Problems with teacher - advice needed

[Earlybird]

DD got in the car Friday afternoon and was upset. Math is her favourite subject, and once a week she voluntarily attends math club during her break. The woman who teaches math club is older, and burnt out - she should probably have retired already.

As the math club students were filing out of the room on Friday the teacher said 'goodbye creep.......I mean, dd".

DD was upset and completely bewildered at this sort of behaviour and treatment. Presumably it was meant as some sort of joke, but perhaps I am making excuses for the woman and her comment.

There is a bit of history with this woman. Earlier in the year, there was an incident with this teacher where she mis-handled something badly that directly affected dd, and the head of school got involved (and even personally apologised to dd).

What would you do as a parent? What should I advise dd to do?

I'm at a loss with this one.

DD is 11.6

did anyone else witness this? poor dd - that's appalling.

If you are already in contact with the head of department, I think I would call her and tell her what happened. I would also tell my dd not to go to maths club (which is obviously a shame). That teacher doesn't like your dd, obviously - my guess would be that she has a nasty nn for her in her head, and it slipped out.

Presumably the other students heard it.

It is so outrageous that I almost wonder if dd misunderstood somehow. Though I don't know how that is possible.

I imagine, if confronted, the teacher would say she was 'joking'.

joking is not a defence - that's blatant bullying

Is this teacher actually genuinely starting to lose it? I ask cos I have worked with teachers you get so burnt out that they have a breakdown. It always seemed to be preceded by quite a period of odd behavior.

Worth repeating. Either this teacher is completely out of line and needs to be pulled up on it, or they could genuinely be needing support. Depends really what they are usually like.

Thanks for responses.

DD was singled out - no one else was called a name. I agree that, for whatever reason, there appears to be malice towards dd.

Following the previous incident, this teacher pulled dd aside and said 'dd does this situation suit you better?" Her point/inference seemed to be that dd had been overly dramatic/sensitive rather than the teacher recognising/admitting that a mistake had been made in how she handled the situation.

This teacher is close to retirement age. At this point, she has made it clear she wants to teach a few more years until her granddaughter has been one of her students.

I think she is burnt out and disillusioned. She has a grandson who is dd's age. The boy left the school last year because he was having mainly social difficulties.

I am sympathetic to her situation, but it doesn't excuse her being rude/mean to students (including my dd).

Of course not - I would say raise this info with the school. If she's just plain mean, she needs to be pulled up on it. If she's really just run out of steam, they need to point this out to her and make her retire. It sounds like a bit of both from what you've said, but she shouldn't be running exta clubs if that's how she does it.

Having seen a few teachers 'go under', you're actually doiing her, your dd, and ALL the staff a favour by raising this. IT benefits no-one to have a burnt-out bitter person teaching.