Baked Goods Are Not To Be Taken Lightly
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“I watched a mom get into a fist fight with another mom because she accused her of buying store bought brownies for the PTA meeting.
The last thing I heard was, ‘Are you accusing my great grandmother’s recipe of being store bought?’ before a fist went flying.”
The Joys Of Joint Custody
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“A father asked for my phone number during a PTA meeting.
‘That’s inappropriate, in front of our son,’ his ex-wife said.
He got up and yelled across the hall, with loads of other parents and teachers present, ‘Shut up. You know everyone thinks you’re the biggest tramp in town.’
I laughed afterwards. But at the time I was mortified.”
And The Award For Pettiest and Cruelest Vendetta Goes To…
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“I was in the school library catching up on some homework while a PTA meeting was going on. One of the mothers, who had a special needs child who needed extra resources, had been recently missing a lot of meetings for chemotherapy.
One woman was livid about her absences and lack of ‘contributing’ to the organization. She suggested that PTA should stop ‘funding luxuries for the child of a parasitic freeloader,’ which meant that the kid would have had to go to a different school. Unfortunately, this woman didn’t face any repercussions in any satisfactory sort of way. Everyone was sort of scared of her.
I’m pretty sure she had some other beef with the mom of the special needs kid too and tried to get her homeowners’ association to punish her for leaving holiday decorations up for too long. Unfortunately she didn’t get ‘told off’ in any satisfactory sort of way. Everyone is sort of scared of her. I mean she didn’t get her way and nobody likes her, so there’s that.”
Her Daughter Must Be So Proud
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“I had a mom get up during a meeting and loudly announce that the school was failing her daughter because her daughter WAS GIFTED and the subjects just weren’t holding her attention. The girl was an okay student, but averaged at a C level because she couldn’t quite grasp the subject matter.
The daughter was not present for her mother’s announcement (and was a sweet girl who probably would have died a thousand deaths over the spectacle). The mom just would not sit down, demanding to know what the school was going to do about it, seeing as her daughter was just so superior to her peers.”
School Politics Aren’t Too Different From The Real Thing After All
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“One year we had to hold a special election PTA meeting due to the fact that the former president decided to embezzle the PTA/school funds for personal use.
During the election for a new president, the old president thought it would be a good idea to show up to the meeting to plead her case that she was not a criminal. She ran to the microphone and loudly told everyone that she was framed, that the FBI was now involved, and that we were ‘ALL GOING DOWN.’ Then, she pulled out a large bottle from her purse and threw it at the principal’s head. She missed. When she was done, she got into her car and backed into the car of a fifth grade teacher’s car, who happened to teach her middle child.
Sadly, that was one of our ‘good parents’ when I taught at that school. Good times.”
“Dreaded The Onslaught”
I’ve had some good and some terrible experiences, but I’ll let you decide which is which.
First story: I had a really bright student, but this was back when technology was really starting to get prominent. He was more interested in that than in my class. Therefore, when interim grades came out, he ended up with a C in my class. Now this was a student who was a senior, and in his entire life had never received anything less than an A. Grades went out, unfortunately with parent-teacher conferences the following week.
Well this was a small area, and I knew the mother and that she would be coming in to see me. I was working an after school program at the time, so fortunately I could not be in my classroom. I tried to hide, but she somehow hunted me down. I saw her coming and just dreaded the onslaught that was about to occur. She shook my hand and thanked me, because she knew that her son needed to realize that he couldn’t skate through life and needed to experience some failure before going to college. I was shocked.
Second story: I caught two guys cheating. Now if I catch you cheating, I will make sure that I have documents (and my personal copies of them) to back it up. So I wrote them up for cheating. Within an hour after that, the mother of one of the students came up to my classroom pounding on my door and confronted me about writing her child up for cheating. Meanwhile, her son is sitting in the room taking a test!
I finally calm her down, since lunch is right after, and we meet in the principal’s office. She is still not happy and is still cussing me out. We finally get her out, as I have to go back and teach. During my planning period at the end of the day, I get called into the conference room. Now the dad has showed up. So I am in there with the mother, the father, and even an assistant principal. I laid out my case, and the father literally came at me over the conference table to punch me. He was so wild. If the assistant principal hadn’t intervened, the dad probably would have attacked me.
