We are still dealing with this issue. At this point it has moved up to the level of the State Board of Education. The school dept. Supt. ignored the complaint which was brought to his attention from a small group of parents in person at his office, back in January and he still has yet to direct his attention to the matter. To top it off the teacher is still teaching and has daily contact with students.
As for my son..I am happy to say that he no longer attends that school and is working on mending from his ordeal with that teacher.

I can't agree more with PTAPres on the importance of documenting all of your meetings. Not only letters but conversations also. Let's say you have a phone conversation with the principal, you should then send a follow up memo stating what was discussed with the date and time listed. I would also request that a copy be placed in your students file. You always have a right to review your childs file and that is something everyone should do periodically. Let us know how you are progressing and hang in there! One thing about principals--they will always back their staff. As for getting rid of a teacher, if they have tenure they would practically have to kill someone before they will be addressed.

Keep going up the chain of command if you have not been satisfied with the Principal. Go all the way to the school board if you need to!

First...I'd like to thank all of you who have posted an answer to my dilemma. Your genuine level of concern has meant a lot to me in dealing with this isssue. I have read all the posts of answers as you posted, it has taken this long for me to reply to such for the following reason.. Every time I read my post it just puts what I have been dealing with right out there in black and white, which has been hard for me to look at. I have been revisiting this issue with the principal, who has NO clue as to what this has done to my son as a lasting effect [ I've given my permission for the school counselor to meet with my son and report to the principal, which goes like this..."Your son is happy here at school and he doesn't seem to have any problems associated with what took place." Of course I get notes and conduct reports saying there is a problem, which never happened prior to the link of events. I also have informed the principal that depression is not a 24 hour thing and doesn't mean that the child can't be "happy" at times.], in trying to right what was wrongly done to him. I "Knew" what the proper action on my part should have been, and now will be. On Tuesday, January 16, my son is having a complete eval to be placed on meds, I have already requested a complete report of findings from such. I shall then take this information over the principal's head to the superintendent and demand the proper actions to take place against this teacher. I shall also put my findings of what this teacher did to my son in writing [ of course I was told it wasn't necessary by the principal ] and formally turn such in in the context of a complaint.
Again, I thank all of you who have taken the time to address my issue with your thoughts and experiences. I shall let you know what happens.
LORI

This makes me soooo angry! I will try to compose myself here in order to give you some advice! My son went through a horrible ordeal with 2 teachers (although there were 4 involved)in 5th grade so I totally understand and I learned a lot! The first thing you have to do is PUT IT IN WRITING! A teacher, principal, or district does not have to do anything in response to any complaint if it is not in writing. They can basically sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened. You should write a letter to your principal first and send courtesy copies to those above him, but since so much time has lapsed you might want to consider addressing the letter to each of them. When you write your letter it is important that you be clear about what you want to happen (the desired outcome ie; alternative classroom for your child, remove the teacher, whatever)and the time frame you wish it to happen in. Next, rally the parents of those students who are also having trouble with this teacher. There is strength in numbers. Set up a meeting with your principal and the asst. superintendant and superintendant. Make it clear that you are here as a parent, not as a PTO President, and that there will be NO reprocussions for the PTO as a result of this. I personally would consider discussing the diplorable behavior of your principal for insinuating that your child's welfare could be bought with PTO favors! This does not sound like a child advocate to me. You owe this principal nothing, he obviosly does not plan to anything or he would have alreadyl! I too believed my principal when she said she would take care of it, and none of the other students were having trouble, and I was the only parent complaining. I later found out that almost all the parents in the 5th grade had been to see her about this matter at some point and time in the year. I wasted half a school year before I pushed the envelope and went over her head and then it took the rest of the school year to get done what was needed. The district ended up setting up a task force with staff in the district as well as parents. We came up with guidlines and criteria that had to be met (our problem was with team teaching and share time teaching and the incompatibility of the teachers pairing up) before it was ok'd to do and checks were put in place with a procedure for ending it as soon as possible if it wasn't working, before a whole school year went by, losing the students! It didn't help my son for that year but I did have the satisfaction of knowing it wouldn't happen again to him, my daughter or any other child! There was some retaliation on my son by teachers involved, through his grades and citizenship but at that point the year was over. I did take it up with the asst. superintendant and they did get reprimanded, (and it's in their file) and sent for loads of training during their summer. The good news for you is, fortunatly my good reputation out weighed the bad and I nor my son have had any problems at the Jr. High and he had a wonderful year in 6th and is this year too in 7th. He has made the principals honor list with his grades. I never thought I would see that again after that year, his self esteem was so low and he was so down on himself from listening to the crap these teachers were telling him; "your a poor student", "your A's all along were gifts, you really don't do A work", and "your a discipline problem". Been an A student with excellent citizenship for 5 years and suddenly he's a below average student with discipline problems. Yeah right! The teachers at the elementary have been fine too. Two of the 4 teachers involved transferred at the end of that year, so that helped. Another thought for you to consider is that your child may need some tutoring or summer school and I would certainly push for the district to pick up the tab since they failed to take care of this problem and he got behind. Sorry about getting so long winded, I guess I just wanted you to know it may get uglier before it gets better but hang in there -your child needs you and thats your first priority! Please post updates I would like to know how it's going and how it all ends up. Good Luck!

Oh my stars. I can't believe a caring professional would have the guts to treat a child the way yours has been treated. I think your first and foremost duty is to your child and the stakes have been elevated. It is criminal (harrassment) the way your son has been dealt with and I would go directly to the superintendant of the district with the doctors statement showing how the inattention to this matter has so adversly affected your son. No person should have to deal with the CRAP that this teacher is dealing out.

It just makes me so mad and sad that a precious child has to go through this. Don't worry about the Principal's blustering (threats) about the PTO, he should know better than to play that card as they are separate issues and he can get into trouble with the school board if he continues on this path. Stand up for your child and let us know how this turns out. My heart and prayers go out to you and your child. Good luck.