The Parent Trap Remix

So a few weeks ago, I wrote about how nervous I was the first time I chatted with parents about their students' progress.

One student's Mom and I had a great chat about why her daughter needed to be in school and how education is very important. I left the conversation impressed about the parent's positive involvement in her student's education and expecting great things for the next week.

Well I certainly need to follow up on this one.

The next day, the student came to class and was quiet as ever. I made a point to do some more one-on-one instruction with her, especially on her writing skills, which, while technically correct in terms of conventions and content, were totally lacking in voice or fluency - it was as if a robot had answered the writing prompt. I thought we came to an understanding about why more advanced writing was important, and why attendance in school is important as well.

We gave her a progress report and sent her home for the afternoon expecting to see her tomorrow.

Well, we didn't see her the next day. So my Collaborative (aka Kristy, the other half of my Agua Fria personality) called Mom to see what was up, and tell her that if the student (I'm hiding all names to protect the innocent/guilty/students/don't wanna get sued) missed one more day of the program, she would not receive credit for it. On top of this, our records indicated that this particular student needed the class to be promoted to 9th Grade - in other words, this is a very high-stakes class for her.

The Mom went ballistic, saying the student didn't need to come to the class, she wasn't being challenged (this made me exceptionally mad - I certainly had challenged her the day before in regards to her writing skills), she was an Honor Roll student (no comment on this, but the travesty of low expectations is definitely one of the major causes of the achievement gap), and that she would have words with the Principal, the School Board, the Department of Education, the Governor, various lawyers, and God knows who else.

So Kristy and my CMA Nikki (basically my mentor at Agua Fria) ran down (as fast as they could - Nikki's pregnant) to the Principal's office, but Mom was already on the phone ranting to the Principal, with, yes, various lawyers on the line.

Whoa. Talk about involved parents.

Turns out the student didn't need the class for promotion and the mother read the form wrong. Since, in the East Valley, school systems are separated by Elementary and High School Districts, and the two don't talk to one another, no one had checked to see if this student needed the class or not for promotion. Bureaucracy steps in the way of student achievement once again.

So Mom withdrew the student and that was the end of that. It's so frustrating, though, to work so hard on something, think you have come to an understanding with a person, and then realize you're on totally opposite pages, in totally opposite universes. So I guess my first foray into the field of parent communication did not exactly go as well as it seemed at first; however, there are definitely lessons to be learned from this. In my interview for my permanent school placement site in the fall, my new Principal asked if I had ever experience difficulties with a parent, or if not, how I would respond or react in that situation.

Now I have something to tell him.

peace and love from the grand canyon state,

pb