Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Deadbeat Parents Award

The girls each have a folder that they use to transport homework, announcements and other paperwork between their classroom and home.  Most of the time, Grammy is the one who empties those folders as she's the one here in the afternoons.  A few weeks ago, there were three foldouts with notes stapled to the top regarding a book fair (opportunity to purchase books) at school stacked on the corner of the kitchen counter.  When you have three kids in three different classrooms, they attend the book fair on three different days and those days were noted on the paperwork sent home from school but what was not noted on the paperwork was the teacher.  So we knew the days but not the corresponding kid.  Looking back, the easy solution would have been to send in envelopes of money with all three kids on Monday.  Over the weekend, Rich emailed two of the teachers to ask about the days and of course, the emails bounced back undeliverable.  Another easy solution would have been to email some of the parents we know but by that point, I was engrossed with birthday stuff, packing, laundry and I was feeling sicker by the minute.  We all (the adults, anyway) completely forgot about the book fair and it should be noted that the book fair is a HUGE deal to my first graders.

Allie came home from school that Monday with a book from the book fair.  How were you able to buy a book?  She told us that she, along with two other students in her class, had been given a $5 award for something related to math.  The book she had picked out at the fair had cost $6 so her teacher had given her an extra dollar.  Because there was no certificate or anything to go along with the award, I assumed that her teacher had given her some money because we had forgotten to.  The next morning before school began, Rich met with Anna's teacher for a parent/teacher conference.  Afterwards, he slipped into Allie's classroom and left an envelope with $6 in it, to repay and thank Allie's teacher.  She came up to Grammy a short while later as they waited for the school doors to open and handed Grammy the envelope.  Apparently, Allie did win some math award for effort and most improved math scores.  I'm still suspicious though...

Having the girls in different classrooms has given us exposure to many teachers these past almost four years.  It can't be a random that they've all been wonderful.  My dad was a high school chemistry teacher and as a kid, I didn't really appreciate what he did.  Teachers are helping to build the future and yet I feel like they aren't valued (or paid) for what their worth.  Compare what some executives bring home to a teacher's salary.  It's an interesting society we live in...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, not all my teachers were stellar but the ones that were literally helped shape the course of my life, not to mention all the little things like extra dollar for Allie. They seem just as important to general well-being as, say, dentists, and certainly worlds more than an executive.

Kristin said...

As a teacher, I very much appreciate your comments. Most of us do try very hard to do right by the kids. They are why we do what we do.

mel brouard said...

Thank you . I just started teaching Grade 5, our biggest problems are the parents. Their kids are always perfect. In South Africa a teacher like me at a government school is lucky to earn 1200 dollars a month after tax. Teachers in low income areas earn around 500dollars a month. Placed to rent start at 300 dollars.