Rude teacher

[camelephantpink]

This morning I dropped my daughter off at school. She goes to breakfast club and so is there early. I was also there with my young son. My daughter is 7 and very eager to please. Her teacher came out of the door as we were coming in and she flounced past without making any eye contact with my daughter and without saying 'hello' or 'good morning'. She saw us but actually made an effort not to acknowledge us. I asked my daughter why she hadn't said hello and she said 'mum that is what she is like'. I mentioned it to my husband and he says that she regularly does it to him when he drops her off. We can both forgive her for ignoring us (although it takes no time to smile really) but on reflection, I think its really mean to ignore your 7 year old pupil. Am I over reacting?

Just rude, sorry. No excuses. Teachers are role models so should model common courtesy, even when tired

“I think I have more empathy than most actually. I just cant bear arrogant people”

Lol ok

LotsToThinkOf : Thanks so much for your helpful response. I hadn't thought of the fact that other parents may be difficult. I generally go out of my way to be lovely to my children's teachers as I want to have a good relationship with them but I accept that not every parent is the same. I am not worried about the fact that she was non committal at parents' evening - it was early in the year and there was very little to say at that point. There are some strong views on here which are expressed quite bluntly. I thought this was a place for mums to have a supportive dialogue?!!

I went to open my mouth to say good morning to her but she actually made an effort to look away so I felt a bit of a tit with my mouth open about to greet her.

So you didn't say hello either? So she didn't ignore you?

There are a lot of posts like this on MN and I think you (and the many others) need to realise that you don't know what is in other people's minds and these are simply your impressions and your feelings- not objective facts. She could equally well be annoyed you didn't say hello to her.

It could be she's rude. It could be she has stuff going on. It could be that she's easily distracted. It could be she just doesn't like you. It could be that she fancies you and you make her nervous. Given that this list could go on forever I really wouldn't give it any more thought.

Let the others say whatever they want, don't get involved and don't judge because you don't know her situation.

Great advice.

My daughter has a teacher like this, but if you actually speak to her she’s lovely, so I’ve just come to the conclusion that she must have resting bitch face

Ninoo25 - funny.

She sounds rude. Nothing you can do about it but she is rude.

Bloody hell.

It costs nothing to be pleasant.

donquixotedelamancha - stop shouting.

I don't 'need' to realise anything. Its stating the bloody obvious to say that I don't know what is in other people's minds. I have a young, impressionable daughter and I'm afraid I will continue to make sure that I am alive to any issues that may be going on in her life that may upset her.

I'm not making excuses, but she is probably engaged on missions -

Collecting resources

Organizing future trips and speakers

Running risk assessments

Filling in reports and statistics asked for by line manager

Chasing reports and statistics from junior staff for whom she has line management responsibility

Checking stock

Photocopying

Replacing photocopier ink cartridges

Attempting to mend photocopier that previous user jammed up with paper

Putting up new displays

Taking down old displays

Making phone calls

Having whole staff meetings

Senior management meetings

Year group meetings

Faculty meetings

1 to 1 meetings

NQT support meetings

Appraisal meetings

Personal development meetings

Writing merit certificates

Filling in book of who has had/not had merit certificate this year

Checking supply teachers are in the correct rooms and are organized

Sorting them out when they are not

Searching for lost items

Reclaiming borrowed items from other staff

Reading documents so she can keep up with latest directive

Listening to complaints from lollipop man and trying to identify the 'culprit' from his description

Thinking about whether she will have time to visit the toilet that day because she has morning assembly duty as well as playground duty as well as lunchtime training tutorial on new school software as well as after school club to run

And therefore she spots you and is terrified that you might want a lengthy conversation with her and interrupt those things.

It might even be a conversation where you give her a job to do! "Oh by the way Mrs Smith, please could you watch Tabitha and Grace's tap dance and help them synchronize a bit better as it's the Brownies' show this weekend?"

Hence, it's rude, but life has taught her to pretend she hasn't seen you.

what MollyHuaCha posted ^

How sad to be like that.

Very rude. No matter how busy I am, I always acknowledge my pupils with a smile or greeting.

God knows how many parents I've failed to notice walking past me this week. I''m so tired that I walked into my house without even noticing that my husband had put up all the Christmas lights outside and that he'd switched them on.

Bitch

She is rude. I feel sorry for your DD.

Lots of people will be defending her because she's a poor overworked teacher. And while teachers are very overworked and underpaid- no that's a really shitty thing of her to repeatedly do. It's not asking a lot to want your kid to be in a supportive and friendly and kind environment and acknowledgment doesn't cost anything. I would be making a complaint- she doesn't sound like she's a good person to be in a school. How horrible for the kids. They're at school for most of their lives up until they're 18 and deserve to be treated with respect. No it's not ok at all.

And she does it repeatedly and your daughter says 'that's just what she's like'. Nope. Wouldn't be ok with me. I used to have a teacher who said when she dies and went to heaven she hoped she wouldn't be a teacher because that would be hell. Needless to say I bunked her class and kids generally had a miserable time with her. No it's not ok.

Teachers don't go into school early on the off chance they may be able to socialise with parents and pupils. She had things to do. And it's not like you said hello either.

Professional boundaries are a two-way street.

Best way to avoid upset for your daughter would be to talk about how not to take things personally, and that teachers aren't there to be your best friend.

Does and goes*

'Make a complaint' ??!!!

Don't make a complaint to the school that the teacher didn't rush over to you to say hello. Pick your battles.

Kids deserve respect and I'll stick by that whether people call me a snowflake or not this teacher sounds like she doesn't care about her kids and they don't deserve that just for being kids.

MollyHuaCha We could all list all the things we have to do in our jobs too. This isn't about how busy we all are, which frankly, is a given.
Its about a teacher being cold to a young pupil who is desperate to please her. I feel sorry for my DD too PurpleFlower. What does it cost to smile? I was in a rush too and did not want a conversation with her at all.