Yes to MoN, PolarBear, and Kcab's advice.
Oy, have we been there with poor teacher fit-- my daughter is virtually unrecognizable as a student with a teacher that either takes the "stoic" approach with her, or actively "doesn't believe" in her ability.
Something about the "no seat is far enough" comment raised MY hackles, as well. I'd ask about that (as calmly as you can)-- perhaps this is a teacher who is looking for behavioral problems that can be attributed to "immaturity" or "inappropriate relative to older classmates."
We've seen that before, too. Not often, mind. But I have seen it, and there is NO way to win with a teacher like that, because they have a different (higher?) set of standards for YOUR child in particular, and even the most savvy child will have difficulty navigating that kind of social mine-field with an adult, but if YOU intervene, that's just more evidence that the child in the center of things lacks the "maturity" to do so...
Yes to a meeting.
Yes to getting hold of the graded work that your child has submitted.
Yes to seeing RUBRICS for that graded material (that way you know what the standard is)
Yes to advocating for a more "positive" student-teacher fit-- for both student AND teacher. (I'd probably spin that one by noting that it can't be any good for the teacher/class to have all of this stuff interfering with the learning environment, either...) BUT-- make sure that you know what the other placement options are, and that this one is inferior to them. No frying pan into the fire, in other words. There are times when even a pretty toxic situation is just the best you can do (see my DD's American Government teacher for more details here... yuck).
I'd pursue the notion that your son is missing instructional time because of "punishment" (?) in this class... because that also raises some red flags for me in terms of missing skills/understanding.
Bear in mind that there are probably areas where your son needs some additional help. It doesn't sound as though this teacher is the right person for that particular job, though.
Good luck!
