Difficult Parent (But I'm On A Break...)

My family is watching a movie that I have no interest in, so I decided to check my school email in case one of my students sent me an email. Instead, I find an email from a parent, sent late afternoon on the last day of school. Here it is:

I'm wondering if you could please clarify a couple of scores on Bobby's report card. I was very shocked to see a "1" in reading and a "2" in math on his report card. I have seen him fill out his reading logs each month and made sure he brought them to school. I do know he was not great about turning in his Paws for Reading logs, but I thought that was a school incentive project and not an actual grade requirement. I also am stunned he received a 2 in math. Math is Bobby's strongest subject and do not understand how he can be performing below standard in this area. I understand you may not feel Bobby is not performing to his full potential but when comparing him to all the students in 5th grade, I find it very difficult to understand how he can be below standard.

Bobby has received some of his lowest scores on his report card this year. We take education very seriously and would have appreciated some notification if Bobby was falling below standard, especially since he has not been known to perform at that level. At our last conference, I was under the impression, Bobby's areas of improvement needed to be in organizational skills and writing, I don't recall any mention about reading or math.

I will be at the school tomorrow meeting with Mr. Principal @ 11:30. Would you be able to take a minute to help explain his report card to me?

So, threatened by the meeting with Mr. Principal? No, not at all. And to Mr. Principal's benefit, I heard nothing about this. Bobby is perfect in the eyes of his parents, but he's actually a little odd, and so are his parents. I've really had my fill of Bobby and his mom. She began the year as a room parent who helped every other week. But all of a sudden during the year she stopped helping. I think she stopped liking me. And she believes her son is brilliant, but actually he's pretty average. Everytime he had to work with someone he didn't like, he complained to his mom, who then complained to me. And when I had the kids write a five paragraph essay about what they liked about our school, his first reason was that he liked to cut paper. He apparently would sit in the back of the room and cut paper. Weird.

Anyway, I figured that even though I'm on summer break, I'd better reply. As a parent, I guess I would have wanted the teacher to reply...

Thanks for your email. I pulled up Bobby's report card to refresh my memory. In reading, the 1 I gave him was in the category for setting goals. As I stated in the comment section, Bobby only turned in one of the three reading logs (Not PAWS) for that grading term, and the reading logs are what I used for a grade for that one specific area. In math, the 2 was in "numbers," which is fractions. When Bobby took the end of the year standards based math test, he wasn't working up to standard with adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. I believe he missed the subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators, and I don't recall if he struggled with adding fractions with unlike denominators as well. A 3 means he is at standard, and he wasn't showing that he was there yet. That is why in the comments I said he needed to practice that skill. I remember also being a bit surprised that he missed a fair number of the word problems, and several of those word problems involved fractions. The test showed that he was not yet proficient with fractions.

I agree that he is strongest in math, and math was harder this third term with fractions and division. I think he just needs more practice, and that will help him! I do make sure kids take home math tests for parent signatures so that parents can see immediately where their kids are having difficulty. Take a look at the one math test that covers everything...Any area that has a score of a two out of four is an area that he can practice with this summer. I hope this helps.

I am so glad to be done with that family. I'm sure she won't want the younger girl to have me now. That's fine with me!