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  1. #1
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    Default I am so over my kids' school.

    Sorry this is long, I have a lot of venting saved up.
    This year their school has not done grandparents' day, the fall festival, *CURRICULUM NIGHT*, or pancakes with Santa-- all of which neighboring schools in our district do, and they have done previous years (and support of PTC is not the issue.) No explanation for not doing any of it.

    Their principal is really crappy. He is the type that puts on a good show of looking good when the bosses are around, but the very basic stuff like saying hi to the kids in the morning and for the love of god, SMILING. as they walk into school for the day...nope- NEVER. (Why he doesn't just stay inside and let someone who will smile and greet them stand in front of the door is beyond me.) Their three years of field days he has never even come outside at all.

    My 3rd grader started the year with weekly spelling tests and the teacher saying she doesn't give homework. Abruptly early Oct. that changed, "we will no longer be doing spelling tests in third grade", and now they have a crapton of homework. No explanation for the changes either. (It took DS1 almost 2 hours to do it the other night and he was working diligently and is pretty smart.) The teacher talked the room parents into raising $450 for her so she "has less paperwork" to deal with and assigns it all on some dumb computer program which as far as I can tell has no redeeming value (it's like basically paying for Quizlet type stuff that just quizzes them over and over, except they have a login and she can see that they've done it.) He's also watched 4 full movies already this year in class : the new Aladdin, the new Lion King, Hotel Transylvania, and one other movie I keep forgetting what it was. (My friend's husband is a principal that used to be in our district but now is in a different district and knows her and described her as "nice enough but pretty mediocre as a teacher" which I think sums it up well except I am seriously not thrilled that we are in early Nov. and he's already seen 4 movies at school...at this rate they will see 12 by the end of the year.)

    This is our last year at this school, though. They are building a new school about 2 miles from our house and the boundaries have us going to it. (District also moved us to our current school as soon as it opened 3 years ago so next year will be DS1's third elementary school.) DS2 is challenging and has WONDERFUL teachers. I liked their teachers okay last year. The previous year DS1 had a great teacher. So I was totally just going to roll my eyes at it all and move on. (DS1's teacher has been teaching 30 years now so if she thinks she can show 4 movies a quarter, she probably can, and the principal sucks and likely wouldn't do anything even if I did complain. DS1 likes his teacher well enough and has his best friend in his class that he will be separated from next year so it's annoying but whatever.)

    So yesterday I go to pick the kids up at the car line and a random person comes out that I've never seen before- kids also have no clue who she is- I guess maybe a hall monitor(?) ..She comes out with the kids just to tell me that principal says that we can no longer use the "turtle" car line anymore. "They tried to contact us" (lie- neither of us have any missed calls or messages), "and you can call principal if you have any questions". I went home and talked to DH who picks them up 90% of the time to see if I was missing something but he was just as baffled as I was. He calls principal but of course he's not in and did not return his message yesterday. (Even though we called pretty much immediately after school and talking.) We use the turtle line that is mostly kindergartners but some older kids because DS2 is slower and needs help getting buckled in DH's car. (The turtle line is a separate line for kids that need help buckling and never has had anything about age restrictions or rules about who can use it.) DS2 no longer has an IEP but last year had one that included fine motor skills. (And he lost his IEP only because he tested too well in speech, they don't do IEP's for only fine motor.) DH is going to try to deal with principal today but still pick kids up in turtle car line. Friend and her principal husband were like "just keep using it, what are they going to do?!" Still, I was just trying to get through this school year without dealing with this ass and now he's picking a fight over something dumb and bizarre and I don't even get it at all. (I quizzed the kids together and apart to see if there was something we were missing or anyone had talked to them, they had no idea either and DS2 will confess and/or tattle on his brother pretty easily so if there was something I am confident they would have mentioned it.)

    Phew, that was a lot. Needless to say, I'm really thrilled to be going to the new school (whose principal has already been announced and is coming from DS1's first school which we loved entirely) even though DS1 will miss some friends.
    Angie

    Mom to
    DD- 9/09-9/09
    DS- 2011 DS2- 2012 DS3- 2015 DD-2019

  2. #2
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    Default I am so over my kids' school.

    Omg, how annoying. I’d totally continue to use the turtle line. I’m glad to hear your kids will get to go to a new school next year though.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    DD (3/06)
    DS1 (7/09)
    DS2 (8/13)

  3. #3
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    I would totally NOPE out of that homework! 10 minutes kid, and then you're done. And I would continue using the turtle line (which seems horrifically named???).

