RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this problem.
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 8/28/2008 9:00:08 AM
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mapachito13
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Per CA education code or "the law" a teacher can only grade a student on things relating to curriculum. My wife, a high school teacher, cannot even reduce or improve a grade based on the student's conduct! A box of Kleenex does not relate to curriculum in any way and it is just another cost cutting measure for the teacher to keep students from having to go to the restroom to blow their noses.
A teacher doesn't have to supply Kleenex but they'll do it to expedite solving the nose blowing problem since no one (myself included) carries a handkerchief and students have several "valid reasons" to try and get a trip to the restroom so they can text their friends (ahem) blow their noses and what not.
I don't know what state you are in and what the code would say in your state. Also, if your kids are in a private school, teachers are able to do things that would be illegal in public schools.
But you're doing the right thing. Get the teacher the Kleenex and send a note and if that doesn't work - off to the principal's office. But what a pain over a box of Kleenex!
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Peace Sells....But Who's Buying!
"I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility."-David Walker, fmr comptroller general of the US
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 8/28/2008 6:50:21 PM
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garsyt
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Problem solved.
Ty got his 5 points back and now has an A+ average going in that class!
We still haven't heard from the teacher yet tho. She told Ty today that she was in the process of changing the grades.
Grades! Makes me wonder - I don't think I was the only parent that complained about it!
Blessings,
Garsy
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My Blog: www.moredayslikethisplease.wordpress.com
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 8/28/2008 9:04:53 PM
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csl7037
Posts: 1636
Joined: 3/24/2008
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Wow, I guess she really started the year off on the wrong foot!
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 9/1/2008 9:53:20 AM
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artemis
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quote:
ORIGINAL: PrincessDonna
I'd be watching that teacher's grading closely to make sure she is being appropriate and fair in grading. Is she a new teacher? I just can't fathom a teacher thinking that was a good idea to deduct points for tissues. 
It is possible that the teacher was using her gradebook to keep track of students who had brought their supplies and had always intended on raising the grade of any student who brought supplies late and had planned on making it an extra credit assignment at the end of the six-weeks. Many teachers do not keep paper notes any more and use their gradebooks almost as a file system. This was never a problem until parents got access to gradebooks, and now when a teacher has a 0 in for an assignment that isn't even due yet (just an example), she has parents calling her, even though she'd always planned on entering the grades as the assignments came in and never planned on leaving that 0 unless that assignment was never turned in. Just a possibility.
I'd still monitor the grading throughout the year. That goes for every teacher, not just this one. We make mistakes, too  I've been known to type in "010" instead of "100," giving the kid a 10 on an assignment instead of a 100  Of course, I've also given a 10 when that's what the kid actually earned 
As far as needing kleenexes... I asked my 160 students to bring either kleenexes, scissors or crayons. I got 10 boxes of kleenexes, 3 pairs of scissors and 4 boxes of crayons Less than half of my students had the folder I required for my class, which really frustrates me because they are currently 10 cents each and there is a Target within walking distance of the school. You could probably find the 10 cents on the ground on your way over to the store 
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 9/1/2008 11:39:47 AM
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hoppersfan
Posts: 960
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quote:
ORIGINAL: artemis
quote:
ORIGINAL: PrincessDonna
I'd be watching that teacher's grading closely to make sure she is being appropriate and fair in grading. Is she a new teacher? I just can't fathom a teacher thinking that was a good idea to deduct points for tissues.
It is possible that the teacher was using her gradebook to keep track of students who had brought their supplies and had always intended on raising the grade of any student who brought supplies late and had planned on making it an extra credit assignment at the end of the six-weeks. Many teachers do not keep paper notes any more and use their gradebooks almost as a file system. This was never a problem until parents got access to gradebooks, and now when a teacher has a 0 in for an assignment that isn't even due yet (just an example), she has parents calling her, even though she'd always planned on entering the grades as the assignments came in and never planned on leaving that 0 unless that assignment was never turned in. Just a possibility.
