This Is So Messed Up
“I had a parent come in because I requested a meeting. Her son was failing 6th grade English/Language Arts. She told me, ‘Black people don’t read books.’ I had a poster of President Obama hanging in my classroom wall to the right of us. Also, our black principal was present at the meeting. We were left speechless. She later left the meeting screaming, ‘You’re both racist jerks!'”
The Easy Way…
“I had a conference with a parent about their child’s performance. The mom kept asking me if I thought there was something wrong with her daughter, who was a first grader. I explained that she was capable but needed to do the homework that was sent home and that she could use some extra practice in a few areas. She continued to ask if I thought something was wrong with her. I continued to say no. At the end of the conference, she asked one more time, and added, ‘Because if you think there is, the doctor is ready to give her meds…you just need to fill out this form.'”
Not Her Precious Boy
“My wife is an elementary school teacher and suspected that one of her students may be autistic. The kid wouldn’t communicate well at all, had issues with using the bathroom, and showed other classic signs of autism. My wife had a conference with the mother and explained that she would like him to be evaluated, but the mother refused and said that if her son did have autism, my wife was the one who caused it.
My wife has learned to handle those situations much differently now. Being accused of causing autism will do that you.”
English, Math, Witchcraft, Gym, The Usual
“I teach pre-k. About four years ago, I was called into my principal’s office. There was a parent requesting a conference because he had some concerns about the material I was teaching his daughter.
Imagine my surprise when the parent began talking about witchcraft. Over the next 45 minutes, with a brief pause to wait for the school psychologist, a school police officer, and the school social worker to arrive, I was accused of: being a witch, dancing on their roof, hiding behind the curtains in their living room, pinching their infant daughter, teaching the other daughter how to make the ‘mark of the beast’ (it’s the OK hand symbol, in case you were wondering, as index finger and thumb create the bottom of the 6 and the remaining fingers are the curve), as well as being a tool of the Illuminati.
The silence in the room, once he left the principal’s office, was deafening. No one stopped him when he loudly announced his decision to homeschool because we were just tools in the hands of the Illuminati controlled government.”
Problem Solved?
“The kid showed up but the parent didn’t. After a few minutes, the girl said she would go home and get her mom (no cell phone/house phone). The girl was gone for about 20 minutes. She came back with her mom, who was an absolute mess. So was the girl. A few furtive calls to the police and CPS and they were both hauled away.
We never did get to talk to the mom about the daughter’s hygiene issues and academic struggles, but I feel like we solved the problem nonetheless.”
Level Of Drama: Reality Show
“A decade ago, I had an 8th-grade student who was in all remedial classes. Her life’s ambition at the time was to be like the girls on Jersey Shore and to have a part on a reality show. I didn’t have her for any academic classes, only for a less than 30-minute homeroom. One day, I called her mother to try to get a form signed and returned. I let her mother know that she had been in trouble in homeroom for some very loud, very explicit talk and that she wouldn’t stop after being repeatedly warned. Then the mother acted in a way that I could not believe.