<p>We have a high school Spanish teacher who makes the kids bring in baked goods for the entire class is they accidently speak a word of English. I believe they have snacks almost every day. At open house, in front of at least a dozen parents, I asked him about this policy and then added, “You really like those snacks, don’t you, Senor ____!?” I was sick of baking or buying things and making my son do it just didn’t seem right. My son could have died at that comment! I’m not sure if the embarassment worked on the teacher, as my son had the other Spanish teacher the next two years.</p>
<p>Every year we have an awards ceremony where each teacher gives an award to his/her outstanding student. The first year, my son only got one award. The second year, he got six, while 90% of the class just sat there, not receiving a single award. This was the year we chose to go in and complain. We figured it would be better to do it from a winner’s standpoint. The assistant principal changed it so that only award winners were invited to the ceremony. This only lasted two years until another mother went in and said, “My daughter worked hard for these awards and I think the rest of the class should be there for her recognition.” That mother AND her daughter need to get a life!</p>
<p>I just read in the paper about a HS in a small town in Texas that still has a STRICT hair code–off the forehead, above the ears, etc. Some kids are being threatened with not graduating if they don’t get their (long enough to be in a ponytail) hair cut! </p>
<p>One boy has his mother braid his hair so it’s off the collar, and pomade the front so it’s off his forehead…it’s still not enough for the hairstyle nazis there. Sheesh.</p>
<p>Girls don’t have to adhere to these rules, apparently.</p>
<p>My oldest son’s AP physics teacher senior year was a NIGHTMARE!!!</p>
<p>He had just graduated from college #1 in his class with an engineering degree. Smart as anything, but couldn’t teach to save his life. He would test them but not give back the tests, only tell them the grades, which would average in the 40’s and 50’s. My son was terrified that he was going to fail, so I set up a meeting with the teacher.</p>
<p>When I met with him, he obviously began FLIRTING with me in a really CREEPY fashion! I didn’t know what to do, so I ignored it. The meeting was awkward, to say the least, but I left with the promise that he would give my son some extra help after school.</p>
<p>Next think I hear is that the teacher has said to my son in front of the whole class (boy’s Jesuit school), “Your mom is hot!” Completely freaked my son out and he began to be teased about it from the other guys!!!</p>
<p>My husband and I set up a meeting with the dean of students to complain about everything, not only the improper behavior, but also the fact that none of the kids were learning anything!!! We were assured that our son would pass the class, not anything else. He ended up with a B. We let it go.</p>
<p>The next year the teacher was gone.</p>
<p>I’d say that was my most absurd situation!!!</p>
<p>Our HS once tried to tell us that daughter needed another whole series of immunization booster shots because the last one of the series that she had gotten years earlier had occurred one day too soon. They were not going to allow her to enter the school building until the new series was started and we presented a doctor’s note. We called her doctor who told us it would be absurd to make her repeat the series, that he was sure she was protected and that there was no way he was going to do this so that some #@$# bean counter could check off a little box somewhere. </p>
<p>It turned out that the school’s instructions specified that there must be six months between boosters but did not specify how to calculate six months. They figured it meant that if she had the next-to-last shot on the third of the month, the last one had to be on or after the third of whatever month was six later in the calendar. I pulled out my trusty spreadsheet and showed them that six-month periods calculated that way can vary from 181 to 184 days in length, depending on when they start. I showed that there were 183 days between the two dates in question for my daughter, and pointed out that someone else could have had the boosters two days closer together than she did while still meeting the school’s requirements. Fortunately, they relented.</p>
<p>My senior year of swimming our high school coach forced everyone to attend high school practices. This meant for the few club swimmers like me had to attend both her practice and then our club practice right after, since her practice did not really do anything for us compared to our club practice. It got really annoying because some of the club swimmers quit the HS team because it was annoying to swim 12,000+ yards in a row with the first two hours of it being a complete waste of time (4000 yards in HS practice vs. 8-10k in club practice). People had complained of the club swimmers having “special priveleges” the year before since we were allowed to just attend club practices and go to HS meets. </p>
<p>I stuck it out only because my parents basically forced me and because it was my last year, but I guess our coach was too dumb to realize that the only people who advanced to regionals or state were the club swimmers.</p>
<p>swim, maybe you don’t know this, but some states REQUIRE a student practice with the HS sports team. Otherwise they would be declared ineligible and the events forfiet. Maybe your state has such rules or your coach was from a place that did. </p>
<p>As a club coach, during the HS sports season, we’d tone down a bit because my players were training with the HS team. Maybe it’s really you’re club coach at fault here, but you like them better?</p>
