Local High School

[regor380]

My son has been fighting to get into and AP English class whic he should have been in but the teacher said he wasn't a quality student and that he would flunk at life. This teacher had my son for dual cedit English for the first half of the school yr and had problems getting reports sent via the computer to his professor, and she didn't tell him there was a problem until the 3 report was due. Well any way I spoke to the teacher and she says I have things documented and i told you so do i what does that mean, so we called and talked to the Vp and he says I have to believe my teacher and I told him students don't have rights, yes they do he says but, so we went to the senior academic advisor and he recommended we take it up with the principal, well we did that yesterday and he told my son kinda the same thing ,about believing the teacher and my son also has other students willing to say yes she said these things but they don't care, Plus my son was told he couldn't meet a deadline and he said some of the other students didn't either why did they get to do AP English,well my son told the principal that he would go to the superintendent , he told him go ahead but if I get any back lash from this I will flunk you for academic dihonesty.
I was wondering does anyone have any more advice on what we should do, It is getting late in the symester and he really needs this class and not regular english 4. Thats what hes in now He goal Is MIT in the fall.
Thanks for listening It sure felt good

[galeane29]

She actually told your child he would fail at life? Who the hell does teachers think they are? Have they forgotten what their job is?
And the principal telling him he will fail him for academic dishonest? What the hell is that?

I have no advice other than to definately take it up with the Super. and the school board or who ever you need to . These school officials need to know that they cannot treat the students like this.

[cinnamonch]

Did your son go the principal by himself? Make sure you are documenting everything that is going on. If you have to, go the the school board/superintendent to handle it. If that doesn't help, contact your local news and let them know what is going on.

[Bahet]

Have another conversation with the teacher and principal and tape them. Put a tape recorder in your purse and record them. If they say the same stupid things take it to the superintendant.

[regor380]

yes he went by himself so its going to one persons word against the other ,he originally went to make a appointment and he invited him in to talk which I now see as a mistake, He was suppose to talk with the super today with his dad, I haven't heard anything yet.
I told the teacher , VP and anyone else who would listen that they didn't have the right to speak to my son or any student like that, and I was told It was a mistake and shouldn't have happened,The teacher was frustrated I said so what don' t talk to my son that was, The Teacher has denied that she said he would fail at life but a bunch of students said they would say they heard he say it. The principal said he didn't care how many students he had lined up, he HAS TO BELIEVE HIS TEACHER. I am really mad at that, everyone we have spoke to said that my son has right but the don't want to believe him just the teacher.

[galeane29]

I'm sorry but, we have enough kids in our society who already have a
low self esteem...etc. These teachers at one point need to take into
affect the damage they are doing. The stupid school board does not have to take the teachers word over the students. There should have been a
parent/teacher/principal conference scheduled. Its a mistake and should'nt have happend? WTH? But, It did happen! These morons need to take responsability , frustrated or not...I would never tell my kids they would fail at life and are good for nothing , stupid or not worth my time. Gah.....stupid people piss me off!

[dv8grl]

With camera phones these days, isn't there a way to have the kids "tape" what the teacher says to the students? And or "tape" the conversations with VP, Principal, etc....

Its BS for sure.

[christianw27]

I would go right to the board of education or the superintendent.

I had a similar situation that ended up with the person having to apologize to me and my son both.

[regor380]

thats what is suppose to happen tolday, a talk with the superintendent, but who knows I am totally frustrated with all of this and then nothing is guaranteed he will even get this classs.
Thanks for all the information some we have done others we have to wait and see.They are not aloud phones in school plus my son doesn't have one anyway.

[PrincessArky]

I wish ya the best of luck never any fun having to fight the system

[taz69]

That is terrible for a teacher (or any adult) to say to a child! One question tho-why is your son just now figuring out there was a problem with the reports-there should have been mid-term grades, end of semester grades, and parent-teacher conferences?

[YankeeMary]

IMO at this point your son had lost. These teachers and principals are worthless, I can't imagine the Super being any better. My advice is to have your attorney call them. I promise that will get the ball rolling. I HATE public school systems. I hope someone whomever that gets in the White House can fix our school systems. Our children are suffering so.

[ssgjeg]

If all else fails try tutoring. He can actually show on his application that he was taking both classes just being tutored in the one. He can also get a recommendation from the tutor stating that he should have been in that classs all along. Some community colleges also offer these courses. Either way it can still be put on his application and show that he can handle the workload with taking 2 courses and keeping up with them both.

[bonniejeanne]

Is your son in the gifted program? If so, try calling the gifted representative on your school board. Tell them what's been going on. Principals will always back their teachers no matter what. Teachers can pretty much do what they want these days and they will not be fired. Both of my sons had some really bad teachers including one who had absolutely no idea what she was doing and taught for years until she finally retired last year. It seems like every year a group of students went to the principal about her but nothing was ever done. I hope everything turns out well for your son.

