Seeking advice for sticky teacher situation...

Parents Forum
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<p>Hi all. I have been mulling over a situation with my son's IB history teacher and could really use some thoughtful advice. </p>

<p>In a nutshell, the elderly teacher's behaviour is increasingly odd, I think he may be at the beginning stages of dementia or some other age related mental illness. My son and his friends have been telling me for over a year that the teacher is crazy-- but until recently I wrote this off as typical teen exageration. The school is very short handed and probably could not continue the full diploma IB program this year if he were removed.</p>

<p>Details:
He is convinced my son (described earlier in my "Brilliant vs. Who Gives a Crap" thread) is cutting his class and periodically accuses him of this in front of the class (classmates protesting that son has been present with them every day has no affect).</p>

<p>Refuses to cover Canada as part of the IB curriculum stating Canada isn't part of America.</p>

<p>He gave son a B plus as the final grade for last year because he claims son failed the final. Son was out of class some days taking AP exams, so it is possible that exam was given during those periods, but teacher won't say what date exam was given or show a copy of exam or say what exam was about. Other students in class claim that only the essay exam that son was present for was given. Teacher further states he will go back and change grade if son "looks good" in class. Says he knows son can score a 7 on IB exam and wants to be sure he is giving it his all. Same teacher nominated son for history book award and has written glowing recommendations for him in the past.</p>

<p>When son took a form into this teacher's class to get is signed for an excused absence to visit WashU, teacher refused to sign. Further said "college visits are a waste of time, tell me what school you are visiting and I will tell you all you need to know". When son said it was for WashU, teaches said (in front of class of 8 students, 2 of whom are jewish)--"You can't go to Washington University at St.Louis, only jews go there and you aren't jewish enough to get in." When my son took the form back the counselor unsigned and explained why, she just sighed and said she would take care of it.</p>

<p>Teacher has an increasingly bizarre take on US history-- for example last week taught class that President Johnson was personally leaking bombing target lists to the North Vietnamese so that the North Vietnamese could move troops and supplies and build mock villages with a few women and children in them to be bombed by our forces instead. Supposedly this was to maintain the war at a long term low level. </p>

<p>So, hear is my question: What, if anything should we do? Despite what I have related above, I don't think the teacher dislikes my son or is "targeting" him. Nonetheless, I am afraid that son's grades are being affected (not his
knowledge base, he is a history nut and has already scored 5's on US and World ap tests, 800 on us history SAT2 and will no doubt be fine on IB test as well). </p>

<p>Other students who are not independantly interested in history will certainly struggle with the IB exam if this teacher's lectures are their sole resource. OTOH-- this is the only public school in the county with an IB program and the school only offers 3 higher level courses. I doubt another qualified teacher could be located to take over this class, so I am not sure what action could be taken without potentially jeapordizing the 6 full diploma candidates ability to complete their higher level classes.</p>

<p>Advice?</p>

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<p>The counselor looks life she has heard complaints about him before. Talk to her and ask what can be done.<br>
When I mentioned in January that my S Honors English class had been reading A Tale of Two Cities since Labor Day, the GC strongly urged me to write a letter to the principal, ccing her and the head of the English Department. Within one week, the teacher had been transferred. It appeared that the administration knew the teacher was not a good fit (though a good-hearted person) but was waiting for a parent to trigger the process of transferring her to a more appropriate class.</p>

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<p>We were in a similar situation. Parents advised all the kids in the class to take very careful notes of everything the teacher said. One brought in a recorder and taped some lectures. The entire packet of notes/recording was handed over to the principal by a parent who also happened to be an attorney. If you can PROVE allegations of improper classroom behavior the school will be forced to act. Unfortunately, you're right: removing this teacher may end the course. In our situation, the teacher in question taught math. There weren't enough math teachers in the school. The principal stalled the case, resigned at the end of the year (for totally unrelated reasons) and failed to hand over the materials to the new principal. Repeated complaints finally forced the district to offer this teacher an early-retirement package, which he accepted. But it took years to get rid of this man.</p>

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<p>No advice here...but, whoa! I'm shocked.</p>

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<p>While I admire your concern for the other students, I cannot understand why you are not bringing this issue to the principal and the school board. Making sure the students have competent instruction is their responsibility.</p>

<p>Also, if the teacher truly is demented, is this a person you want out on the road, driving to school, potentially injuring others? This teacher deserves humane treatment, which means calling him in, requiring medical evaluation, and acting accordingly, based on that evaluation.</p>

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<p>I'd be in the principal's office to discuss this and try to get the teacher removed. There is someone in the community that could be hired to replace him - a retired college professor or someone like that could teach one class a day. We had a old math professor that taught the one section a day of calculus for about 15 years at our school (when he finally left pass rate on AP went from 95% to 70% - what a great teacher he was).</p>

<p>One other thought - start having DS tape lectures every day - with an old fashioned tape recorder. Date and save every one of the tapes. Make sure he says something everyday so that his voice is on the tape. </p>

<p>In the event that he is accused of cutting class, difficult to refute this evidence. My concern would be that the attendance rolls would reflect the "absences" and as a result he would be declared a truant. The county gets involved and things would be really messy.</p>