<p>I’m currently in the midst of an issue w/ a PTA program, so the issues are with PTA folks moreso than the school. I’m still way too into it to appreciate its absurdity at the moment. However, I VERY rarely make a big deal about something, more usually offering support to my daughters for them to fight their own battles. In my current situation, I feel like I’m being abruptly dismissed as a “whiner”, which is frustrating as heck. Oh well, I’m planning to send my last email on the subject today. I’ve wasted way too many brain cells for this one–these people aren’t worth it.</p>
<p>Opie that brings up a good point. In fact, in some states (most maybe?) you CANNOT practice with a club during the high school season.</p>
<p>We had a kid a couple years ago who participated in the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition run by Gatorade, the NFL, etc. He had to sit out 3 games and the team had to forfeit the other games from that season because he played football on the high school team and participated in the PPK.</p>
<p>Oh I’ll bite…we had a teacher in his late 40s at our high school who was involved with and eventually married a graduating senior (18). Numerous kids said something to the administration, and other parents had complained that they thought there was something off about his behavior with their daughters. Nothing was done until she graduated the year he resigned and off they went.</p>
<p>During my senior year, I got called to the dean’s office for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance. I had been in the counselor’s waiting room, and the secretary told me to stand, and I just kind of smiled and said “Oh, it’s not required” (this had happened once before and I had stood, and it bothered me for some time after that I had, compromising my principles and all). I went back to class not thinking anything of it, and about five minutes later I got called up to the dean, who gave me a ridiculous lecture about “patriotism” and a lot of BS like that. </p>
<p>I got really upset and started spitting a bunch of stuff about 1984 and communism and God knows what else. But it was great. She was clearly not expecting any response except an apology. She just looked at me and told me that I would make a good politician someday. </p>
<p>Then she called my mother (without telling me that she was going to do so) and my mother was like “And I’m supposed to be troubled about this… why?” It was great. </p>
<p>Oh, and after I left the dean’s office, I went back to my World Affairs class and told my teacher (a socially conscious, argumentative free-speech-promoter) what had happened. He told some of his colleagues, one of whom got so angry that he emailed the entire faculty to tell them about it. I was a minor celebrity for some time after that and the teacher who emailed even mentioned it in passing in my college recommendation (something like “DC stands up for what she believes in even against authority figures” or whatever). </p>
<p>Lesson of the day: Don’t mess with the Constitution. Or the valedictorian. Or the valedictorian’s mother, or her easily riled social studies teachers.</p>
<p>My HS had a written casting hierarchy where everyone got into the spring musical (cast of thousands!), but in order to have a lead, you had to be in crummy chorus as a freshman, slightly better chorus as a sophomore, have a small role as a junior, and then you’d get your lead as a senior. If you played by the rules, you’d get a lead senior year even if you couldn’t carry a tune…but if you were a sophomore or a senior auditioning for the first time, you couldn’t compete for a solo even if you were Kristin Chenoweth.</p>
<p>The kicker was that the school insisted that this policy was just designed to make sure the leads went to the people with the most experience. Without going into the details, when I was a freshman, I had a great deal of experience. I boycotted the musical every year, which of course got me nowhere. But man, I just couldn’t stand that duplicity. They didn’t care about experience. If they’d just had the guts to say, “We do this because we think excellence doesn’t matter,” maybe I could have swallowed it. But they didn’t, and they still don’t. They’re still selling the same product for $23,000 a year.</p>
<p>I have an absurd middle school story. S went to a private school with a strictly enforced dress code. He was the only boy in his class who made it to the last semester of 8th grade without a dress code violation. He was really good about wearing the proper uniform, even though he hated it. About 2 months before the end of 8th grade, the principal suddenly decided that the shoes he and a friend wore were not acceptable per the dress code. She told the boys that they would have to get new shoes by the next day or they’d get detentions. When they asked her what was wrong with the shoes, she told them that she had been told that they were skateboard shoes. My son, who is extremely polite & respectful, explained to her that they were a brand that made skateboard shoes, but that they were not meant to be used for skateboarding. She told him that they looked terrible. I emailed her and requested an appointment. When we met, I explained that my son had worn the offending shoe throughout middle school. He had replaced them with a larger pair of the same shoe a couple times as he grew. The shoe was completely within the published shoe rules. We had two months left and I could not justify buying new dress shoes. She said, “Surely you don’t think that shoe is acceptable for dress?” That set me off!!! I told her it was a perfectly acceptable shoe for an 8th grade boy to wear with a school uniform, especially since they were within code (they were black suede, dark sole, tie shoe, no logo … nice looking but comfortable). Furthermore, he had been wearing this shoe for almost 3 years with no issues. The principal told me that I should be grateful that S “got away” with the shoe for so long. It was all I could do to keep from telling the woman that she needed to get a life and focus on something meaningful. It was just so STUPID. In the end, I bought my son a pair of shoes that were less comfortable, didn’t look as nice, but passed the principal’s inspection (you bet I took them to her and made her okay them before he wore them!) — it was a private school, after all, and we had signed an agreement to abide by all the rules — but I did tell her it would take me a week to buy them & I would raise holy heck if she gave him a detention before the week was up. I managed to maintain my composure, but as I left her office I noticed that the other boy’s parents were waiting to talk to her. They are very outspoken, and I don’t think the principal was treated as respectfully by them as she was by me! And both boys wore the offending shoes to their fancy 8th grade graduation ceremony. I don’t think the principal noticed, but it made the boys feel like they pulled one over on her.</p>
