Tuesday Musing 7: Parent conference follies
For your consideration: What is the craziest thing that has ever happened at parent teacher conferences for you?
Mine involved a mother, an elf costume, and a potential strangling of a staff member. Anyone got one?
Labels: open thread
posted by "Ms. Cornelius" @ 5:00 AM
15 Comments:
I've got nothing to top that, I'm sure. My best story involves a fundamentalist, evangelical Christian father (who has serious issues with women in authority) harassing me as his son's "history teacher" when he knew damned well I'm his English teacher.
Dad likes me even less this year; let's just say that his kid is starting to think in ways that are not sanctioned by the management, and Dad's holding ME personally responsible.
I have no problem with that.
I don't deal with those, but there was the time that I had to explain to a parent that I thought his son was a pathological liar and needed lots of immediate help...
Big Dad, dirty t-shirt, three teeth and the comment "Well, hell, Junior is just as fat, dumb and stupid as I was!"
Seriously. He was right. What to say to that?
A father started yelling at a child about how the kid needed to shape up, take responsibility for his education, act like he cared. He pulled up his pant leg to show us all bullet hole scars and talked about his prison days and how he hadn't realized what he had till it was gone, and the kid shouldn't make the same mistakes.
The kid involved had no connection to this man - he just happened to have the conference before this man's son.
It was horrifying.
For sure, the worst thing I ever heard at a PTC was a father asking a son how he preferred to be beaten when he got home: in the head or in the stomach.
I wish I made that up, but I didn't.
Nothing to top those....but just last week at our fall parent conferences, a mother was commented something about another child, and how they were doing something well in second grade this year (this at a conference for her jr. high child)....and the jr. high child staring at Mom and telling her that "other child" was now in Grade 4!
No fair....you must tell the story about the mother, elf costume and potential strangling.
My worst PTC involved the teacher telling my husband and I that no one liked us at the school and that our child would likely have mental health issues because she was bright.
School was being painted.
Child kept saying "I smell marijuana"
When told what the child was saying at confrence the dad turned to the mom and said "I don't know why he says that. We only smoke when he is in bed."
10 years ago... I had a dad ask me to leave the room as he loosened his belt (this after his son purposely set out to fail 5th grade).
2 weeks ago, dad comes to PTC stoned and smelling of pot. Spent the conference giggling and texting.
Ugh.
Last year - 5th grade conferences. The students came with the parents and the mother, in this episode, comes with her 5th grade son and 6 month old daughter. She whips out the breast with no blanket, no tent, no warning, and lets the baby nurse while three of us tried to continue talking about the academic future of her struggling son. The male teacher (older, Southern, genteel)with us nearly fainted.
After a conference in which her child's misbehavior was discussed, parent showed up at school the same day wearing fake Hilly Billy teeth, hair teased to the heavens, donning a sign declaring, "I am ______'s Mom." Upon being intercepted by office staff, she explained it was her attempt at behavior modification through embarrassment and humiliation.
I dunno. As a parent of a smart kid who needs a metaphorical kick in the pants for poor grades - I kind of like the idea in Christy's post. I've tried just about everything else to motivate the ill motivated kid. Off to the hillbilly teeth store...
Bev, I have one too. Maybe it would work!!!!! Unfortunately I also work at the school, so all that would probably happen would be that they would laugh at my larking about.
Our guidance goddesses tell me that it's not unusual to have a parent walk into guidance about something and when they ask what grade their child is in, they have no idea. Seriously.
Okay, here is the story of the parent conference with the elf: http://shrewdnessofapes.blogspot.com/2008/02/treating-teachers-like-part-2.html
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