Sunday, April 19, 2009
Teacher and Parent
There is a girl in your class named Amy. Amy's mom is a very dramatic person who always seems to blow things out of porportion. One day the children are outside during playtime and Amy is riding a bike. While she is riding the bike a boy named Johnny comes up to her and wants her to get off the bike. Amy tells him no that she was on it first. Johnny gets mad and pushes Amy off of the bike. Amy falls down and she scrapes her face, knee, and elbow. She cries for a little while then stops crying once the teacher has cleaned her wounds and talked to her. Johnny is benched and told he will have to stay in tomorrow during playtime. The teacher also tells Johnny that she will have to tell his parents what happened when they pick hime up. Johnny starts to cry and tell the teacher that he does not want to get in trouble. The teacher explains to Johnny what he did was wrong and that he should apoligize to Amy. Johnny apoligizes to Amy and later on in the day they are playing together in the class as if nothing ever happened. When Amy's mother comes to pick her up she sees the scrape on Amys face and says oh my god what happened. She starts ranting and raving wanting to know who did this to her her daughter. The teacher asks her to come down and tells her it is not as bad as it seems. She tells her what happened and tells her that it is all settled. Amy's mom states that she wants to speak with Johnny and the teacher tells her that she can not allow her to speak with Johnny. Amy's mother starts cussing and telling the teacher that she is not leaving the school untill she speaks with Johnny. She then states that she is going to sue Johnny and the school for what has happened to her daughter. She is yelling and carrying on and other parents are starting to come in the school and see this. The teacher sees that this is starting to get out of hand and goes to get the director. The director comes into the room and hears all of the comotion that Amy's mom is causing. If you were a director how would you handle the situation with Amy's mom?
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This is a situation where there needs to be some clarification on the part of the teacher to the parent. Because the mother is extremely irate, as a director, it is my duty to bring her to a more appropriate area, such as my office where the situation can be discussed so that other parents aren't subjected to her negative remarks. With the teacher, parent and child in the office, I would first ask the teacher to explain to the parent what happened once again so that there is complete clarification. As the mediator in the situation, I would have to allow the mother to express herself and tell me why she is upset. It seems as though the teacher did not take the appropriate steps by calling the mother of the injured child when it happened and informing her of the child's accident and condition. It is apparent that the mother found out about the accident when she came to pick her up and saw the scrapes and scars on her, which is not okay. As a director, I have to hold the teacher accountable and responsible for not having called both of the children's parents when the incident occurred. As a supervisor or director, we always have to ask ourselves and others, "do you stand for quality, equality, fairness, kindness, doing the right thing, holding people accountable?" (Supervision and Staff Development Social EQ in Action PowerPoint). In this case, I have to hold the teacher accountable and make sure that the next time an incident like this occurs, that the parent is aware and doesn't find out at pick-up time. When dealing with conflict resolution, one of the ways to avoid conflict is to "consider ways that the problem can be avoided in the future" (Child Care Administration, p. 239). I would make sure the teacher is aware of the proper procedures when an accident occurs at the school when it comes to informing the parents about their children. In addition I would clarify with the parent the appropriate steps to take when trying to resolve an issue and that it is not appropriate to speak to the child, but to come to the director or supervisor in order to avoid confrontations with the teacher in front of other parents. On a side note, I would have a small sit-down with the teacher afterward and just inform her that I am there to support her in every way. Giving her advice about her purpose as a teacher and any core values that she holds can help her to make more informed decisions next time. "Should you lose sight of your purpose in the midst of a particularly heated situation, 'step aside' to recall your core value and why you do the work you do." (Supervision and Staff Development: Social EQ in Action PowerPoint).
ReplyDeleteI would have the teacher, parent, and child in my office. I would ask the parent to calm down and not disrespect our children, teachers, or the other parents with such inappropiate language.
ReplyDeleteI would allow the parent to vent and empathize with them that I might be uspet as well to arrive to pick my child up and realize that they have been injured.
I would have the teacher and the child explain what happened. I would also explain to the parent that it is not appropiate for me to allow her to speak to the child. I would also explain to the parent that our teachers try very hard to prevent any child from being injured, but sometimes accidents do happen.
I would meet with the teacher afterward to make sure they wrote an incident report and find out why she did not notify the parent immediately after the incident occured.