problem child

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problem child
By Kristin

Do you have a phone in the classroom? I hope you do. For parents who don't seem to care, we have the student call every time he/she misbehaves. Therefore, the parents are forced into the situation. If they don't like being
bothered, then they need to get their child to behave properly. They are absolutely responsible for their child's behavior. You are not a babysitter.
Our vice-principal (the disciplinarian) is very supportive in situations where we have little support from the parents. When the child misbehaves, we immediately write a referral and send them to the office. The V.P. then contacts

the parent and decides on the punishment. We have a "detention center" that they can be sent to. But after a couple of times of the "center" the parent is forced to pick up the student because they are suspended. Again, the parent is being forced into the situation.

You need to start a paper trail. We usually do the following things, in about this order:
1. Contact parent by phone (during class, by the student who dials and tell parents why they are calling, then gives the phone to you to follow-up with your expectations...can you give them detention afterschool?) write down date/time/and summary of call
2. Contact parent again by phone (same as #1) and explain that the next time you will have to write a referral (do you have those at the school?)
3. Ask for a meeting with teachers and administration and a behavior contract...make sure the parent has responsibilities, too.
4. Continue writing up the student and sending to office.

Again, the parent has to realize that if their student does not behave then they will be held responsible.

ONE MORE THING/IDEA....I sometimes send my misbehaving student to another classroom next door. They have to sit in the back of another class and usually they don't like it. I'm not crazy about sending them outside, because of legal issues.