I still have mad respect for that principal.
The parents of the other students met with me and simply asked me if I was going to look at or treat their child any different. Of course the answer was ‘no’. I liked both of these students tremendously, and we all got along very well before and after. I wrote letters of recommendation for both of them for college. They learned their lesson, but I just wish the one set of parents would have. The parents kept at it for a month, but they were never allowed to meet directly with me. Technically, the mom could have been arrested for trespassing when she came into my classroom. The attention seemed to die down. The son and I actually got on great both before and after the whole ordeal.”
This Mom Thought She Was A Secret Agent, Or Something
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“I had a meeting with the mom of a 6th grade boy (who is still a total nightmare) last year. She showed up to the meeting 20 minutes late and immediately set up her laptop and wireless mouse, insisting that she still must get work done since she typically works from home. She never touched the laptop once the meeting got going, but she did defend her son at every turn, insisting that it’s the teachers picking on him.
By the end of the 15 minute meeting, she still didn’t touch the computer, didn’t believe any of the teachers ‘accusations,’ and wanted the boy to wear a body cam to school to ‘see what was really going on.’ Fortunately, a dean explained to her why that was ludicrous and wouldn’t happen.”
The Swiss Family’s Hostile Son
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“I used to work in a village in Switzerland with a lot of families with migration backgrounds. You could consider yourself lucky if you didn’t have to hire a translator for a meeting. I had a conference with a mother and father whose child was in the second grade. He was around 8 years old at the time.
Their kid had pretty bad hygiene, couldn’t concentrate in school, usually made fun of other kids in class, and so on. I wanted to talk about how he was behaving at home, if if he had any medical issues, and if he might have had ADD.
I couldn’t even state my view of their kid. The father came in and said he didn’t want his son to shake my hand because I’m a woman. In Switzerland, all kids are required to shake hands with the teacher in the morning and before they leave. It’s a stupid thing and I hate it, but it’s just tradition. He didn’t want me to talk to his kid unless it was really necessary. He then stood up and basically threatened me that he would come back and ‘get very angry’ if he heard one more bad thing about his son.
Since, then I only had a meeting with this family with the principal and social worker present.”
Small Town Nightmare
“So basically the head of the PTA, who is also the principal of the middle school, was a walking assault charge waiting to happen. He got super upset at this single mother he was harassing, so he called her daughter into his office. He gave this poor child a lecture and written note to take home. Turns out the note was about how her mother wasn’t fit to parents and got it on with too many guys.
Her mom stormed into the PTA meeting and absolutely lit into him about how he kept asking her for dates. Except she turned him down because everyone knew he beat his wife. She also ranted about how the other heads of the PTA were off getting wasted at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday, and how this guy named Baker got his secretary pregnant and then threatened her job if she didn’t leave the state to get that taken car of.
This town has really gone to the dogs.”
The Little Girl “Deserved It For Provoking Him”
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“A kid pushed a girl down the stairs and then kicked her.
At the PTA meeting, his mother fought tooth and nail to defend him. She kept saying how the girl probably deserved it for ‘provoking’ him. She was just going down the stairs. Her extremely rude, up-in-your-face attitude, coupled with shouting out of her mind eventually caused us to kick her out of the meeting.
Her son did get that suspension, though. But they switched schools later that year.”
Who Wouldn’t Want To Be Compared To A Face Like That?
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“Once, when I was about 6 years old, I called the dean of my school a ‘George Costanza-looking loser’ and got suspended for it.
My dad went to the meeting later that week. As the dean explained to him what I did to get suspended, my dad laughed.
Another father said, ‘He’s not wrong. Well, he’s wrong for saying that, but the description fits.’
Neither of them were allowed back.”
