to me the same day I requested to see the paperwork? Especially when I email her every week.
2. The Principal making it seem like I’m not an involved parent. You should have checked yourself when I sent you the first email and outlined the policy. That right there was your “verbal cues” (as you said) that would indicate that I’m educated, involved and informed on policy. Asking me whether or not I have had conferences with the teachers assumed that I’m slacking on my part as a parent.
3. The condescending attitude that I should have to check the School Max portal to find out about grades because sending paperwork home timely is not going to happen. Are you serious? In 2015, my district had 66% of the students enrolled in the school system receiving free and/or reduced lunches. I don’t qualify, but if a district has a high proportionate number of children not having the funds to buy meals why would you assume that parents have access to a computer? The district doesn’t expect this to be the case which is why the state that classwork should be sent back home in a timely manner for the parents and the students to have an understanding of how their child is doing in class. The Principal assumes this in light of not knowing the population she represents.
4. You are not being accountable. You said you would call me back and you didn’t. You could have sent a quick email and said “I can’t locate the paperwork and I’m getting swamped before my international travel, so let’s discuss at our meeting on April 5th”. I would have been disappointed but understood because she was traveling to Paris with the 8th graders for spring break.

This was getting ridiculous and I needed to calm down before I raised my blood pressure. I was disappointed to say the least but knew that I would handle this situation as soon as spring break was over. I had no choice. This administration was giving me a headache.