I wish I could tell you how happy and wonderful things are in the post that marks my debut into the blogger world. Unfortunately I'm just writing because I'm pissed off and want you and Rita to know that I'm mad on her behalf.
Rita's been dealing with a difficult parent for the past week. To sum up my understanding: the daughter was offended by Rita last year (no, not Dec. 2008, we're talking like Dec. 2007) and never said anything to indicate this to Rita but has been feeding her mom crap ever since then.
Yesterday Rita met with the parent and went way out of her way to pacify her. Rita thought they came to some agreement about things Rita would work on to fix the situation. The effort of talking with this lady left Rita in tears once the conversation was over. Unfortunately, the woman, without giving any indication that she had been unsatisfied yesterday, decided to go to the district office and complain about Rita further.
Here is my unbiased perspective on the situation: Rita is a wonderful teacher that reaches the majority of students in a very special way. The parent is over-sensitive, incredibly rude, mean-spirited, and cowardly (if leaving a meeting as if things are all right and going up the ladder the next day isn't cowardly, I don't know what is). Unfortunately, she seems to be raising a daughter to fit the mold. The sad thing is, this parent teaches high school math so you'd think she would have at least a little empathy.
2 comments:
Welcome to the blog, Ryan! And thanks for updating us for Rita, who probably would never have shared this story. Rita, I'm sorry about the frustration and insecurity this likely caused you. I went through something quite similar when I was teaching a freshman music class at USU, and totally understand how you're probably feeling. Rest assured, if anyone knows what a fantastic teacher you are, I DO, having taught by your side hundreds of times. It sounds like that silly parent needs some of the lessons we taught in those days... And she needs to be a better influence on her daughter by showing her how to let things roll off her back. Hopefully they can learn this together before the student enters college.
I love you!
One of the reasons I left the teaching profession. There will ALWAYS be parents like this, the key is having an administrator who will back YOU up. If you have one of these, have no fear. A good administrator knows when a parent is full of sh*t. A bad administrator will throw you under the bus.
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