Teacher Being Bully

There is only one school in Oklahoma City? I find that very hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe that a teacher can be that blatant about picking on one child. Sorry but you walk in with her papers and her grades and they just throw up their hands? Come on! That just doesn't happen.

Either this story isn't true are you are leaving a mess of details out.

I work in public education, so it worries me that you have not even been offered a switch of teacher.
If you are positive that this is what is happening: Document everything. Print out the failing online grades. Photocopy the A papers coming home. Send it all to the principal and CC his higher ups.

This all sounds a little fishy to me, but if you are for real (and your daughter is really being bullied by her teacher) then talk to the principal and bring proof of the grade changes.

i call BS.
khairete
S.

I agree with the question about only one school in Oklahoma City? I know for a fact that if you are in Oklahoma City proper (or even a suburb) there are many schools to choose from. I grew up there. My nieces and nephews go to school there.

There has to be more to this story. There is no way a teacher would get away with giving your child an F if you have proof of a higher grade. Take all of that into the principal and ask a guidance counselor or someone else to be in the meeting as well so you have back up.

You must be leaving out a lot. Please provide more details so you can receive more specific advice.

Go back in to meet with the teacher and the principal, without your daughter. Find out what your daughter isn't telling you. There are 2 sides to every story. It's possible your daughter isn't showing you all of her papers. But it's also ridiculous of a teacher to give a D or an F without a progress report coming home to the parent to advise the parent that the child is not performing.

If that meeting is not productive, meet with the principal again by yourself, or go over the principal's head to the superintendent. Demands answers. If there is a school psychologist or guidance counselor, enlist that person's involvement. Find out what's involved in having someone sit in the classroom to observe the teacher and her interactions with all of the children. Do not tell your daughter about this.

Taking your daughter out to home school her does nothing to resolve a situation. She will learn more by seeing you advocate for her.

Have you approached the teacher with your daughter's papers? Asked what's going on? Scheduled an adult meeting with you, the teacher, and the principal?

I would let them all know that if your daughter is yelled at for "telling" again, your next stop will be the district superintendent and the local newspaper. Make it clear that inappropriate interactions with students (playing favorites is inappropriate) will not be tolerated.

Did you call and make an appointment to sit down with the teacher to hear her side of what is going on in the classroom? If not, that should have been your first step - and if you skipped this step, please do it now.

If the teacher conference isn't productive, then go back to the school with her papers in hand showing 100% grades and a printout of her online grades showing they don't match. This would be a pretty easy thing to prove.

My daughter's 3rd grade teacher yelled at my daughter over Valentine's cards. It went deeper than that, she was so scared of him she could not handle simple tasks she could have done in first grade. We requested a switch and it was granted that day.

However, I also went to the superintendent. If the school is not doing anything, go beyond them. You are the only person who will take up for your kids.

Also, if you see those kind of grades online but have the papers showing 100%, then you also need to address that. There is something more going on here, I feel like we aren't getting the full story.

I can't tell enough from the post to know what's going on for real, and if you are basing everything on what your child tells you rather than on your own direct talks with the teacher, the principal, other parents -- you need to start having those talks.

How is it possible for a child to bring home a paper marked 100 percent correct but receive an online grade of D or F? Is that D or F for that specific, one paper, or is that the overall class grade? Are we talking about your seeing a single assignment that was marked 100 but you haven't seen her other assignments -- so if all of them were Fs you wouldn't know until you saw the final class grade? I'm very confused about this system you describe, with a very early start (she's been in school two months and it's August? Is this a year-round school calendar?) and online grades. Can you fill us in with more details?

It would help to know and talk with her other teachers too. If she loves the other teachers and they say she's doing fine and her other grades are much higher than D or F with other teachers -- that is a huge sign that yes, this teacher and this class are an issue.

You also don't tell us what specifically you and your daughter define as a "mean" teacher. Does the teacher pick on her, call her names, betlittle her in front of other kids? Or does the teacher just push her to work harder or work differently than she would like? Would your child like school if not for this teacher, or is there some larger issue of not liking school overall that's going on?

I think you'll say here that the teacher yells at your child and that's what's mean but to be honest, kids tend to think that any adult is "yelling" at them if the adult corrects them. I have told my daughter to do something and been informed by her that I was "yelling" at her when I never raised my voice. I know for sure that she has described teachers as "yelling" at kids when the teacher simply told a child to do something but did not yell as an adult would interpret yelling. Kids this age are sensitive and see any correction or direction they don't like as "yelling" at times, so take that into consideration. I am not saying your child is lying! I am saying to consider that she is eight, and "yelling" is a red flag word for kids this age. This is where it would help if you really knew other parents at school well enough to ask things like, "Your child had Ms. X last year -- did you find that she was a 'yeller'? Does she seem really loud and strict to you?" and so on.

