Uncategorized | Apr 19, 2013
Should principals honor parent requests for teachers?
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Should principals honor parent requests for teachers?
By Angela Watson
This is another one of those highly divisive issues that seem to plague large schools all across the country, yet I don’t see a lot of conversations about it online. Anytime there are multiple classes per grade level or subject area, teacher reputations spread throughout the community and parents (as well as students) begin to express a preference for one teacher or another. These requests might be submitted in writing to the principal, or shared casually. But either way, schools have a big decision to make: should they honor or deny parental requests for specific teachers?
Many people don’t realize the enormous amount of factors that are considered when creating class assignments before the beginning of the school year. There needs to be a semi-equal distribution of students by gender, achievement levels, and behavioral concerns (and balancing all three of these factors simultaneously is no small feat.) Special considerations must then be made for the placement of English language learners and students with special needs. Often student-teacher personality conflicts are considered, as well as interpersonal conflicts between students who need to be separated from their peers. Then, just when a near-perfect balance has been achieved, it’s announced that a student is transferring in or out of the school, and more changes have to be made on a weekly basis all throughout the summer. I’ve been involved in the process of student class assignments many times, and it can take hours for just a single grade level. When you add dozens of parent requests to the mix, the job becomes almost impossible.
That said, I believe that parents have the right to do what they think is best for their kids, and their concerns about the classes to which their children are assigned are valid. It’s been well-documented that the skills of a child’s teacher have a far greater impact than the reputation of the school as a whole. In other words, it’s better to have an outstanding teacher in an average school than an average teacher in an outstanding school. The issue goes far beyond just academic achievement: teachers shape students’ personalities, attitudes toward school, and outlook on life. I certainly don’t blame parents for requesting an educator whose teaching style and personality is the best fit for their child.
So what’s a principal to do?
Picking and choosing which parental requests to honor creates a minefield of problems. What happens if one parent finds out his or her request was not honored but another parent’s request was?
If all parental requests are honored, the effect on the school can be chaotic. Parents who request specific teachers are often highly involved in their kids’ education and support learning at home. If all of those children are placed in one class, that means the other classes will have a disproportionately high number of families who are not actively involved in education. This creates a difficult situation for the other teachers, and an extremely unfair situation for the other kids, who may be assigned to less capable teachers simply because their parents weren’t able to advocate for the “star” educators. (Whether the toughest kids should go to the best teachers is another debate altogether.) When principals and teachers create class lists without input from parents, they have greater freedom to look at the big picture as they consider the needs of all students and how the school will function as a whole.
But if no parental requests are honored, principals run the risk of upsetting their most vocal and potentially supportive families. In some cases, those parents make the lives of both the teacher and the principal miserable until their kids are transferred into the desired classroom. Regardless of how well the parents handle the news, they’re still prevented from having a say in which person will assume a tremendous amount of responsibility for their child’s education over the course of 35 hours a week for almost an entire year. Parents can choose their children’s caregivers and babysitters–it seems natural that they’d have some sort of say in their kids’ teachers, as well.
What do you think? Is there a solution that’s fair for students, parents, and teachers? How are parental requests handled at your school?
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Discussion
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We don’t take parent requests at all in my school and teachers cant request pupils either. Classes are made up by management taking all sorts of things into account to ensure balanced classes which suit the needs of every child as far as possible.
We do sometimes have complaints but usually knee jerk ones which are solved by meeting the parents and discussing their concerns.
The thing is the opinion of teachers that parents have, especially when the teacher has never taught their child yet, is based on hearsay and brief encounters. It is not based on what actually goes on inside the classroom and the quality of the learning experiences.
The thing is that actually children can be very different at school than they are at home. Parents know their child inside out but when it comes to schooling do they really know how they interact in the classroom daily? Do they really know who they play with? Are they willing to accept that behaviour is an issue?
Schools should be somewhere where every child is treated fairly regardless of how involved their parents are. They are places where the needs of every child is of paramount importance and they are the ones who can see the whole picture and how each child fits in. Parents only see things from the child’s point of view.
