what the most hilarious and groundless parental complaint you've ever fielded?

[HanneHolm]

I have heard of one parent complaining a member of staff wasn't singing in a parents assembly.

Surely you cannot be serious Bessie?
Permanent staffing of Reception toilets?
Teacher's CVs circulated to parents
Child collected 10 mins late every day.
Two entire classes mixed up to accommodate one family.

All that seems fair enough to you?

Moominsarehippos Mon 11-Feb-13 09:09:38
(Am a 'creative' so only have to deal with clients throwing toys out of their prams).

Moomin: Now you have me really curious if you work with people under the age of three(or so), or not... as the case may be.

Bessie123 You have GOT to be kidding, right?

Reminding children every few days to wash their hands would be a compromise though. And what is wrong with circulating cvs? I think that is perfectly reasonable. Where I work, clients see the cvs of client-facing employees as a matter of course. At my dd's school, classes are mixed up every year. I can see it would be traumatic for a child to be the only one moved away from all her friends in her class; it seems to me that the parent was making a reasonable request that the school should consider.

Don't be ridiculous. You are providing a service to the parents, teaching their children. They are not providing you with one. Why shouldn't they know about the people teaching their kids?

And why would you want to read their cvs? Really? Would be quite boring.

Because teachers are answerable to their Head and LEA, not to every parent Bessie! A friend had a fairly low paid job for years, dropped out of teacher training once for personal reasons and eventually qualified with a 3rd. CV doesn't read well but she is an amazing teacher.

Bessie
I am not a teacher, and would be pleased if my kid's teacher had contributed to a humorous thread such as this. Charmingbaker posted that the parent wanted staff to supervise children to ensure they were washing their hands. I think you have misunderstood.

She was not objecting to reminding the children to wash their hands, but to supervising them.

I don't need to see the CV of my kid's teacher. Why would I? I presume that the education authority was satisfied with the qualifications of the teachers.

I think you'll find that KS1 teachers do remind children about washing their hands from time to time. That's a completely different thing from standing over them every time they do it and not what the OP was talking about.
Mixing up just one year group in a school where it is not the usual practice - upsetting many children and therefore completely unreasonable.
And my cv, dear Bessie, is none of your business. I don't see what,
other than having their curiosity satisfied, a parent has to gain from having access to it.
I note you don't address Charmingbaker's other points.

We all have to have fairly similar qualifications to teach. Reading a list of BEd or BA, PGCE would be rather dull .

Don't be ridiculous. You are providing a service to the parents, teaching their children

No - I am providing a service to the children.

Who's being ridiculous?

Agree with Magdalenebaby and Feenie R.E. Bessie123

I'm not a teacher but seem to be a magnet for a very intense mother of a child in ds's class who made the very suggestion re: distribution of teachers' CVs last week.

We've got a new teacher and she said parents hadn't been told enough about his background.

I said I thought it was a rubbish idea and that I would be horrified if it was introduced. Also (wickedly) suggested that if she was so keen, she should take the idea to the head.

Well I'm really not interested myself but I absolutely don't see the problem with showing parents the cvs. What are you all so ashamed of?

And actually - the whole idea that teachers are providing a service to parents underscores what a previous poster said about how in the past, parents supported teachers and reinforced punishments etc at home, but now parents seem to see teachers as their own public servants.

I think this is terribly sad and goes some way to explaining why dd is having a bloody miserable term so far because a core group of 4 or 5 kids in her class are intent on making the teacher's working life a misery and disrupting lessons at every opportunity. Teacher can come down hard, and the parents will complain. Or can try and carry on, and I feel cross on dd's behalf. Can't bloody win any more.

Similar behaviour (vicious note writing, swearing at teacher, throwing stuff) would have resulted in suspension and parental wrath when I was at school. Now it elicits complaints from parents of swearer/thrower that their child is being picked on.

Nothing to be ashamed of Bessie. But why do you want to see the teachers' CVs? Are you in a position to determine whether a teacher is good based just on a CV? Should the school do away with interviews and lesson observations as part of interview process since a teacher's ability to teach can be determined by the content of their CV?

What I mean is, in my profession (not teaching) a CV would tell you that I have x number of years experience, am qualified and where I've worked before. It wouldn't tell you whether I am good at my job.

A CV might be a helpful tool in the recruitment process to someone from the same field. But if I were, say, a lawyer or a doctor, showing my CV to a client or a patient wouldn't actually tell them whether I was a good lawyer or a doctor.

Well, I don't think it's unreasonable to want to see the teachers' professional qualifications and experience. If you read my post, I said I wasn't interested but I can understand why someone might want to know.

I disagree, pooka. I think you can tell a lot from a cv, particularly for lawyers and docs, but that is a different matter. I think experience can be hugely valuable and a cv will detail that.

Sorry I'm not accommodating enough for you Bessie.
I didn't think manning toilets was a good use of staff ( though we did get the kids to make posters to help them remember)
At my school we don't mix classes every year, and my biggest objection to the parents suggestion was that they would tell us when it was appropriate to split the children, I assume at your school the teachers make that decision not the parents.
Finally, I do not ask to see the CVs of the doctors at my GPs surgery before booking am appointment.

Really?

I know that the doctors at my GP surgery will be qualified doctors.

I know that the teachers at my dcs' state school are qualified teachers.

As a lay person, non doctor, non teacher, knowing whether they taught at X school or worked at y gp sugery previously does nothing to tell me anything more about their fitness to treat/teach.

I don't think your gp's cv is really relevant here. But I presume that if you were looking for a specialist you would do a bit of research? Look at their experience?

Luckily my dcs' school is a bit more caring and understanding and tries to support parents. I like to think that they have a bit more imagination as well and are able to think more flexibly to come up with solutions to parents' problems. I have only had to speak to the head twice but I like to think she would try to be understanding, even if she didn't think the subject matter was that important.

Oh come on. That incompletely disingenuous. Of course a teacher's experience will impact on their ability in a role.

I also highly rate my ds's current NQT but actually didn't feel that his teacher last year (been at the school for long time, obviously experienced in terms of years in the post) was as good a fit for him.

Based solely on my own interactions with the two different teachers and also on ds's enthusiasm.

But other parents felt quite the reverse. Different kids and different parents.

Having a CV wouldn't have made a jot of difference to me and my own interpretation.