Gotta Watch Out For Those Buses

Tweet

Metaphorical buses, that is. My Principal called me to her office today to show me an e-mail she'd received from a parent. The parent was complaining about something I'd allegedly told his wife, and about me not responding to notes from his wife about setting up a conference, inferring the notes had been sent recently. In fact, the notes were from last fall, and I had called and set up a conference, and they blew us off - never called, never e-mailed, never rescheduled. On top of that, he'd totally spun what I'd said to his wife - with whom I get along great - the day before when we'd talked to set up a new conference time. To top it off, he'd blind copied a big wig at Central Office, who then e-mailed my Principal, who then called me to her office to ask me what was going on. I explained the whole thing and showed her my documentation. Now she has to respond to the big wig. Knowing how intimidated by parents our Central Office staff and Board is, and how weakly they support teachers, I may still get thrown under the bus. If I do, that's okay, I'm already looking at jobs outside education. What do you think of a parent lying on a teacher, especially when that parent never even talked to the teacher, and the teacher's being taken to task for something he isn't guilty of and proves it with documentation, all because the district administration is afraid to stand up to parents and support its own teachers?