I don't think controversy and PTO should ever mix. There's enough drama.

These decisions are best made by the people who get paid for it and by the parents who have first hand knowledge of the situation.

Teachers wanted us to take a position against the new principal two years ago. We played Switzerland and remained neutral. Good thing, because he's still here.

Put on your parent hat if you need to take a stand.

As a PTO, don't take a stand- it's not within your jurisdiction to make decisions about personnel employment ( I assume it's not). You can express concern to the building Principal.

If she's that bad, you can be sure your building Principal probably doesn't want her , either.

But, perhaps, rumor mill aside, that this teacher has some great qualities. Despite her gruff nature, she just may know the curriculum inside and out, and is efficient at getting the job done. Perhaps the parents that complain about her are those of children who forget assignments, or who are fresh or disrespectful, or who aren't attentive in class.

Our school has a teacher very much like the one you have described. and all the parents DREAD their kid " getting her"... As PTO Pres I go out of my way to say positive things about her, like her classes always have the best state testing scores in our whole town, ( true).. she is efficient, knows " her stuff" and the kids learn A LOT from her- and so on.... Strangely enough, the kids who do their work, and who pay attention, are never yelled at!

I also tell them Kids ( And parents) need to learn that they will get teachers who aren't exactly the best match ( just like a boss) but they need to step up to the challenge of learning to deal with different personalities.. It will make them stronger.

Shift your focus, and instead of jumping on the negative band wagon, ask the Principal how you can assuage the parents' fears and feed them Positive things about her!

Good luck!

The PTO should not take a position with school policies, staffing, etc. As a parent, you can voice your opinion at a board of education meeting. By the PTO taking a stand, you are speaking for ALL your members. You may also jeopardize your relationship with your principal.

Plus, think about where & when did the rumors start? Maybe it was by a child or parent that didn't like the homework they were getting or one that was disciplined?? You have to give this teacher a chance and base your opinion of him/her based upon your experience and the experience of your child. Not by what the rumor mill is spreading.

all4 - it's very frustrating to feel at the mercy of the decision makers. If you have concerns about this teacher's placement then you absolutely should talk to the principal.

I do agree with the other posts about the PTO remaining neutral in this issue. If the placement is made, she will be a member of your team and you'll need to be able to work with her as you would any other staff member. Straining the relationship will make that very difficult.

I personally had concerns about four different teachers at my son's grade school. Three of them, it turns out, are amazing teachers and their students LOVE them. It seems that while they relate to their students well, they don't quite have the same rapport with the parents. The fourth one was the nightmare I suspected she was. Her contract wasn't renewed at the end of the school year.....

by the way, a 'bad reputation' is nothing to talk to the prinicpal about. bad reps are based on rumor and are worthless in the arena of 'complaining to admin about a teacher'
one needs hard FACTS to gripe about a teacher or any staff.

if your gripe is not solid based on fact, chances are you might do yourself and kids more harm than good making a big deal of it. you will simply get labelled by the admin.

let those parents, who really have had a negative experience they can document, go complain.

Stay away from it. At least in our district, this is the type of issue that parents, either individually or as a group, will take to administration and/or the school board. Ultimately, the administration and the board are the ones that have to approve to let this teacher stay or go so they should be the ones involved. PTO should, imho, try to stay neutral. PTO does not make hiring or firing policies and should leave those issues to those who do.

There was a similar situation brewing when I became pres a couple years ago and some parents approached PTO (me being new) about it to try to get "our opinion". What they really wanted was some kind of group backing. I politely let them know that they would be better served to take it straight to those who make policy and that the PTO really would prefer to stay focused on helping the school with programs and events for the kids and would rather not become involved in policy issues as it would take away from that main focus.