Really rude child. Mother a governor!

[avocadosripe]

The problem is, I'm going to struggle to communicate what this girl 'does' (you, fellow teachers will doubtless understand.) Year 8.

• buries head in arms on the desk, hair falling all around her. I say her name. Sophie? SOPHIE? She then slowly, reluctantly, sits up. Big groan. 'Whaaaaaaa?' 'Sit up, please.' 'UGH!'
• turns around and giggles whenever I say anything. I mean anything. 'Sophie, have you made a start?' Turn round in seat, makes eye contact with Anna or Phoebe or Emily. Snigger, snigger, splutter, snigger. 'Sophie, turn round please.' UGH! again.
• invents illnesses - 'I feel sick / I have a headache / my stomach hurts / but miiiiiiss I feel siiiiiick.'
• even little things cause a mini tantrum - flings her pen down, snorts, rolls her eyes, does a mini Kevin the teenager thing with arms, tuts.

So, anyway, I got fed up today and I've decided to ring home. But mum is a governor ...

I'm sure you are very up on all the rules, lougle. However, a school is just an organisation like any other, and long service does count for something. If the Head has a problem they are probably more likely to consult a long-serving governor who is familiar with the school and the issue than Joe Bloggs who just won the parent governor election. He may be an excellent addition, but the Head doesn't know that yet.

Can I have a "Very Senior Governor" badge too?

Oh, but I'm only a parent governor, so I obviously can't be.......

the VERY SENIOR GOVERNOR thing is possibly an illustration of why some teachers / parents think that governors/governors kids/governors wives swan about like they own the place...

Goodgriefisitginfizzoclock When I was a governor, spending time in school during the day wasn't encouraged. I used to go in because my role meant that it was necessary, but the head teacher didn't want us to engage with the staff or students on a regular basis.

I think things have changed now, but I think it was felt that we might have meddled too much with the day to day running of the school.

Did you decide whether to phone the mum op?

i think maybe your anxiety over her mum being a governor and your assumption that she'll be an arse if you try and address things has possibly led to you not disciplining Sophie the way you would have any other child. That's possibly why its escalated, because until now you've not followed through with things so she thinks she has some power over you.

Phone the mum/dad and have the chat, or go to the head first, but i think it is you thats making an issue out of a non issue, ie someone being a governor

I'm going to have a real identity crisis then, aren't I, because I'm a long serving governor who knows the school really well, which makes me 'senior', I'm the Chair of Governors....and I'm a parent Governor....what on earth does that make me???? Wait a minute....just another governor, like every other governor. Just another parent, like every other parent, which means that if my daughter was being naughty, I'd want to be told about it.

In fact, I had just that conversation with my DD's teacher today. She's having trouble with another child at school and when I phoned the school about it I was told that it was 6 of one, 1/2 a dozen of the other, that she was actually exaggerating things in her own mind and that a lot of what she was telling me wasn't really happening, or if it was it wasn't happening half as much as she was telling me it was (she has SN). The teacher was in no way afraid of telling me the truth because I'm a governor, not even because I'm the Chair of Governors, and the fact that I'm a governor didn't even enter the conversation. Why would it? It's irrelevant. At that moment I was just a mum, who needed to sort out why my child was making a fuss about going to school each morning.