Ask Your Child!

I recently received an email from one of my parents from last year (since we're in summer, I have relinquished all claim to those kids and anticipate new kids with relish). In it, she asks me why I gave her child, little miss perfect, an F for the final 9 weeks. Why did I not tell her this was coming? Why was her progress report grade so good (if you call a D good, because I don't) if she is now failing? Plus, she copied the principal, guessing I'd respond more quickly if I saw that the principal knows about this issue. (I don't care, honestly. I have an AWESOME principal who understands how these things work).

Why do they do this? Ask why I gave their child a failing grade? I didn't give your child anything. They earned it.

This happens quite often. I guess it shouldn't surprise me anymore, but it does. The number one question I want to ask, before even looking to see why the child has the F, is "Did you ask your child why they earned the F?"

90% of the time, they will say no. Asking the kid sitting at the dinner table, riding in their car, standing in front of them begging for something, does not even occur to them. Instead, they will go out of their way to accost a teacher. I have been chased down in the grocery store, Target, the school parking lot (where they were WAITING FOR ME, which brings to mind a whole new level of obsessed parents), all to ask why little Johnny or little Suzie is failing.

ASK JOHNNY! He'll know. I promise, he'll know.

To be fair, even if they DO ask their child, the child will (in self-preservation) respond with "I have no idea, Mommy! I do alllllll my work! I don't think she likes me!"

But I digress.

The parent that contacted me waited 3 weeks after the report card had come out. I was definitely not going to school any more... I was freed. I don't have access to my gradebook at home. Was she hoping I'd say, "Oh, I don't know, let me change that?" I simply told her that I didn't have access to my gradebook so I would not be able to tell her exactly what the grade break down was, but I do remember that this student did not read her book that she was assigned for her project, wrote a pathetic book report on the book she didn't read, didn't do any of the other parts of the project, and was out for 2 weeks right at the end for a "vacation."

The best part? I was able to tell her that I had taken her child aside and told her that she was going to fail the final 9 weeks (I had warned the kids if they skipped or skimped on the project, they would fail, no way around it). I told her to make sure she told her mother why she failed. I said, I don't want to get an email this summer from your mother claiming you have no idea why you failed.

Ah, the joys of 12-year-olds as they fib their way through life.