What do you do when principal's kid is the troublemaker?

amother

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 2:38 pm

Sorry this is anonymous just that people here know where I teach and don't want this to be LH.

I teach the principal's child in high school and am having a really hard time with her but I find that because she is the principal's child it makes things much harder like she told her mom that she misbehaves in my class because I dont like her! Any ideas?

SingALong

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 3:40 pm

im not a teacher but I grew up with having the principal's kid in our class. what can I say? we all felt really bad for the teacher.

but in reality, a principal should know their kid, it is probably the most normal thing the the principal's kid to act up just to show she can be like everyone else, do trouble, or test the boundaries and see how far she can go. if she misbehaves by you, in high school, then I am sure she has done it before to other teachers and the principal is aware of it

soldat

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 4:08 pm

you need to speak to the parent, whoever it is.
for the sake of your student, follow the same procedure as with any other student.

I know a principal who has a son in her school with issues. she is very aware of them, and gets annoyed when teachers are scared to talk to her just because she is the prinicpal.

manhattanmom

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 7:51 pm

Speak to the parent--in this case, yes the principal. Are you nervous that the principal will blame you for her child's misbehavior? Any self-respecting parent--especially one heavily involved in these types of chinuch issues (school principals KNOW this stuff...) should completely understand.

greenfire

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 7:55 pm

you treat them the same as any other misbehaved kid in your class ... including discussion with parents when behavior warrants need

mimivan

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 7:59 pm

two of my kids have been "driven out" of two ganim because either the son of the menahel or the son of the guy working for the menahel were beating up on my son, and the ganennot were taking the side of the perpetrators because they didn't want to offend the "powers that be" for suggesting something unflattering about their kids' behavior.

Please be strong and do what needs to be done. Address the problems of a certain kid with the parent, no matter who it is. We have to travel far for one kid and pay a lot of money for the other kid because of this kind of injustice.. Crying

amother

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 8:16 pm

I am trying to work on it by speaking to the principal but it is definitely not easy! I am so frustrated. I dont think she is behaving worse in my class than in other classes but what she does is really getting to me. I really wonder if she acts up to get me to speak to her mother and then she gets attention. It doesn't seem easy for any kid to have a parent as principal especially in HS.

amother

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 8:30 pm

Quote:

It doesn't seem easy for any kid to have a parent as principal especially in HS.

Trust me, it's NOT

Just make sure you aren't percieving the situation to have anything to do with the parent being principal.
It could also be the kid is acting out for a completely different reason
or could be the kid's behavior is exaggerated in your eyes because you seem to think she is doing it because of her parent.

amother

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 8:32 pm

amother wrote:

Quote:

It doesn't seem easy for any kid to have a parent as principal especially in HS.

As for the last line, it's bad enough that her friends are telling her off for how she is acting.

amother

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 10:37 pm

1. Deal with the OTHER parent.

2. If the kid needs to be spoken to by a principal, make it a different principal.

3. If asked, say you treated the student as you would any other, who can argue with that?

4.Be confident!

RichWithNachas

Tue, Dec 09 2008, 10:42 pm

Is the principal a reasonable person? If she is hopefully, how about putting the ball in her lap and asking her how she thinks the situation should be dealt wit? Any true Mechaneches wants their child disciplined because they care about their chinuch.
If the answer to the first question is questionable, well then , that's where the problem really is. And then, you will have 2 choices . Either- play along till the end of the year which will definitely not be easy orB) as another mother posted .be strong -deal with the situation in a just way. And perhaps you will gain the students respect because she will see that you REALLY CARE about her, and are a true educator.

Hatzlacha!!

Frum

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 10:10 am

If I were you I would treat the situation as any other student. Can you call home and ask to talk to the mother? In this way you will bypass the principal. I think the principal will appreciate not being 'bothered' at school, and I think in any other case you would also give the parents a call at home, right? Hatslocho!

amother

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 10:22 am

Frum wrote:

Both parents are part of the hanhala. I asked them to call me and I am still waiting. The time that I teach is right after lunch so even if I get there, it is hard to find a quiet time to speak to them without all the students around them.

amother

Wed, Dec 10 2008, 10:24 am

I forgot I cant edit.

I did speak to the mother a few weeks ago who was told by her daughter that I specifically pick on her more than other kids if she is acting out so to try to lay off of her even if she is acting out to see if that helps. That actually made things way worse since she is trying to hard to rile me up. I am so fed up already!