School joy

The other day I got a note home from my son's teacher. The very first words of the typewritten note "Today **** yelled at me" What?!? My son is yelling at the teacher, what the heck is going on here? Then I continue reading. He didn't start off yelling. It seems they were doing some editing work, and he spelled "when" incorrectly. They correct the papers in class, and he thought he heard the other student spell it "wen". So when he teacher approached him, he told her "I did not spell "wen" incorrectly". Ok, that is being disrespectful to an adult, and is not acceptable. What followed was also not acceptable.

This teacher then decided that the class, yes the whole class, should spell "when" for my son. That is when he yelled "I'm doing it now". Let's see, embarrass my child in front of his peers, that'll get him to do the work. Plus, he has an educational modifications in place, called a 504 plan, in writing which states that he is to have "private discussions regarding his behavior". To not follow this plan is breaking federal law.

The teacher then states that she was going to take him to the office, but didn't have time so she sent him to the reading corner. "While sitting there he finished his work and came up voluntarily and gave me a very nice apology. Therefore (she) did not take him to the office." Another part of his plan, he is to be allowed a "cooling off period" which she inadvertently provided which works as you can see from his behavior after the incident. This teacher drives me batty. She has stated in the past that she does not have time to give students (these are 2nd graders) individual attention. She has expressed reluctance in providing my son any modifications, even though they have been instituted with both the vice-principal's and the principal's knowledge and recommendation.

Part of the problem is that my son is very bright, which she knows and therefore believes should overcome any of his emotional/physical problems (his ADHD and immaturity - he is the youngest in his class). The other problem is that she has a mindset from how she was raised as a child and believes that it is the only way to go. She told me that she can not believe how fresh children are today and that when she was a child she would have "gotten a pop on the mouth for being that way". She quickly added that she wouldn't do that to a student, but boy it sure sounded like she wanted to do it.

She did apologize the next day to me, after my husband and I sent a scathing note to her about her lack of professionalism. Her excuse? She and my son are very much alike. (She has the mindset of a 7 year old?) and that she needs to be more professional. It is going to be an interesting school year.