Without being able to be specific: when is it wise/advisable/not professional suicide to go over a co-worker’s head to a department chair? This is behavior that is troubling, but clearly does not cross a line. My DH had good questions that I am unable to answer “What exactly do you think meeting with Department Chair is going to accomplish? What do you want?”
I don’t have some idealistic notion that one meeting will create a new environment for me (or my students; I work in a school) but I am so uneasy with the daily drill. I hem and haw about this issue – I am perhaps deluding myself that nobody knows what’s going on, and worry that if ( in fact ) this behavior is common knowledge and nobody cares, I am just a big fat tattletale. Sigh.
Unless I know what it is, I can’t really advise too much. I will say your DH’s questions are good. I think one reason to do this is harrassment of any sort…towards you or a student. If the behavior is not crossing a line, I’d be very uneasy by going forward.
Is there another professor in your department you can go to and see if they are experiencing this issue as well? There is strength in numbers, maybe. If you can go to the chair and say “Some of us are having a bit of an issue with X.” It doesn’t seem as much like a personal b* on your part.
It depends on how this person is impacting your work and/or others perceptions of you. I once had a colleague that was an alcoholic who was lying about the work he was doing (he came into the office, locked his door then surfed the Internet or disappeared all day). He claimed he was helping me as well as his staff which was a lie. I tried going to my boss (without mentioning the alcoholism, just focused on his behavior). He talked to this colleague about it but, of course, he lied and then proceeded to say that I wasn’t doing my job (WTH? I was a top sales person). Nothing changed with this dude and he sullied my reputation. I left the company for a much better position soon after. He was fired about six months after I left. All I can say is tread carefully.
Is this co-worker a good performer and generally well regarded professionally? If so, you may lack credibility, and come off as either sour grapes or a snitch.
Usually other people know. As an owner it’s never my goal to make it to the level of another employee approaching management, but I don’t think an employee ever came to tell a manager something they didn’t already know and were trying to address. Since I don’t know that you have the open encouraging kind of environment I try and have perhaps you ask for help in how to handle the other person.
College or k-12? If it’s the latter, there are already guidelines and cases where you should have the informal chat with the guy or gal up the ladder. The issue of “credibility” can be dicier in a non-academic environment. But in a school, behaviors are supposed to be conducive to learning.
We don’t know enough. But “what do you expect?” is sometimes easily answered: you’d like to see the problem behavior end. Especially if students are affected.
Your husband is right. Unless you have an actual goal in meeting next level management you are basically just whining. You can do that better privately where there can be no repercussions.
K-5 school – the behaviors are not regarding me (I’m a big girl, and I can take the gossiping, the complaining, the blaming me for things I had no part of, incompetence that makes me look bad too ), it’s the students. Classroom “management” that includes public pillory, reducing children to tears on a regular basis, imposing rules that are not part of general policy, shaming, arguing, baiting, belittling… As a parent, I would never, ever sit still for this kind of crap.
But, I guess I knew it was futile. When I mention who/where I work, I always get a knowing grimace. I’ve asked people I know, and the general comments have been that they assumed their children had “deserved it no matter what a kid claims the didn’t do”. But I am here watching it unfold, and most of the time the children are blameless, or at least are deserving of more humane treatment. It is a hard way to make a living – watching someone be mean to little kids all day.
Thanks for sharing that. You do need to be their advocate. But I agree there is strength in numbers. Please talk to the other teachers and go together if you can. My DS1 was being being treated terribly, with other little kids, when he was just in daycare. If it hadn’t been for that one person…their one savior…to speak up and speak to US, then we wouldn’t have been able to enroll our kids elsewhere. When it comes to children, I have no issue with you moving forward with this.
If that’s what’s going on, I might sacrifice part of my own reputation in order to tattle. That behavior should not be acceptable.
You need to consider what’s the worst thing that might happen if you do tattle. (And I’m not using “tattle” as a bad thing, just as a shorthand term for complaining to someone.) Might you get fired? Might you be criticized in return? Might others side with the bad guy and against you? Consider all these possibilities, consider if you could tolerate them, and proceed accordingly.