<p>When I was in HS we had a creepy band director, a greasy guy who reminded everyone of the dad on “ALF.” He made disgusting jokes and inappropriate (sexual) comments. When we complained to our parents, they said, “Oh, he’s just trying to get along and fit in with you.” The summer after his first year, he was arrested for flashing at the local mall. That was the end of his teaching career… and nowadays, adults listen to teens who tell them that other adults are creepy and inappropriate.</p>
<p>Currently our HS is in desperate need of repairs. Of course, the town doesn’t have the money, and the state passed us over for the list of who would get money for building repairs this year. Yesterday, just before the girls’ basketball game, one of the basketball hoops FELL FROM THE CEILING onto the bleachers. Luckily no one was sitting there. Last year the town cut our maintenence and facilities budget by 25%… you think that might have anything to do with this problem? The biggest irony is that this state will not pay to build or repair a field house, it’s considered a luxury. A gym yes, but not a field house. So our HS has an existing 35 year old field house in dire need of repairs, but the state won’t fund it. They’d fund us if we built a brand new gym, but not to fix an existing field house. Go figure.</p>
<p>Hehehe. My son spent three years at a charter high school that had just started (he was one of the first 70 students) and eventually closed after graduating just 20 students the 4th year. We had so many problems, it was comical. Things I complained about: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Chemistry class with no err, chemistry. The teacher had difficulty handling the students and several times just walked out of class and went home. At some point during the school year, the school figured out that to “count” as a California a-g lab science, they have to uhhh have a lab portion of the class for a certain number of classes per semester. So they bought beakers or something and did a “measuring lab” – it’s usually the first lab you do in class, and involves learning to accurately measure the amount of liquid in a container. Anyway, they did that lab, and then did it again, and again. And basically once a week for the entire year, they repeated the same lab, so the school could say that they had a lab component of the course. At the end of the year, in a school meeting, the principal apologized that the students really didn’t have chemistry class, and what a shame that was. Yeahhhh. </p></li>
<li><p>Son was taking pre-Calc with 2 other students as a sophomore. They were working with a teacher who was really amazing, but the school wanted her to focus on her regular class, so they put another teacher in charge. He told the students he couldn’t help them with the problems because he didn’t know that area of math. He never graded homework, and never gave tests. He told the students that he couldn’t give them tests because he wouldn’t be able to grade them. Son had had one homework grade from the first teacher, an 84, give in September. In June, the second teacher gave final grade for the year: 84. We asked to see any work to support that grade, teacher said he “couldn’t find it”. Then he left. Next year, new principal, every teacher told that principal the grade was bogus, and that teacher had never given any work, had not shown where grade was from. Principal said that he did not want to change the grade because it was “contrary to state laws to change a teacher’s grade”. The other math teacher and other teachers went to bad for my son, asked that he be given a final exam (he never had one) or any way to prove he had a higher grade, but the principal would not. Those teachers wrote letters to go in his transcript disputing the grade. It was a big deal because he was all A’s, and 84 was a C at the school. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I could go on – over and over, it was “good” teachers against the crappy ones. Eventually son transfered to another school for senior year.</p>
<p>A teacher accused my son of forging my signature on his class syllabus/lab proceedure policy which parents were required to read. I had to schedule my one and only teacher meeting to clear the issue up. Perhaps not coincidentally, the teacher was not rehired the next year. And btw, I did not complain to anyone about the incident.</p>
<p>Teriwtt - I bet you live in a high sales tax state. I’ve bought food for our band kids before, and it is the same thing, you have to submit the amount and get the check cut. It is a little looser at the private school, they can cut the check with only 2-3 days notice, and there is a procedure for reimbursing the overage if the item costs less. If this procedure is followed, the school does not pay any sales tax on the item, that is the reason for the burdensome steps. Over the entire school’s purchases it makes sense - our sales tax is 9.5%. You can get reimbursed if you buy something for the school, but they discourage it for larger purchases because of the tax exempt status.</p>