parents as TA's By Julianne

Probably it stings more because your principal wouldn't listen to you and wouldn't back you up. I my humble opinion if you had told your class to tiptoe in the hall that is not even a reason to raise an eyebrow. For goodness sake! You were requesting polite, considerate behavior from your group. Your TA over reacted. Your principal over reacted. Your student over reacted. (Do you sense a pattern here?) Chances are all these individuals will calm down and nothing will come of this. The problem lies in how to handle this TA in future conflicts. I think you might have to take a proactive approach. How do you think she would react if you pulled her aside and appologized for asking her daughter to "tiptoe". Then add, "You know how these kids sometimes exaggerate these things out of all proportion. I'm sorry if your daughter felt she was being asked to do something she couldn't do. I just hope she understands how important it is for us to move quietly in the halls so as not to disturb the other students." Another way to approach this is to bring the child and her mother together and explain in front of the child exactly what was going on. Make it a point to explain how "little Sally" must have misunderstood what you were requesting, because you know she would never be noisy in the hallway.

Either of these approaches, or any other where you confront the parent's concern may help the parent learn that going behind your back to the principal for every little difficulty won't work. She'll have to talk to you about her concerns no matter what. Once she sees you have a good reason for everything you do and you won't back down she should calm down and allow you to teach your class.