school bullies, and I'm talking about adults!

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Have any of you had experience with unreasonable staff members at your childs school? I have a few incidents that I think were a bit overboard.

Here's one example. At my sons middle school there is a drink machine which dispenses non-soda drinks for a dollar. This machine is only powered up during the lunch period and then it's locked. My son approached the machine after finishing his food and put his dollar in upside down. It spit his bill back out and he proceeded to unwrinkle it to put it back in the right way. The woman from the office walked up with the key and told my son he couldn't get his drink because it was time to lock it.

What kinda crap is that to not let the kid just get his drink and move along?

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Very annoying queen-of-her-routine crap.

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How much would it have hurt to help him get the dollar right and then lock it?

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my principal stole 5 dollars from me.school police took my whole paycheck once.
ive been thru alot of teachers who projected their own insecurities onto their pupils.

imo anyone in the school staff is an idiot.

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OGIONIK wrote:

imo anyone in the school staff is an idiot.

Sometimes you amaze me, ogionik. School personnel are just like anyone else; I've had more issues with health care professionals than school employees, but I wouldn't say they're all idiots.

It'd be like saying all 22 yr old men who prefer older women are idiots.

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How about it is something called "rules"? ....and then who is it exactly that gets to decide which rules to break, when they can be broken and for who?

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Hi, ogionik.

You often post in a spate of resentment. Chances are that in any given instance, in your shoes, I'd agree with you, from my shoes. But all that firewall of resentment isn't really useful for getting anywhere in communicating. I wish you well.. and so, I'll try to contribute to that by suggesting you be more particular. Not all staff members of whatever staff will always be (fill in your own adjective). OK, maybe once in a while, all are actually vile. People can be vile for complex reasons of simple ass covering to fullbodied vileness, and seemingly good for complex reasons, just as complicated. Watch, read.

In many ways, this is what literature is about.

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My daughter is a straight A student and has always been very well behaved. In the 2th grade a boy pushed her during recess and she accidently stomped through a rain puddle. Here in the northwest rain puddles are a common occurrance and the rules are that the kids are not to play in the puddles.

Well, my daughters pants got pretty wet, so she went to the office and asked the desk lady if she could call home for a dry pair of pants. The woman said no because she should know better than to run through puddles.

When my daughter got to the classroom her teacher saw how wet her pants were and had her use the classroom phone to call home. Our sitter showed up to the office 10 minutes laterwith a dry pair of pants. When the desk lady asked who they were for she got mad and made my daughter stand against the wall the following day.

Standing against the wall is humiliating for someone like my kid. I just thought that was pretty weak to punish my kid for having permission from her teacher to get a pair of pants.

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TTH wrote:

How about it is something called "rules"? ....and then who is it exactly that gets to decide which rules to break, when they can be broken and for who?

It would have taken a mere seconds for my son to get his drink. Especially since the machine had already spit out his dollar.

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Marty, did you do something about the desk clerk in your daughter's school?
Why was she allowed to discipline your daughter? I would have marched
in there the very next day and had given them a piece of my mind.

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I think at the time I thought I should choose my battles and didn't want my daughter to be humiliated any further. If I remember correctly I think she asked me not to say anything.
In hindsite I should have gone up there and spoken with the principle.

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I'm older that CJ and speaking up may not have been as expected in my time, well, it wasn't. But re Marty's daughter, I don't get it, both re the ridicululousness/daughter, and Marty not speaking up.

Now, I was raised on not speaking up, which may fuel who I am now, but still..

I know, or think I know, that there are many overboard parents fulminating out there on the horizon, sometimes right and sometimes not, but is not this instance simple?

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Yes, osso, in older times, teachers had a greater authority status than today. I remember my mother never speaking out on my behalf in school. I resented that so much, especially when it was an unjustified punishment.

I make sure this doesn't happen with my daughter, I'm more hands on
and involved than my mother was.

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Re: school bullies, and I'm talking about adults!

martybarker wrote:

Have any of you had experience with unreasonable staff members at your childs school? I have a few incidents that I think were a bit overboard.

Here's one example. At my sons middle school there is a drink machine which dispenses non-soda drinks for a dollar. This machine is only powered up during the lunch period and then it's locked. My son approached the machine after finishing his food and put his dollar in upside down. It spit his bill back out and he proceeded to unwrinkle it to put it back in the right way. The woman from the office walked up with the key and told my son he couldn't get his drink because it was time to lock it.

What kinda crap is that to not let the kid just get his drink and move along?

Hi Marty

Let me tell you (as a teacher) how frustrating it is trying to start a class (straight after lunch) with some students arriving (often a bit late) with half-eaten food, cans of drink, melting ice creams, etc, etc ... they know they're not supposed to bring food or soft drink to class (bottled water is OK), but some always want to argue that they're case is justified, different, etc, etc, etc .... Rolling Eyes

I usually tell them to take the food/drink outside & finish it, pronto. And ask them not to make a habit extending their lunch time into the class time ... & hope they'll oblige in future.

I think maybe what happened in this case is that the machine should already have been locked when your son attempted to purchase his drink. All the woman from the office needed to have done was to politely tell your son that this was the case, & that sorry, no more drinks are available after such & such a time. I suspect she might have been having a hard time that day. It happens.:wink:

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Isn't it always a case of perspective? The parent vs the teacher? The employee vs the boss? Etc?

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Not necessarily, Mame.

Honestly, I have had very few problems dealing with parents or students. But faculty members? That's another story.

Some are exemplary. But there are always some that behave more childishly than the students they are supposed to teach. Seems to happen in every school. I don't know why.

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Eva wrote:

Not necessarily, Mame.

Honestly, I have had very few problems dealing with parents or students. But faculty members? That's another story.

Some are exemplary. But there are always some that behave more childishly than the students they are supposed to teach. Seems to happen in every school. I don't know why.

True, Eva.

But I've also observed some completely over-the-top parents (luckily very few, first-hand! Phew!) .. & some quite unreasonable students.

I don't think any one group is perfect always, actually. :wink:

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martybarker wrote:

TTH wrote:
How about it is something called "rules"? ....and then who is it exactly that gets to decide which rules to break, when they can be broken and for who?

It would have taken a mere seconds for my son to get his drink. Especially since the machine had already spit out his dollar.

I understand that. I also understand that rules have a purpose. What if 10 other kids were standing right next to your son also wanting the same thing? What if 5 other kids saw this small rule get broken for your son. They would want the same treatment if it came to them. I am not looking for you to answer the questions, just think about them.

As far as your daughter's wet pants. I would have gone to the school to speak to the desk lady to hear her side of the whole incident. That would be in regards to denying the phone call. As far as making your daughter stand in the corner for calling from the classroom, that would have pissed me off.

martybarker
Is the desk lady the teacher in some way? How can the desk lady make your daughter stand in the corner of the classroom taught by a teacher?

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She had to stand against the outside wall during recess.

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martybarker wrote:

She had to stand against the outside wall during recess.

My first thought was you have to be kidding. I know you're not though. This is how a school in todays time (or a person) punishes a little kid, is to humiliate them. That to me is unacceptable. When I went through grade school and a child was punished they had to stay in the classroom during recess, not stand against a wall outside and watch other kids play.

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school bullies, and I'm talking about adults!

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