I am not saying this isn't a bad teacher; I'm just saying we have nothing to work with here, no details at all.

You said you "went to the school with her and she talked to the school about it." Again, what did that really mean? The way you describe it there, it sounds as if your eight-year-old did all the talking to school officials -- surely not? Did you, yourself, meet directly with the teacher (preferably without your child present!)?

If you have not sat down with this teacher in person and without your child there, you need to do that immediately. It sounds as if they may have a conflict of personalities and/or learning styles, or your child may dislike something other than the teacher -- such as the subjects themselves, so when she's pushed to do certain things, she interprets it as "mean" of the teacher. Is that possible?

If the teacher seems to play favorites -- do you have only your child's word for that, or do you have other evidence? Do you talk often to other parents of kids in this class so you can get a sense of what they think and what kids other than your child experience with this teacher? It could be that the teacher does indeed favor some kids, or it could be that your daughter just perceives that and it isn't real "favoritism." You can't take an eight-year-old's word entirely on what's happening in a classroom every time. She will see things through her own lens and that is normal, but as the parent you need to have strong links with other parents, a line of communication with the teacher and all her other teachers, and you need to spend time IN the school volunteering or whatever so you can get the overall vibe.

Does she have only this one teacher??

I'm having a bit of a hard time believing that a teacher would give a child a D or an F when her work clearly shows otherwise.

Talk to the teacher and ask her to explain the grade. If what she says doesn't make sense, talk to the principal. I really doubt if you show the principal your daughter's A papers that you won't get resolution.

There might be a good explanation -- you can't always count on a child's version of things to learn the truth.

YOU need to be talking to the teacher directly. I don't understand what you mean by "she talked to the school about it." Who is "she" your 8 year old? And who is "the school" a principal? a counselor?
Her online grades probably don't just reflect her homework and classwork but test scores, projects, and whether or not she turns things in on time.
You need to speak with her teacher, by phone or email, and find out exactly what's going on. If you still feel your daughter is being treated unfairly then schedule a meeting with the principal.

Maybe this is why your daughter gets sick so often. Stress can do strange things.

You could bring this up to the school board, if the school principal is not willing to help. You better have some definite proof, though.

If you want to go the home school route you could always do online public homeschooling.

Well, I would start with the teacher. No response there or it gets worse, go to the principal / counselor. No response there or it gets worse, go to the administration. No response there or it gets worse, go to the school board. Just make sure you have as much proof as you can get. Papers showing the passing grade with a screen print of the failing grade. Try to talk to other parents and see if their kids have seen or heard any of the yelling at your daughter. If it's this bad, someone else has seen it. Just make sure your daughter is not exaggerating things. And I wouldn't leave very much time in between talking to the different people. If you don't get a change in a couple of days / week, go up the chain.

Here is a link to all of the schools in Moore OK.

IF this is real, and you want your child to stay in this school. Go to the Superintendent of schools, take all of your information, all of your contacts from your school and let them know this is going on.
Documentation is going to be the secret.

Be sure you have really spoken with the teacher, that you have really spoken with the Principal, otherwise that is the first thing they are going to ask you.

http://www.mooreschools.com/page/42

You say that the teacher is yelling at your daughter, but you say nothing at all about your daughter's behavior.

Okay. I grew up in OKC and there was a public school in just about every neighborhood. If you're rural OKC then that's hard. I know so many little towns have a hierarchy in place. If that teacher is a favorite then she is someone they won't ever talk to about her behaviors.

I suggest you consider doing another classroom or just do the other school. If she's already doing this and then there were repercussions from talking about it she's only going to get worse.

Normally I'm for fighting oppression to the furthermost limit but I also know when it will be time consuming, get a lot worse before the end, and it will just be emotionally wearing on your soul plus your daughter is at her mercy every day. Small towns are just different.

That's why I would just move on and let it be a distant memory.

Some kids equate "strict" with "mean." If the teacher is belittling her, calling her names, etc., then yes she's being bullied. But somehow I doubt that's the case. And I am NOT a fan of teachers.

I also don't know what you mean by "she talked to the school about it" What did you expect the school do to? They certainly aren't going to fire the teacher and of course they told her because how can they do something about it if she isn't told.

Perhaps your daughter is misbehaving and saying the teacher is being mean to her because she is calling your daughter on her misbehavior. I really don't think teachers pick favorites, but they, naturally, don't necessarily like a child who misbehaves. Perhaps that's your child.

If I were you, I would take a day or two and spend the entire day in the classroom to see for myself what the teacher's demeanor is. Then you will know who to address the issue with - your daughter or the school.