I should have known that the day was going too well. My Biology class was great and we had a really wonderful conversation about spiders. Then later in the day I had a problem with a student who kept interrupting other students. After several warnings the child spent some time in my office so the rest of the class could finish their lesson.
I almost always get great parent support so when I called the student's parent I expected to be backed up when I asked her to talk to her child about the student's disruptive behavior. Instead of this, she tore into me verbally, repeatedly accusing me of putting her child out of class because the student was black. She had no reason or evidence to support this but it did not stop her. Her voice quickly rose to a near scream as she said that her child was a great student and I didn't care about the education of minorities.
I have always prided myself on treating all students, no matter the sex, ethnicity, religion, or any other differences equally. I told her that I didn't care if her child was black, green, white, or purple. I was calling her for support concerning this student's behavior today which was keeping other students from learning. She kept yelling that I was doing this because her child was a minority. I calmly repeated that color had nothing to do with this, I told her that I actually liked her child and that the child in question was very bright and capable but that I could not allow the type of behavior this child was displaying because it was impinging upon the rights of the rest of the class to learn. At this point she yelled that she was going to call the principal about my actions and if I ever did it again she was calling the school board. She then yelled "I hope you have a wonderful day!" and slammed the phone down.
I discussed the incident with an assistant principal so he would be aware of what had transpired in case she called. Frankly, I have been teaching too long and too well to have to put up with behavior like this from a parent. If she persists I will simply state that if she feels this strongly that this student should be immediately removed from my class.
This parent appeared, at least to me, to have no concern about the effect her child was having upon the learning of the rest of the class. She only seemed to care that her child was, as she put it, 'being deprived of an education' based upon race. The fact this student has a good average in my class is, I suppose, the result of my being so prejudiced against the student due to race. Maybe she was having a bad day or perhaps she has her own issues here but class discipline is a part of my job and I will enforce all rules that have an impact upon the class learning. I kept my professional demeanor throughout though it raised my blood pressure a lot and cost me my lunch time. Most parents thank me for taking the time and caring enough to call. I have always been a firm believer in working with parents to correct behavior. I suppose this will not be one of those cases where it is successful. On days like this I ask myself why I didn't become a bricklayer instead of a teacher. It has its rewards but the rare incident like this one really leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I had to work extra hard the rest of the day to not let it affect my interactions with the other students. It is hard enough to be a creative, dynamic instructor without having these types of roadblocks thrown up along the way.
Labels: angry, parent, school, student, teaching
