!. Children should never be left alone in a school, esp. at that age;
2. A teacher who does so (leaves small children alone) is suspect re: judgement, sobriety...pick a topic!
Contact your state board of education or your state congressman or senator for referral to the correct agency.
I have always approached relationships with my childrens teachers as a partnership. In the beginning of each school year, I contact each teacher, introduce myself, and let them know that I can be contacted at any time for any reason and that if they have behavioral issues with my kids in class, I expect immediate contact to discuss the behavior so that I can address it with my children. This has really worked for me. Now that my sons are older (teenagers), they know what my expectations are and that their teachers always know how to get ahold of me.
Good for you for setting up a meeting. It does sound like there are a few issues to discuss.
While your childrens teacher may be young, that is not a good excuse for leaving your children unsupervised for any length of time. While I do not know if it is against the law in TN (I live in CA), I do know that as a parent, I would never do it at that age. The teacher is also causing a huge liability problem for the school which should be brought to the attention of the administration. 5 and 6 year old children are not mature enough to police themselves and handle problems that may arise when they are alone.
The second issue that I have is if the teacher is out of the room, how does she know that your son is misbehaving? To punish him in class for something that is really her fault (lack of supervison) doesn't seem right to me.
I hope that the principal of the school has been invited to sit in on your conference and help to address the issues that you are having. While you don't need to lambaste her, you certainly need to address your concerns and your expectations of her behavior with your children.
If you have the time, spend a whole day in class with your kids to see what their routine is and get a sense of what happens. The administration should immediately honor your request and be happy to accomodate you. If they do not, then may want to rethink your choice of schools.
My two children attend a small Christian school in North Carolina.
Since the school is very small they are in a classroom of 6 kids and one teacher. (love it)
My daughter (6 years old) is the only first grader and gets one on one time (love this too.) and my son(5 years old) is one of five in kindergarten. They're always on the A or A/B honor roll so I can see the teacher does her job well.
The teacher uses a Green-Yellow-Red light system to let parents know how a child behaved on any given day.
The problem is she seems very inconsistent with her behavior policy.
Green light means the child receives a prize for that day, except some days she'll give them green but no prize because they didn't behave.
Yellow is more of a warning, and red means silent lunch the next day. Again though she's inconsistent some days there will be a yellow light for something that got a red the previous week.
I am all for discipline, I am relatively strict on my children (ages 6,5,3 and 2) and expect them to behave well anywhere they go. And they are very good kids.
Still I know my children misbehave and I welcome and expect discipline for them at school and in their classes at church, I will never be one of those parents who say; "Not MY child, they wouldn't misbehave!" Because I'm their dad, I know they do and will, as to be expected.
Though now it's coming to light that the teacher will leave this class of 4,5 and 6 year-olds alone for what they describe to be extended periods of time. I know a child's perspective of time can vary greatly from ours, but a teacher friend of mine says it's against the law in NC to leave children this age unattended for any amount of time.
I know she does this on a regular basis because when she sends notes home for us (everyday!), she says my son always misbehaves (usually talking out) when she leaves them alone in the classroom.
We have set up a conference with her.
My question is does anyone know if it is against NC state law to leave these children alone.
And how should I intelligently address the inconsistency in discipline. I had been taking away
privileges for anything less than a green, but now I'm concerned if my discipline will appear
inconsistent to my children if we go on the word of their teacher.
I am looking forward to this conference and I would like any advice on how to discuss these issues with her. I can't find anything online addressing the state laws of student supervision for public or private schools.
Please know, she is a young teacher and I don't plan to go in with a chip on my shoulder and I don't intend to lambaste her. I feel she is a good educator with a bright future, who may just need some more experience.
