keeping up with what's going on in your child's school life

I know it's so very hard for parents to do every school activity and go to every school fieldtrip or parent/teacher conference, but it's so important that we do. I try to do everything possible to be involved in my kids' school lifes, but with a smaller one at home, it's not always possible. Just this year I started to recognize some odd behavior in my children that disturbed me; I needed to know what was going on.

My oldest child and I sat down and talked and she told me about two things I had no clue about; one, the school food was all getting burnt and she was going through the whole school day hungry. Two, because of a couple students misbehaving in the lunch room (which they were in another grade) the whole grade that my child was in ended up getting punished while the troublemakers got off scott free.

She didn't want to go to school because her class was getting the worst of the punishment and because from the time the incident occured, everyone in her grade was made to have silent lunch for the rest of the school year.

Now i don't believe in causing trouble, I'm the peacemaker type, but this really upset me. I told her that she should do a petition at school for fairness. She needed to present before her principle and teacher the idea of having a trial. Well, my daughter was afraid she'd be suspended, so she didn't do anything, but even close to the last day of school, she is still fighting with me about going to school.

These are just a few things I was told about that was going on in her school, but I have found out many other things. The most disturbing thing is, shortly after this happened, I noticed a news special about a teacher who had been spanking her kids in the class, discussing sex with them (they were I believe second graders) and being horrible to them. Now I truely believe with all my heart that a teacher makes the difference in the way a child learns, there are some truely amazing and wonderful teachers out there... who I commend... and then there are the ones that you wonder why they ever decided to get into teaching.

Through all of this I began studying and researching about parent complaints regarding teachers and schools. It's astounding that there are so many complaints and teachers under investigation; schools that are even under a microsope from the government.

This is why I believe that we as parents, now have to take an extra step to ensure our child's safety at school. I'm sure you've already been doing this, I thought I was (believe me if my kids could live in a bubble, I'd be a happier parent... no boo boo's) and learned that I wasnt double checking everything like I thought I was. I know our lives are already so filled with chaos a lot of times, but for our kids, this is the least we could do to ensure them a safe school year.

Do a background check on both your child's school and teachers, interview them, assess them and don't be afraid to get to know them with a very critical eye. You can in fact request background information from the school themselves or the school board. It's typical that you may not know until right before school starts, which teacher or teachers, your child will have for the upcoming school year. If this is the case, discuss with the school about the option of meeting with the teacher personally before your childs first day. Tell the school that there is information you want about the teacher from the teachers previous teaching years and entire teaching history. You want to know if there has been any complaints in the past about the teacher. If the school fails to provide you this information in a timely manner, go straight to the top; the school board or Board of Education.

I hope this helps in your venture for helping to ensure that your child gets the best teachers they should be getting. Of course if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them. You can also find me on facebook and twitter, so do follow.