They're Baaaack!

No, not the the students (they've been back for awhile). It's their loving parents that I am talking about. Each afternoon I make it a point to call five or six parents and let them know how their child is doing in my class. In most school districts, I would hope to speak with at least a few parents out of the five or six calls that I make. In my class I'm lucky if I get a hold of one parent a week. It seems that most of my student's parents "lose" their cell phones on a daily basis, so phone numbers are always changing, or being disconnected, and I go for weeks trying to get a hold of parents.

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to speak with a parent regarding an on campus suspension for giving another student a "five point star". For those of you who don't know, that's a big hard open handed slap on the back. The kids were in science class and were not fighting, but this year we are really striving to nip any violence in the bud. So, my partner teacher and the principal came down hard on this student.

As I was making the mandatory parent phone call I was unprepared for the earful that this student's mother gave me! I explained to her that we don't tolerate any kind of violence school, and that we are really trying to teach our students coping skills so that they don't resort to violence. She let me know that she gives her daughter permission to fight anyone that does anything to her. This led me to talk a little about how school is a place for academics and learning new skills. After I finished what I thought was a very clear explanation of what we are trying to teach our students, the mother's reply shocked me. She said, "So, your saying that I should tell my daughter to wait until after school to punch him."

Unbelievable, after that phone call I plan to search high and low to get some kind of tape recorder attached to my phone...