Parental Misguidance
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“It was my first year teaching at an elementary school. A father showed up with his son. The boy was a little shy in class, but he was very bright and responsible. He had started the year below grade-level and had worked hard to get on track. The dad was smelling strongly of adult beverages and animals, weaving and slurring his words. I called the office to have someone come down. We walked them to the office and had him wait. He ended up getting sick in the trash can.
I remember the look of embarrassment, anger, and sadness on the son’s face. I had other conferences scheduled so I couldn’t stay long, but the police had to be called by the administration.
The next day the son came in and said he was sorry. I told him I was proud of him and that I was sorry his dad was sick and that I hoped he felt better soon. That seemed to cheer him up a little. I sent home the progress report and great examples of his class work. I did try to reschedule but it never happened.
The worst of it was around the holidays when this student would ask if he could come home with me or mention that he wished I was his mom. I told him that his family would miss him too much.
‘No they won’t,’ he said.
It broke my heart. He moved schools the following year.”
She Tried To Help This Student, But His Parents Refused
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“My mother used to work as a first-grade teacher and reading specialist. She basically handled small groups of kids while they were learning to read and was an expert at identifying learning disabilities like ADHD, dyslexia, and a number of others that I had never even heard of before. Once she would suspect a student had a certain disorder, she would recommend a doctor for them to see and suggest methods to help work around the disability in the classroom. She would often keep in contact with the parent until the student graduated.
About five or six years ago, there was one student who was an absolute angel, but he couldn’t read to save his life. He couldn’t keep up with the other students even after being held back once already. He was sent to my mom and she immediately could tell he had severe dyslexia, as well as several other issues. She asked the parents to come in and when she mentioned this, they freaked out.
They said the teachers just weren’t giving their student the right attention and that their son was perfectly fine. It was the school’s fault. This was all screamed in front of their child as well. They then pulled their son out of the school, hired a lawyer, and sued for whatever this would be classified as. They talked down to the school and spread awful rumors about it too. None of the rumors really held. It was actually quite a prestigious elementary school.
Last I heard, the poor kid was held back again and was failing in another school that the parents put under threat. I hope he’s doing well now and has learned how to cope with his issues. It breaks my heart to hear about these problems, and that was just one story.”
One Teacher Reveals What Really Goes On In Her Head
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“The parents of a student of mine came to my room and yelled at me for an hour and fifteen minutes, as they were sweating through their stretched-out 3XL shirts, that my room was terrible, the school was terrible, the desks and resources were terrible, the janitor was doing a terrible job, and on and on and on.
Our principal was a smarmy bee-otch, so if I kicked them out, I probably would have been fired, so I just sat there. I kept thinking, People, I just work here. Of course I would love unlimited funds and luxuries for my room, but it’s not my choice. I’d also like half as many students and shorter hours for them, but suck it the heck up, buttercup. This is the planet we’re on.“
She Hated The “Disruption To Her Son’s Education”
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“There was a mother from my school’s PTA who kicked up a stink this year because her son’s teacher was absent too often. She went on to say that this was ‘disruptive to her son’s education’ and ‘selfish’ of the teacher to take time off, despite the fact that it was a job share arrangement and the class was adequately covered.
The teacher in question was absent because her husband was battling brain cancer.”
PTA Pitfalls
“The PTA at my daughter’s school is basically stereotypical, almost sitcom-like. There were four or five of us that would show up and just kind of sit in the back and listen. Everyone else was busy talking about nothing that really mattered. One of the other fathers was Sikh. He wore a Turban. He was a really nice dude to talk to and very down to earth. We’d find each other during the meetings so we could sit and talk about stuff. We both worked in the tech field, so we’d sit and talk about tech, upcoming tech, and just generally banter with each other.
One day, one of the moms, who was super-chipper and over-the-top enthusiastic, walked up to my friend. I would describe her as a middle-aged former cheerleader with a haircut that screamed I’d like to speak to your manager! who would probably complain if you did not accept her out-of-date coupon.
‘Just so you know,’ she said to him, ‘We’re accepting of all races and religions, even Muslims.’
I started to cringe.
He said, ‘I am Sikh.’
‘Well, I am really sorry to hear that,’ she replied. ‘I hope you feel better.’ Then, she bee-bopped back to the front of the meeting.
