How would you feel about this situation

I would love to get some outside perspective from some other parents as well as any teachers who may be reading

First, a little background...DD was in K last year. I was class mom. Her teacher was the union building rep. This caused him to be out of the classroom - a LOT. I am sure that I am much more aware of the situation due to my role as class mom and physically seeing that he wasn't there a lot of the times that I was, as well as the difficulty that the other class moms and I had scheduling meetings with him. He was out so much that all of the subs knew all of the kids in the class on a first name basis and it got to the point that I literally asked DD if he was there every day when she got home from school. Unfortunately, the situation didn't really come to light until later in the year, so I chalked it up to a bad kindergarten experience (although DD loved having him - great guy just never there!) and was holding out hope for this coming year.

We just got our teacher assignments in the mail. Apparently there was a letter that was supposed to be included for all of the students in DD's class (however I didn't get it and neither did my neighbor). Their teacher who is moving down from 3rd to teach first is going to be the literacy coach for the school. Obviously she has strong qualities to have the honor of this position and while I am thrilled about that aspect of it, I don't love the commitment that she will have to the position. She will be out of the class EVERY day for 45 minutes working with other teachers and classses. During this time, the librarian (who was previously a classroom teacher) will be teaching Social Studies. The teacher will also be out for meetings and conferences relating to the literacy coaching.

I feel like DD and her classmates from last year are starting this year at a disadvantage due to the circumstances of last year and that she now will be at a disadvantage at the end of this year as well

The principal is touting the new core standards as their way of ensuring that thsi doesn't happen but I don't buy it. The school is also claiming that they will try to have the same sub when the teacher is out, but I am sure that they would have told me the same thing about the teacher last year and that definitely was not the case.

How would you feel about this situation and how would you handle it?

Re: How would you feel about this situation

The union rep being out of the classroom for rep activities would bother the crap out of me. As far as I'm concerned, that's not something that should be happening during the school day.

The every day 45 minutes out of the classroom would bother me but not as much because it is what I would consider work-related. I would consider the fact that every day they have a special (gym, art, computer, music) with a different teacher so they are used to seeing different teachers for at least that amount of time. Also, in my school my kids have worked with different teachers depending on how advanced they are on a primary subject (like math or reading). Also every week my daughter is bused to a different school for 2 different teachers for the G&T program. That's in the middle of the day & definitely more than 45 minutes. This probably happens more than I'm aware & so far my kids have not been affected. In fact, sometimes different teachers work better with different kids.

I would see how it goes & if things were not getting done because of the lack of continuity, I'd head straight in for a teacher meeting & involve the principal

But, you should have gotten a notice about it so I'd send an email saying that you heard something about your child's teacher not being available during the day & that they were bringing in another teacher. Ask how that works & how it compares to other classrooms.