[regor380]

In reference to your question taz69 ( One question tho-why is your son just now figuring out there was a problem with the reports-there should have been mid-term grades, end of semester grades, and parent-teacher conferences?) The class was only a half yr and he was told that all he needed to go to the AP English class was a teachers signature, and he was never told that it wouldn't happen and as for the grades the teacher didn't grade them the college professor did and nothing was ever said until he was down 3 reports and then it was demanded he turn them in right now, but he didn't have them they were on his USB key and the school computers erased his key so he had to rewrite these reports plus whatever else came due. so he worked all weekend to get her everything and then she(teacher) said he didn;t get it to her and he said yes. see she decided after students were having problems getting reports to professors via the computer to pick them up and send them she didn't check to see if it got in there, and when it didn't he was at fault.
Well anyway spoke with the superintendent yesterday and they were going to see what it will take to get him in this class , because he feels my son won't learn anything in regular English class. Yes my son is very gifted I have had so many of his teachers tell me they can't and don't know how to challenge him, actually he has been know to challenge the teachers and tell them they are wrong especially where math is concerned and been correct.

[bonniejeanne]

My youngest graduated HS last year and is majoring in math in college. He tested out of Calc 1, 2, and 3. Is your son in Mu Alpha Theta? Mine was the District governor and placed in all kinds of state and national math tournaments. If yours went to any of these competitions they may have run across one another.

[Myssi76]

Normal chain of events..Teacher, VP, Principle, School Board, Superintendent and then Department of Education in your state. Never have your child do these types of meetings with out you. The school heads will be a little more intimidated when a parent is there to back up their child instead of letting them handle the issue alone.

Good luck to you!

Do not do the tape recording thing until you find out the laws in your state about recording people. In my state it has to be on record on the recording that the person gave permission or it is illegal to record them.

Here are some links on the laws on that

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/quick.html Quick glance at the laws

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states.html More in Depth

[regor380]

yes bonniejeanie my son is in Mu Alpha Theta and NHS UIL for math, cal, accounting, he is even in a group call BPA(business professionals of America), my so has more trophy's plaques ribbons certificates, lots of recognition, he is very bright. By chance where do you live? We are in a small town called castroville right outside of san Antonio

[wobblypops]

We can thank the teacher unions & tenure for this, the principle doesn't have a choice but to back these teachers or they would be the one out of a job.

You want a better school system for your children, get rid of the unions & tenure.

[christianw27]

Unions and tenure don't have anything to do with a spineless upper management person who isn't doing what he is supposed to be doing...
PROTECTING THE STUDENT.

When I had my problem with my son our school is union and the superintendent backed ME up after I tried to straighten out what went on with my son with the people who called him a "behavioral problem" which was utterly ridiculous...:slap (principal and vice principal)

They were both then forced to meet with me and apologize, especially the vice principal who lied to my face and called my son numerous names over the course of our exchange.

That didn't have anything to do with unions and tenure. That had to do with protecting my son, their student.

JMO.....

[wobblypops]

Sounds like your situation & her situation is different.

Unions & tenure allows any teacher to get away with anything they want even though teachers are suppose to be there to TEACH THE STUDENT.

You ever see what it takes to get rid of a piss poor teacher? They don't have to answer to anyone. The kids today are coming out of school with no knowledge at all but the NCLB act is also to blame. The guberment nneds to get out of the schools & our lives altogether but that is a whole other vent.

[christianw27]

my mother is a teacher.

I know exactly what it takes to get rid of a "piss poor" one and no they can't get away with anything they want, not in this school distric. The vice principal that did that to my son is GONE....no longer there, FIRED....buh bye..

I don't agree that kids are coming out of school today with no knowledge at all. My brother graduated from high school last year and promptly tested out of two spanish classes at the college he decided to go to...apparently he learned something...

You are correct about the government being a whole other rant though, that is for sure...

[bonniejeanne]

I live in Lafayette, LA. My son went to Lafayette High which is the gifted magnet high school here. I don't believe he went to any Texas tournaments, even though for years he tried to get the math team to go to the Rice tournament but they wouldn't go, and he couldn't go just by himself. He did go to some of the tournaments here in Louisiana by himself when the team opted not to go, and came back with not only the top individual in his category but also the team trophy. LOL. And since he was the only one that went from his school, he kept it. His math team sponsor was retarded and tried to get him suspended from school for going by himself. You would think he would have been proud of my son, but instead he was afraid it was making him look bad because only one person went from his school. He went to National Mu every year and came back with seven trophies each of the last two years. He even went to National Beta and placed second there. He loves math so much that he wants to teach it on the college level and maybe some high school, too, because he wants to be the math club sponsor that he never had.

[gravittr]

wow that sucks big time