Do you have an email list of other parents whose children might be in Ms T's class? If so, you could check with them about what is going on with their kids and approach the administration with your concerns. I am sure that if I were a principal of a school, I would like to know about Ms. T's eccentricities.
I agree, although I'd approach the other parents through personal contact, not email.
I am sorry I can't remember details from the beginning of this thread, but I think this is a private school, and I think you are looking forward to another 5 years with the same teacher and no alternative teacher choices - if not, ignore my next piece of advice
Since it's a private school, I would absolutely take my concerns at this point to the principal of the school, and maybe also talk about it with a board member if you know any of the board members well enough to just bring it up casually. As others have mentioned, chances are you aren't the only parent who is bothered by this, and chances are the school's administration already knows it's an issue. As a tuition-paying parent, I'd be very unhappy - I'd be unhappy at public school too - but you have some additional leverage when you are paying tuition. The school most likely does not want to lose you as a paying family (unless they have such a long wait list for admissions they don't care what message they send out to parents). If your school happens to be short of students (not all spots filled), you're in an even stronger position. If your principal seems not concerned, ask him if they would be proud to advertise on their website where they are attempting to attract new students: "In our outstanding outside-the-box 5th grade math curriculum, we teach our students how to staple their papers together".
It's probably easy to be discouraged thinking other parents have most likely already complained, but it's always *always* worth letting the principal know that he has one more dissatisfied customer... you might be the person who pushes just that one extra inch that makes a difference and gets the situation resolved for the better.
OTOH, I'm guessing that continuing to talk to the teacher about it isn't going to help - she sounds fairly set in her ways.
polarbear