As a parent I would not request a particilar teacher – I will let the management team decide on classes and support their decisions and my child from there.
Sadly, our school has had trouble with teachers “campaigning” to get certain students each year. One parent or teacher can completely change the dynamics of the school by saying one positive or negative statement to someone about a teacher. Other parents quickly pass this comment along and it “sticks” with the teacher whether true or not. I don’t want to have a child whose parents do not want me to have them. They will be waiting for me to mess up, and it is only a matter of time before I do. I am human. At the same time, we face the issue of the same teacher at each grade level getting all the higher achieving and higher parental involvement students every year. It is hard to know what is the “right” thing in this situation.
Wow, that really is tough. I guess the only piece of advice I give you is keep telling yourself that parents’ opinions do not determine your self-worth. You have to be secure in the work you do in the classroom and not let rumors make you doubt yourself. 🙂
This has been a major issue at our school for several years. Prior to our current administrator requests were usually made because of special concerns and there were very few. Over the last 5 or so years we’ve had an epidemic because specific teachers tell parents to go to the school and request them as their child’s teacher. Our administrator has tried to discourage this and has even ask that parents who requests write 2 teachers names. The shocking thing is that the teachers who are requesting parents to ask for them are not the best teachers. They’ve been caught in lies and manipulative circumstances that signal a deep set jealousy toward the dedicated teachers in our school. They campaign for themselves and then continues to try to destroy the credibility of good teachers by telling parents not to request them. The shocking think is the two teachers may not even be teaching in the same grade level. It’s a very stressful situation when you have some fabulous teachers being dumped on so those in charge are not bothered.
Parent selecting teachers is a huge problem and sadly it’s not necessarily because this “star” teacher moves the mountains. Rather, the “star” teacher may be well known in the community, great with PR, or she may have some “high profile” kids in class and other parents want their child to be in there too. The biggest problem I have witnessed is the stacking of classrooms. Some classrooms will be filled with bright, economically secure, well rounded students and the “other teacher” is loaded with students that have NO parental support, poverty stricken, ADHD, bad behaviors, lack of concern for an education and learning. With these obstacles a real factor and state teaching standards always in the back of a teacher’s mind, core content required, and college and career ready….How can this be an acceptable practice???? Most teachers are amazing and professional individuals, or I know they are at my school. When you stack a class by allowing parents to choose their child’s teacher, you are in effect setting another teacher up for eminent failure. I am firmly against it and when I began my career as a principal it will not be practiced. What will happen is this: If a teacher is failing at her job, I will assign a mentor to lift the teacher up. If the problem continues, we as a school will try professional development, and various other strategies to help the educator. If all fails, tenure will not be a part of the teacher’s future. It’s not for everyone. But, allowing parents to choose teachers you are pleasing a select few and telling the others they are not important enough, and the “other” teacher feels very unworthy.
I was nodding my head as I read your comment. I especially appreciate that you assign mentors to ineffective teachers. If we don’t give up on kids, we can’t give up on teachers. We need to provide extra support and encouragement to anyone in our schools who is in need of it.
Thank you for bringing this to light Angela. I am hoping the practice of requesting is a thing of the past. I just don’t think it’s good for the morale of the school. Let’s face it, the school is made of of teachers, students, parents, and community support people. It’s not the building I’m referring to when I say it’s not good for the school. Individuals suffer with requests. We all are more efficient when we take what we get. Kids learn valuable life lessons when they accept the teacher that they’ve been placed with. Parents teach their children that we have to accept the hand we’ve been dealt. My parents never chose my teachers and I learned to adapt with different personalities, to accept things for what they are, and to work hard to make any situation better.
Great perspective. Thanks for sharing.
This happens in my school every year. We have a new principal starting in July, so it will happen again. I had 7 colleagues come to me and tell me they were requesting me for 1st grade next year. While extremely flattered, not all of those children’s personalities will “work”. I’ve had staff children the last several years and mostly I’m o.k. with it, it’s harder when non-staff parents request you, who are high-maintenance. I worry more about the kids getting along with each other than anything else.
-Jessica