Posted on 11/19/2012 1:19:23 AM PST by MacMattico
With all of the problems going on in the world, this is trivial, hence the vanity post. But an example of what's going on in our schools and who thinks they control our kids.
My niece signed up for what should have been a simple, easy "A" grade HS class. Purely an elective, having nothing to do with requirements or career. Turns out the teacher is a real piece of work. He's intimidating and creepy. (My nieces words.) I asked if anything had happened to make her feel "creepy" and she just said she doesn't like the feeling she gets when she's alone near him.
Her mother gave her permission to drop the class and take a study hall, as she is already taking a heavy load of courses and this may ease her workload. But the school refuses! They keep saying the add/drop period is over and if she doesn't show up she will receive zero's in every other quarter as well as on the final exam! Of course, they remind her, this will take her 90+ average overall and wreck that as well. Can a school do this? My sister doesn't have a lot of $ for an attorney and I just think this is wrong.
Except not accept in my post
In college it would be a withdrawl/fail once you are past the drop period. If she is not planning on going to a top college or is not thinking of being an art major the grade really will not matter.
Safety First ! Screw the grades.
Trust her instincts. They are usually right.
Better safe then sorry !
God Bless and I will pray for her.
Let her follow her intuition. It is always correct.
It is more important to be safe.
It sounds like what the school is doing is perfectly legal.
This can be a lesson for her about fun little classes. If the teacher/professor does not share that view, there will be problems, as I learned from a fun little undergrad college film class that ate an appalling amount of my time. It turned out to be no fun at all.
Schools put up hurdles. You just keep jumping over the hurdles. A creepy teacher is just another hurdle. Get the damn A and move on.
Has the daughter’s feelings been addressed by the mother with the school? Even if she has nothing concrete to point to, I would think any nest of libs as deep as a public school would bend over backwards to accommodate a female student.
Alternately, have someone go with her to the “individual instruction”. Schools like that often have counselors and “mentors” of all kinds (gotta do something with that sociology degree), so they have all kinds of useless staff around to “assist” students. The only thing to be careful of there is that the art teacher may be well-liked enough by the faculty/staff that the school would back the teacher over a student if something were to occur.
It sounds as if the problem is not just the creepy teacher but being alone with the teacher, right? She would be well within her rights to ask (politely demand) that the school insure a safe learning environment, aka NEVER being alone with him. Have her make her request in writing, thus establishing a paper trail.
Then, she needs to document all the time in that class as it happens. The first time that there isn’t a witness to her interaction with that teacher, she should take it up with first the school administration, then the locall media.
Usually when the school is approached like that, they cave. No one wants a lawsuit and since by that time there would be documentation, the school would lose.
My husband is a teacher. He makes it a point to never be alone with any student. The possibilities of accusation are just too great.
When I was in college, if you dropped after the add/drop period you got a W. If you dropped after the Withdrawal period you got a W/P (pass) or W/F (failing at the time of withdrawal). Those were semester courses and you had a long withdrawal time. This is a HS, full year elective class— I just don’t see how they can try to make her stay in it.
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker is a great book for girls.
She gets 10 points taken off her quarterly grade each time she doesn’t attend the art individual lesson.
That’s one thing I first thought. Why would this teacher want to be alone with his students, when there’s always the chance of an untrue accusation?
Her mom will talk to the school again tomorrow, so far they’ve just been told she can’t drop the course and if she doesn’t show up will receive Zero’s on her report card for the next three quarters and final exam.
And that is the exact approach you ought to take. Insist that it is for the teacher’s benefit as well as your daughter’s benefit. If push comes to shove, you may need to offer to be there with your daughter.
I’ll look that up. I have daughter’s too!
It’s my niece, but she’s like a daughter. What makes me even feel weirder about the whole thing is that she really doesn’t have a father figure in her life, and I wonder if the teacher knows this.
At no level when I was in school would I have been able to drop a class after the designated period to do so without it counting as a ‘fail’ that would have brought down my grade point average.
I agree with those here who say she needs to stick with what she signed up for—creeping teacher and all.
That’s my thinking. This girl has never felt like a teacher was “creepy” before, always been a quiet A/B+ student. Her father is mostly out of the picture, I’m wondering if this makes her more of a “target”.
Equip her with a pocket digital audio recorder and let her go ahead with the individual instruction. If the guy starts to get too “friendly”, then you have some evidence to nail him with. Made sure she responds with the recorder in mind, such as “please stop touching my breast” rather than a non-specific “don’t do that”.
If it gets out of hand, she can always start screaming.
You might also want to check this guy out on this site:
http://www.ratemyteachers.com/
The search feature on the site doesn’t seem to work, but you can get to the ratings via google. Enter the guy’s name and “teacher ratings”, and you might find something interesting.
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