I was full on cringe at this point, like I was worried I was going to stay that way forever. He slowly turned and looked at me, like I had some explanation for it. I just apologized and he said, ‘It’s not your fault.’
I eventually stopped going to PTA meetings. After I stopped going, my daughter had told me that my Sikh friend’s daughter asked about me. It turned out that he lived about a block over from me and my daughter and his daughter hung out.
I was driving by his house one day and saw him in the front yard and stopped to talk to him. I asked him how he was doing. He said, ‘I’m feeling a little sick,’ and then shot me a look. He had a killer sense of humor about the whole thing.
I kept chatting with him numerous times after that when I saw him. I’d stop to talk and his wife would feed me curry. Once my eyeballs stopped being on fire, we’d chit chat some more. He and his family ended up moving to a newer development closer to his job. He has my number and I have his, but we just kind of fell out of communication. He and his family ended up moving to a newer development closer to his job. He has my number and I have his, but we just kind of fell out of communication.
This PTA meeting was something you’d see in a sitcom. Our school was going through a budget crisis. Bullying was rampant as was blatant misconduct. So I figured the PTA would perhaps start some type of campaigns, to maybe mitigate both of those things. Nope. The biggest decision they made in my time there was color choices for a formal dance at the school. It was seriously a major decision too, they discussed it for about 45 minutes to an hour, and they never really came to a decision. That was the last meeting I went to.”
Two Tales Of A Parent Under Negative Influences
“My cousin is a teacher. She once had a parent come to a parent/teacher conference extremely inebriated. Right before the meeting, the parent tried to pulled out a bag of coke and start doing lines. The police were called and so was CPS.
The school also had to call 911 once because a parent overdosed in the parking lot while waiting to pick up her kid. The poor kid was too young to understand why their mom was slumped over in her car.”
Why Parent/Teacher Conferences Should Stay On School Grounds
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“My mom is a teacher. In order for her to talk to a parent about of child who was struggling due to the school environment, she would arrange to meet at the parents’ house. These would be scheduled in advance with a set time.
There was one meeting my mom had scheduled at which the father of the student in questions answered the door 100% unclothed. He then tried to have the meeting with him on the front porch in nothing but his birthday suit.
My mom doesn’t do anything outside the school anymore.”
“Knives Were Involved…”
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“I work in a middle school with an elementary school next door. Two girls from my school were arguing all day and told their parents about it when they got out of school.
The parents proceeded to call their opposing families up to the elementary school and fought in front of a bunch of kindergarteners. Knives were involved.
The cops were called. I think some of the parents are still in jail for weapons possession/parole violations. One of the kids was pulled from our school and put in foster care.”
This School Must Not ‘Believe’ In Tacos
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“I was organizing a fundraising event for my child’s school and the PTA president stood up and laughed when I said I wanted to accept a generous donation of local tacos instead of buying Costco cheez whiz and chips to sell.
She shut me down after stating tacos wouldn’t happen and followed with, ‘Moving right along!’ Another parent said she had told a group of parents that I was ‘off my meds’ crazy and that there was no way anyone would donate tacos.
At that moment, I had the letter from the taco shop in my hand with the charitable donation offer.”
PTA Meeting Over Skype? What Could Ever Ruin That?
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“My friend is a teacher at a very special school. You know how there are schools for kids that were too ‘troubled’ to be in a normal school? Well, you may also be aware that there are schools for kids who are too troubled for those troubled schools.
What you probably are not aware of is that there are schools for kids who are too troubled for the schools for kids who are too troubled for the schools for kids who are too troubled to attend normal school. The fourth degree of problematic kids. These schools tend to be sort of hidden since they don’t want people identifying kids coming and going from these last chance schools and harassing them.
Well, my friend was asked if she would be willing to be part of the PTA for this school, which is not even like a normal PTA since kids come from all over the country, so the parents would have to phone in for PTA teleconferences.
My friend told me that, during these teleconferences with the parents, she would often tell them that she would have to go speak her administrator, then left to go to the bathroom, and threw up from stress.”