I am not giving advice b/c if what I say were advice it would probably be bad advice. With that disclaimer, I am so sick of us having to constantly hold our tongues and walk on eggshells while this stuff gets to happen and children get damaged. No one is willing to speak up. It's ridiculous. Real damage can result from this ignorance and no one ever gets called on it and it is never addressed - why? Because these people have that much power? Because people live in complete fear of speaking up? And, really, what are the chances a huge "bridge will be burned?" I find I am often holding my tongue and not addressing things that should be addressed all for this theoretical bridge that my family never had in the first place! And never will have. Sorry, just ticks me off.
Ditto. We had to pull DS out in the middle of the year, the teacher was that bad. She was passive aggressive and lied to us about things. I know other families still in that class and NOTHING has changed. NOTHING. She apparently didn't learn one single thing from her experience with us, but part of the reason why is because I never explained to her why I was pulling DS out. I did explain to the principal and administration, but I don't think they then went back and explained to HER (or addressed any of my concerns about her). Certain teachers seem to be untouchable. I have not decided what I'm going to do, if anything, but I'd love to tell her how much better (and happier) DS is, in a class where the teacher makes it a priority to teach ALL the children. One mom was telling me that her son asked for harder math (in the old teachers class) and the teacher told him that she wouldn't do that because then other kids' parents would complain about it and want harder work for their kids as well. This should be an "aha" moment for her. Time for ability grouping? To take a real look at the curriculum and the group of kids it's not working for? But some of these teachers never learn and never think. The fact that I went through hell and dragged DS through a mid-year school change, and the teacher walks away happy as a clam not having learned anything at all, is infuriating. I would love to at least have links that I could share showing what damage is done when gifted/advanced children are not given appropriate work. She didn't even TRY. AT ALL.