I'd still monitor the grading throughout the year. That goes for every teacher, not just this one. We make mistakes, too I've been known to type in "010" instead of "100," giving the kid a 10 on an assignment instead of a 100 Of course, I've also given a 10 when that's what the kid actually earned
As far as needing kleenexes... I asked my 160 students to bring either kleenexes, scissors or crayons. I got 10 boxes of kleenexes, 3 pairs of scissors and 4 boxes of crayons Less than half of my students had the folder I required for my class, which really frustrates me because they are currently 10 cents each and there is a Target within walking distance of the school. You could probably find the 10 cents on the ground on your way over to the store
I know what you mean. I think tissues frustrate me more than anything else. Kindergarten students use A LOT of tissues!! Many times, they use the tissues just because they saw someone else get up to get one. And the difficult part of telling them not to be wasteful is that the little darlings go home and tell their parents that their mean old teacher wouldn't let them blow their noses when they needed to!!  I'm a mommy as well as a teacher, and I wouldn't be offended at my child's teacher for trying to get the kids to use their resources a little more wisely. And, before I get fussed on, I'm NOT talking about a child that legitimately needs to wipe his nose. Of course, I would never stop a child with a runny nose from getting a tissue. In fact, it's just the opposite-I'm usually delivering the tissue to the child!!  But, there are many parents who don't try to think these things through before complaining about them. And, I've even heard parents say that it's the school's place to provide their child's tissues.
My beef with parents who won't purchase the necessary supplies (in my district) is that they are given the supply list in May, so they have May, June, and July to round those supplies up. Even on a tight budget (which I have been on many times), if you get one item a week you would be ready when school started. The most expensive thing that I ask for is gym shoes. The rest of the list consists of things like folders, crayons, tissues, etc.
Sorry 'bout that soapbox rant!! And, let me say, there are MANY wonderful parents out there who come up to me and say, "Let me know when you're running low on something and I'll get you some more." I think parents like that are Heaven-sent! They truly are greatly appreciated.
To bring this back on topic, I would never deduct points from a child's grade because his/her parents did not send in tissues.
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 9/1/2008 6:04:27 PM
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sen10tious
Posts: 354
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Garsy, give yourself a foil star for having raised a kid who tells you this stuff! I tutor kids after school—ages 7-10 mostly, and at that stage many of them would be unbelievably stressed out over losing points for such rules and they would be afraid to tell their mom! (Of course, these kids have grade issues to begin with or they would not be in tutoring.)
Occasionally I work with high school kids, and what a difference three or four more years makes… I bet that not only has that teacher heard from another parent; I'd bet she has heard some opinions straight from a cheeky student!
The sad thing is that in the last five cases of high school drop-outs I have met, none of their reasons were academic. They were all accumulations of this sort of thing where the student felt they were treated unfairly in what they considered fussy non-educational hoop-jumping. If these teachers think they are teaching "responsibility" by deducting points for failure to contribute Kleenex, they might be too sheltered in their educational theory.
…does using Kleenex kill trees?
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 9/1/2008 10:26:11 PM
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garsyt
Posts: 2236
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Oh he told me he needed the kleenex but he didn't tell me that he had points deducted for it. I have the ability to check his grades on line through our schools power school program! Makes it really nice to keep a small problem from getting out of hand! It's easier to get problems solved in the early stages then to let them fester til mid-term or the end of the term and wonder when and where things went wrong and then try to come up with a way to solve the problems before they affect GPA's!
Blessings,
Garsy
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My Blog: www.moredayslikethisplease.wordpress.com
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RE: Teachers and parents - please weigh in on this prob... - 9/2/2008 5:50:17 PM
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danas_mom
Posts: 551
Joined: 6/17/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Tinkerbell_
If I were the parent of a student in that class (because I can almost guarantee that your child wasn't the only one) I would make sure the teacher understood that a) with fuel the way it was I wasn't going to drive across town just to get a box of tissues and b) when I had the funds to get the tissues I would and c) to grade something that isn't even a required supply would probably warrant a parent teacher conference immediately.
This is exactly what I was thinking.
We live almost 20 miles from the nearest store, no way can I "just run back to the store" to pick up something that is not an essential.
Garsy, glad you got it worked out with the teacher.
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I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. ~ 2 Samuel 24:24
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