We have had a very interesting and sobering experience and I think it merits discussion or at least awareness on the part of some applicants. We started to apply for 9th grade from 8th grade last year but decided against it. We just didn’t think our child was ready. Maybe we weren’t! We are now applying for 10th grade from a public high school. (Well off town with good schools. Solidly middle and upper upper middle class). The hostility we have experienced from one of the teachers in trying to get recommendations was eye opening. We live in a very union friendly state. Rah rah public schools. It has us pondering these questions: Is there resentment toward students that leave a public school for a private school? If you leave after 8th grade you were leaving that school anyway even if public to private, but if you leave after 9th grade is there a sense of “what we arent good enough for you?” In summary, it has been extremely difficult to get recommendations and records sent. Stil aren’t completed. One school AO said repeatedly to please be sure to stay on top of your materials for admission. The AO said that one of the biggest issue affecting admission is often incomplete applications. With the difficulties we have had, we are wondering if it has anything to do with experiences they have had with public schools? Maybe we are reading into it but it is something to think about for public school kids. We used to send our kids to private elementary/middle school in another part of the country and those schools are dedicated to getting their kids into too high schools.
excuse my ipad induced typos
I know someone who ran into the same attitude & issues when child was applying from private high school to boarding school same age - 9th grade applying for 10th.
I am starting to think it may be a very under-recognized issue for some applicants. Any applicant for 10th grade or later is telling their current school,private or public , you aren’t good enough or I don’t like it here etc etc
We had some of that, but I tried to forestall it at every interaction with praise for the school and district. Most at the public high school were helpful, luckily. Ours is a large high school and they have other kids who will shine.
In our case it had nothing to do with the school- at all. (Though this one particular teacher seems intent on nitpicking my child to death now so I am now starting to dislike the school for that reason.). We really didn’t have any conversations with anyone about why and no one asked so there was really no opportunity to “explain.”
Well, it is what it is.
At this point your goal is getting the records submitted. Put feelings aside. Find allies with the principal, another teacher in the same department, head of the math/english department, or PTA president, etc and pressure the teacher. Bring FEDEX evenlopes to their offices and do not leave until they drop their letters/records in there and seal and you drop them at the FEDEX office. Ensure all the records are submitted.
When your child leaves, the public school looses money. I don’t know how much; $15,000 per child in some state.
Our school is a lottery charter school with a waitlist full of kids to take up a spot when someone leaves, but at other schools, I can imagine the school being not so happy to lose a student and $$$.
Several public school teachers who are friends supported our decision and did not question us, and we live in the best school district in the state.
Interesting. I have never heard of a public school losing money when a student leaves.
We have October count days when missing school is strongly discouraged since the public schools get money per student from the state, Colorado. Perhaps different states do things differently.
I don’t know but once can see that there are numerous issues that may be in play. Leaving public for private (political, perceived elitism), leaving private for private (losing money, insult to current school).
Yes, they can think of whatever they want but showing that is not professional.
I would just assume that the teacher is having a bad semester, health issues or family illness, etc, and I would refuse to imagine what they are think about.
Perhaps you can take it in a good way. At least the teacher was not happy to see your child leave. I know some kids I wish they were not around. 
This teacher has a terrible reputation. We have learned this year that the teacher is widely disliked. The class has half the number of students as no one wants to have this teacher.
We had a similar situation with the math teacher when my child was in 8th grade. I had to go in and beg the principal to help me get her to do the recommendation on Jan 12. It did get done. Just remember that AO’s have seen it all, and if you let them know that you are having a hard time getting the teacher to do it they may have a solution. Maybe your child’s math teacher from last year could write a recommendation. Ask the schools how to handle it.
Thanks. We are getting close to that
We’ve had issues too but I think for us it’s more that the teachers are already super busy. Writing a recommendation is just one more thing they have to do that’s outside of their normal work. I wouldn’t be afraid to bump your frustrations up to the principal or superintendent if needed.
Unfortunately we had a similar experience. Some public school teachers (esp 8th grade) don’t feel like it is their duty to write letters for students. In 11th/12th grade it is more expected of the teachers.
I would suggest to call the admissions office of the schools you are applying to and explain the situation. They will likely note this down in the file. Once the letter does reach the admissions office, they will view it in context (that the teacher was late, and delayed the process). Otherwise people who are reading your file will have no idea and assume that your teacher wrote a generic letter.
Thank you. We plan to if not done by the 3rd. Just curious, if you were expecting a poor recommendation from a teacher would you try to talk to admissions about it? Or does that make it worse?
I think the recommendation will be compared with the grade. Wouldn’t that be why they are insisting them from the “current” teachers? I told an AO that my D’s recommendation from her community college class English 1A professor might be mediocre because the classmates are older and often more mature. She said they will read the recommendations in light of circumstance.
Regarding poor recommendations from a resentful public school teacher, it would be logical to agree with @Leefyseadragon that they have seen it all.
Thanks. Good points
The attitude is understandable because a good student is a highly desirable commodity at a public high school. They get the same gov$ (~$11k/yr) per student, but spend less for special education expenses. Also the student increases the school’s average standardized test scores and later enhances college profile.