  4. #4
    SnuggleBuggles is offline Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    10 minutes time grade level is that max for me on homework. we were told to just draw a line when that time is up (assuming the kiddo is on task for the whole time). That's what I'd do!

    We have a new guy in charge of facilities and he is being such a butthead that we might end up cutting events simply because it's clear he doesn't want them in his building. Sucks when one person can change a school culture so much!

  5. #5
    Myira is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    If that homework is just busywork, yes totally opt out of it. Your kid and you have better things to do in life. I would not feel guilty doing it at all. Some other forms of horrific homework that takes time is cut and paste or draw type work. A royal pain and takes forever to complete.


    Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains
    DD 10/2008
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  6. #6
    doberbrat is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by BunnyBee View Post
    I would totally NOPE out of that homework! 10 minutes kid, and then you're done. And I would continue using the turtle line (which seems horrifically named???).
    I thought I was the only one who thought that is an AWFUL name for kids needing extra help!

    I'm sorry the principal is so awful; sounds terrible.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by doberbrat View Post
    I thought I was the only one who thought that is an AWFUL name for kids needing extra help!

    I'm sorry the principal is so awful; sounds terrible.
    Oh agreed. But the list of things that annoys me about this school/principal is so long that honestly it didn't make it. The principal definitely named it. He opened the school three years ago and named/planned stuff like that. The car tags are even turtles for families that use the lane. Thankfully it's pretty much mostly kindergarten.

    The fast lane has worked out for us. DH has picked up every day so far and just gets out, helps DS2 buckle, and I guess cars drive out around him or he holds up the line. Less hassle for us whatever. Still excited to get out of here. DS1's teacher decided to have a class store for them for being good first semester and they had points/coupons to "buy" stuff that was donated.
    Angie

    Mom to
    DD- 9/09-9/09
    DS- 2011 DS2- 2012 DS3- 2015 DD-2019

  8. #8
    doberbrat is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    What does the district school policy handbook say about movies? In kindy, dd1 had a teacher like that showing movies ALL.THE.TIME including a PG13 movie! She'd never watched so much tv in her entire life. I went through the roof and brought it to the principal's attention who told me he could do nothing because it was not in the school policy handbook. I went to the superintendent and the next year it was written into the policy. Movies should be educationally related to curriculum AND rated G in elementary unless individually signed off by parents.
    dd1 10/05
    dd2 11/09
    and ... a mini poodle!

  9. #9
    hbridge is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by AngB View Post
    DS1's teacher decided to have a class store for them for being good first semester and they had points/coupons to "buy" stuff that was donated.
    I always hate these things!! Kids get points for "good" behavior, "good" grades, ect. There are always those more challenging kids who don't have as many "points". While it may incentivize some, it also strips the self-esteem of others...

    The movie thing is crazy! My high schooler is taking a diversity in film class and they have only watched a couple of movies at this point. FOUR is a lot! Especially since the comfort level varies so much at that age. DC sat in the hall during more than one movie in elementary because they were outside of the child's comfort level...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by doberbrat View Post
    What does the district school policy handbook say about movies? In kindy, dd1 had a teacher like that showing movies ALL.THE.TIME including a PG13 movie! She'd never watched so much tv in her entire life. I went through the roof and brought it to the principal's attention who told me he could do nothing because it was not in the school policy handbook. I went to the superintendent and the next year it was written into the policy. Movies should be educationally related to curriculum AND rated G in elementary unless individually signed off by parents.
    Forgive me if I mentioned the movies but the exact movies they've watched are Aladdin (the new one), Lion King (new one- which I was questioning even taking them to see because he would get stressed on the animated version), Hotel Transylvania, and something else I don't remember. I think all PG and definitely not explicitly related to school. (Lion King you could *maybe* argue school related because they were/did study the animal kingdom/ predator/prey/etc. although I haven't seen any evidence that she tied anything school related into it.) She is definitely not sending home permission slips and definitely not mentioning that they are watching them. The only reason I know is because DS1 comes home and tells me about them.

    I definitely will contact the district and see if there is a movie policy, that's a good idea, I am guessing they don't have one.
    Last edited by AngB; 11-09-2019 at 07:51 PM.
    Angie

    Mom to
    DD- 9/09-9/09
    DS- 2011 DS2- 2012 DS3- 2015 DD-2019

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