Call every student’s parent each grading period? Wichita teachers balk at proposal

[proud2BlibKansan]

How often do you call parents? I don't think this is an unreasonable expectation for elementary teachers. Most of the schools I've worked in have required weekly progress reports as well as monthly phone calls. But there is no way a secondary teacher can call every parent once every grading period! That's insane. Some of our high school teachers have 175 kids!! They'd be on the phone all night every night.

WICHITA -- The Wichita school district wants to require teachers to write detailed lesson plans, file grades online every week and contact each student’s parent or guardian at least once per grading period.

Teachers union representatives called the contract proposals “insulting” and “out of touch,” adding that teachers already work too many hours outside the classroom.

“I understand every parent is concerned about their child, and teachers need to work to keep parents informed. But you can’t forget about another group of kids out there, and that’s … the children of employees,” said Greg Jones, who is leading contract talks on behalf of the union.

Mary Whiteside, the district’s director of human resources, said the proposals are an attempt to address parent expectations.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/26/3578960/call-every-students-parent-each.html#storylink=cpy

[msongs]

1. teachers should work their contract day, put stuff down, and then go home nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. That's virtually impossible for most of us.

We need to spend evening hours grading papers, etc. I worked for a couple hours on paperwork this evening. It's the only way I can keep up with what I have to do.

[dkf]

5. Tonight my sister took 2 hours reviewing her 2 kids homework.

I kept marveling how much more they do nowadays. It seems that teachers work a lot more than they used to back in the day.

[Salviati]

6. Working to the letter of the contract is a pretty extreme work action for teachers...

Not quite as extreme as actually going on strike, but it's up there.

[FBaggins]

8. Teachers are professionals, not hourly labor

They are not always treated as such, but that's another conversation.

There are hardly ANY professional jobs out there that work a strict 40-and-done hours per week and take nothing home.

[bluestateguy]

3. Teachers are teachers. Not babysitters.

And then how I wonder how you deal with the parents who are never home, don't return phone calls, or just don't care.

Will that be made to be the teachers fault too?

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. We are finding more and more with no phones

It's amazing in this day and age, when it seems everyone has a cell phone.

[elleng]

4. Not entirely unreasonable,

to make contact of some sort, IF class size is reasonable. 175 is NOT reasonable.

[YvonneCa]

10. And this is EXACTLY the reason teachers MUST be included...

...in any plan to fix public education. Implementing 'well-intentioned but dumb' ideas will fail. We need to succeed in getting public schools right. We cannot afford to fail.

[elleng]

11. ABSOLUTELY!

[knitter4democracy]

12. I have 165 and 8 preps. I don't call parents unless I absolutely have to.

I'm a long-term sub, and that means I'm an hourly worker. I already work many unpaid hours with planning and grading (though I'm refusing to use their stupid lesson plan forms entirely), so adding in parent phone calls means someone is going to have to pay me for that..

[elleng]

13. Of course. Obviously not an option for you.

[YvonneCa]

14. It is unreasonable in most situations...

...to impose such controls on teachers. The intent is...obviously...to solve a problem, but the solution makes the situation worse. It assumes teachers have no brain, no judgment, no skills in prioritizing what they do to meet the needs of their students.

Teachers are trained professionals with judgment. They need to be allowed to use it.

[Downwinder]

7. One size does not fit all students.

[CRK7376]

15. I used to attempt to call

every parent of students that were failing or close to failing. Most of the time I never connected with the parents. I did send out progress reports several times a quarter, that was before computers were used in the grading process and record keeping days. Took alot of time to generate grades and progress reports, often for parents that could care less what their kids were doing in school. I hated open house nights, 9 out of 10 parents that would come to open house were the parents of kids that were doing great in school, never a problem. It was the parents of the kids that were failing, that I asked specifically to attend a conference that never showed up....Yeah, just pile on more stuff for me to prepare for my students....