If this is a public school district, there should be formal policies in place about what is and isn’t acceptable teacher behavior, and this behavior has crossed the lines. So meet with whoever it is that you are expected to report this kind of incident to. If those structures aren’t already in place, the school counselor might be an option for getting more immediate help for the students.
I’ve never worked in a school, but it seems to me that you should be able to bring this up with the boss. In general terms, to start: you are concerned that not everyone is adhering to admin policy re student discipline (not age appropriate).
Before you do this you should, for your own protection, document every observed case. Black and white, as if you are presenting legal evidence. Names and dates. So it can’t be dismissed as gossip or hearsay.
There should be no reason to tolerate a Dolores Umbridge in your school.
Edit: your goal in meeting boss would be “ensuring that all teachers are aware of and practice preferred (fill in blank of whatever buzzword you use to refer to class discipline methods)”
I can’t believe there’s a question about doing the right thing…and for little kids. You can ease into this discussion, before formally accusing. If there is no school counselor, can you speak with one for the district? That sounds like a safe first option. And yes, safety in numbers; find another teacher or admin who sees the same issue. Good luck.
How competent do you feel the Dept Chair is? Do you and the Dept Chair see eye to eye on educational style and classroom management strategies? Do you have a strong working relationship w/ the Dept Chair? These are all questions I would consider before kicking it up a level. It’s hard to believe that the Dept Chair isn’t aware of some of this if they are doing their job well and keeping tabs on their direct reports. Is there a y that they have an idea of this teacher’s style and don’t care or are too lazy/want to avoid conflict to deal with it?
Have you made any comments to the teacher directly yet? I’ve always found it best to at least have a direct discussion with the party in question. Granted, don’t lay all your issues/gripes out there, but after witnessing a particular tangible incident, broach that incident as a topic of discussion. You can then say you had tried to deal with it directly.
I’m not sure if I agree with the advice about talking to other teachers and rounding up some support. I think such tactics can be dangerous and can lead to unnecessary workplace gossip and drama.
Do you have the equivalent of a human resources person?
This doesn’t cross a line? Are you keeping a record of this behavior? I’d approach the school counselor, but make sure you have a record of incidents in case you need it later on.
The problem here is that these behaviors are not clearly reportable – I myself am appalled at standing a 7 year old up in front of a class to scold them for 4 minutes for talking, but plenty of parents and (apparently!) admins would have no problem with it. If it were beyond the pale behavior, I would have already reported it, and I’m not afraid of losing my job although I would like to not end up as the bad guy/pariah…And maybe the kids ’ parents don’t care or complain because it’s not a big deal to them.
In the meantime, I’m resorting to ridiculously calculated behaviors designed to interrupt diatribes and mitigate scolding. I feel like I’m the only person between some of these kids and the teacher, and I won’t just give up without a fight.
Actually, it sounds like it crosses all kinds of lines. I’m hoping that some of the parents have already complained and are continuing to complain. I sure did when my D reported problems in her 2nd grade classroom. In her kindergarten year, there was a new teacher (who’d come down from administration to try classroom teaching) who acted like the one you’re concerned about. D’s own teacher was a rock star in the classroom right next door. I don’t know who complained or if other teacher got involved, but that teacher was gone the next year.
I don’t think the school counselor is the way to go. I would go directly to the principal, if you can trust him/her. Or look up the policies for complaints with your district and go to whomever handles this sort of thing. I can tell you from my D’s experience that these things have a lasting impact on kids, especially when they’re really young. Hopefully they have parents who can undo the damage this teacher is doing.
The answer to what you want should be, “To see the children treated fairly and not being bullied, shamed, reduced to tears.” Isn’t that enough?
Isn’t this the time of year when teachers line up new jobs? If at all possible, I would recommend finding new placement elsewhere. If you are in an environment where parents/administrators are ok with this behavior, it doesn’t sound like a good fit for you. It sounds like this behavior is at least passively condoned. It is not worth the stress/lack of sleep its probably causing you. Then, with a new job in hand, you can express your concerns in a constructive way before departing.