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<p>You need to bring this to the principal. The counselors have no power and may just try to placate the parent rather than raise the issue on one of their peers to the 'boss', i.e. the principal, so there's no point in going to them. </p>

<p>You need an action plan from the principal rather than the nodding head you're likely to get. Given your S's outstanding capabilities in history, backed by objective scores from the AP and SAT tests, I'd also tell the principal that the grade he received was unfair and you'd like to see the data that proves your S deserved a lower grade - i.e. see the graded test. </p>

<p>Be sure to inform the principal of the discriminatory remarks the teacher made regarding Jews and certain colleges. There's no excuse for this. The remarks on Vietnam are bizarre.</p>

<p>Is there another IB history teacher your S could switch to?</p>

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<p>I agree that you need to take all this somewhere. Principal, board, whatever. Also, there must be an IB co-ordinator in your school. Each IB school has to have one. You can go to him or her, since some of this stuff is jeopardizing the IB program. I am an IB teacher and so much of the curriculum is bound by the IBO. They also need to know about this bizarre behavior, I should think.</p>

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<p>Ultimately, the decision has to be made by the principal. But you need to line up all your ducks before you do so. that's why I suggested going to the GC and the social studies coordinator. But franglish reminded me that there should be an IB-coordinator.
It is important as well to try to figure out what might happen if the teacher were removed: are there substitutes available? Are there student teachers who could help out? Could your son take the AP exam instead of the IB one?
This is the sort of issues that make principals reluctant to act, so the more you help them find a solution, the greater chance you will have of getting the desired result (which is not just to get rid of the odd teacher).</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, I don't think there is another IB history teacher. The teacher in question only teaches 2 periods per day-- the IB History of the America's class. I know that if i pushed, the principal will act (the anti-semitic remarks would just be impossible not to act on), my concern is what might happen to the program. The full IB diploma requires 3 higher level courses-- without this course, the school would only have two and the seniors persuing the full diploma might be unable to do so. My son is one of those seniors and he really wants the full diploma.</p>

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<p>Also, I need to clarify, that the teacher isn't like slobbering at the mouth and forgetting how to get home. If it is a dementia issue, it is in early stages. I met him at the school open house this week and he seemed perfectly normal for the 10 minutes we were in his classroom.</p>

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<p>one quick thing, since I think you're getting good advice from others--be very careful about recording classes--state laws vary on taping people without their permission and there's probably no need to take the risk, since the counselor and others are no doubt familiar with the problem.</p>

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<p>When I was in college, we had an introductory bio prof who was a famous, prize-winning biologist. Unfortunately, he had been in a major accident that had affected his brain and everyone in college knew that he was "wacky." Fortunately, he had a terrific TF who pretty much ensured that the course would not be a total loss. It was heavily subscribed, too, because it was part of the general education requirement and there was no alternative.
I think it would be appropriate to brainstorm a variety of scenarios to make the full IB program work but also not shortchange the students.
Could the school provide an assistant to the teacher (say, a student doing a practicum?) My S's classes have often had student teachers who worked under the supervision of the permanent teacher; some were just terrific (and even better than the veteran, Ph.D. teacher!).</p>

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<p>My son's school does not allow any taping/filming/photos of teachers without explicit permission (I think is a result of teachers from other schools being shown quite unfavorably on sites like utube). Nor would we feel comfortable with those sorts of tactics.</p>

<p>Right now I am leaning towards an "off the record" discussion with the counselor voicing my concerns. My experience with the school adminstrators to date has indicated to me that although they care deeply about the students, they are hopelessly overworked and must approach their jobs on a "triage" basis, separating tasks into the urgent, important and probably will never get done catagories.</p>

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<p>Marite-- teachers at son's school often have education major students interning with them for a semester, perhaps that is a possibility to look into.</p>

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<p>Why didn't you go the principal on the issue of the final exam/grade for last year? That was a legitimate concern and the other students would have backed up your son's story. It would have been a completely factual complaint with no personality issues.</p>

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<p>At my son's school, final grades are mailed out several weeks after the end of the term. The report shows the final exam and overall year end grade for each class. We did immediately call the school when we received the report in June. The teacher was already on summer break, the counselor could only access the electronic grade book, which showed a 67 as the exam grade. We were advised to take it up with the teacher when the fall semester began. Son had to go the teacher daily for nearly 2 weeks before he would discuss it (was repeatedly told "later"). It was just about a week and a half ago that he told son that he would change grade if son "looked good" in class for awhile. Son decided that was good enough, but I am increasingly concerned. I have a call into the counselor to discuss-- but haven't heard back.</p>

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<p>Good luck, we had success in elementary school in getting a teacher changed that had erratic behaviour, but not out the door. It is a difficult situation to be in.</p>

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<p>Dementia is a progressive disorder. Therefore, one does not have to be slobbering and forgetting how to get home in order to be in the early stages.</p>

<p>There can be many medical reasons for erratic behavior. </p>

<p>MedlinePlus</a> Medical Encyclopedia: Dementia</p>

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<p>Thanks for the heads up on the taping - I guess having grown up taping virtually all of my college classes (I was a terrible note taker), it never occurred to me that taping a class lecture could be against the law.</p>