WWYD? - with update

My assistant principal came to me last week saying that a parent called the parent coordinator complaining about me. She had a list of complaints - none of which were actually true. She complained that I refused to let her kid go to the nurse which turned out in reality that I told a completely different kid to ask me for a pass to the nurse after he came in and copied his homework (he asked me as the class was coming in and I was in the hallway). She also claimed I scream all the time (I never scream - how ineffective!), my room is freezing cold (I keep one window cracked), and a whole list of other made up claims. The kid has always been a sweet, quiet girl. My a.p. told me it was probably because the girl knew report cards were going out on Friday and she thought she wasn't going to do as well. I then remembered that I had just conferenced with the students about report card grades and that the girl's test scores had decreased.

So basically this kid lied about me to her mom so that she could get away with not getting a good report card grade. My a.p. completely defended me and called the parent for a meeting. Fast forward to report card day, the girl goes from a 93 in the first marking period to an 87 the second. When my a.p. speaks to the mom, the truth comes out that the girl is hoping to get a scholarship to a private high school next year and her average has to be above 90. She continues to say nasty things about me to my a.p. - my a.p. said she refered to me as "that woman" in a nasty tone and my a.p. told her to stop speaking about me that way.


Today the mom came in and met with the a.p. and principal about the girl's grade. It turns out she missed a homework - they call me and inquire about it - my principal "suggests" I let her make it up. I said sure because even with the homework completed it wouldn't dramatically change her grade. Her homework grade was a 23/25 points. Even if I gave her the full 25 points, her average would be an 89. I spoke to my principal today and she again "suggested" I change her grade to a 90. A very big part of me doesn't want to do this. For one, it's not fair to the kids who get their grades the honest way and secondly, maybe if the mom hadn't b i t c h e d me out saying all kinds of untrue things I'd be more accomodating to changing the grade. If I press the issue with giving an 89 instead of the 90, I think my principal would eventually agree with me but I don't know if it's worth the fight.

What would you do? Say eff it and give up and give the 90 or stick to your guns and fight to not go higher than an 89. Help please!


So here I was fighting not to raise it two points, and my principal raises the grade to a 93 because the parent was such a PITA complaining about everything. I feel so defeated. I go out on maternity leave before the third marking period is over and I've decided I'm going to inflate everyone's grades in that class except for this one kid. That way next marking period's 93 looks like a 65. I know this is a b i t c hty thing to do, but I'm so angry at the kid and parent that this is the decision I've come to.

Message edited 1/23/2011 8:08:56 AM.

Re: WWYD?

OMG that would P I S S ME OFF!!! But in all honestly, I would probably just change the grade and get rid of the headache.

Re: WWYD?

It depends if your principal will back you up. Mine....he would hang me out to dry and change the grade himself.

Re: WWYD?

This happens A LOT.

There are just so many levels of wrong here and is completely indicative of the lack of respect, across the board, for us as professionals.

Several years ago, a similar situation happened to me at the end of an academic year. Even if I gave the kid a "pass" on the assignment in question he/she still wouldn't qualify for the academic cut-off required. I thought it over and mentioned it to one of the "more veteran" teachers who was also active in the union. His advice to me, if I didn't want to inflate the grade, I could pass the kid for the assignment, leave the grade as an 89 and tell the principal if he wanted it changed then he could take my name off as the teacher of the course and put his own as the teacher on the report card, transcript but I didn't agree with it as it goes against my classroom contract/approved grading criteria.

Granted, I was tenured at the time and just happened to mention to the principal that I ran the situation by a "union rep". I never heard anything more about it and the grade was not changed to meet the inflated criteria.

Re: WWYD?

My first year I had a star tennis player in my class. I gave her a 60 (which I thought was generous).

Her COACH! came to me asking if I would change the grade, b/c she was not allowed to play with a failing grade!


It was my first year and I was in an uncomfortable position, so I told her I would let her borrow 5 points from the next marking period. And the next marking period she did much better, but I still took off those 5 points.


I still don't know if it was the right thing to do.

Re: WWYD?

That would really bug me too! I don't know why parents think it's okay to try to bully teachers into giving their kids better grades. What kind of example do they want to set for their kids, anyway?

This kind of reminds me of a situation I recently had with a parent. She wanted to know why her child wasn't accepted into the school's enrichment program. So explained that, although her child is very bright and meets grade-level expectations, her grades aren't quite high enough to meet the requirements for the program. You would think that would be the end of it, but NO. Then the mom asked why I didn't give her child higher grades. Ummm, so you want me to just GIVE her the grade so she can get into a demanding enrichment program that she doesn't belong in????

I think that if your a.p. is on your side, then stick with the grade your student deserves. If you budge once for this child, who's to say the same thing won't happen for the rest of the school year?

Re: WWYD?

Honestly, as a tenured teacher, I would tell my principal that I was uncomfortable being asked to change the grade and would not do it. If the child wanted to make up the homework assignment, then the mom should have asked at the time. I am so mad for you that you are being put in this situation! I would also immediately go to my union rep and tell them what has happened so far just so they have all the information down on record.

Re: WWYD?

i say you'd be rewarding bad behavior by inflating the grade. next marking period mom and kid will be up to the same antics again because they know they can bully their way into the results the want instead of working for them

Re: WWYD?

I would definitely not do it. When I wasn't tenured my principal did the same thing and I did not. Then when it happened again she asked the same thing of me. I think it had started going around with the parents that if they went to the principal that I would change a grade. I never did it again and regret doing it in the first place. It opens the door for a lot of things. I wouldn't even let the child make up the homework. I no longer get any requests from the principal or the parents to change any grade in the five years following this incident. I think it has gone around to most parents that I will not change a grade even if they went to the principal.

This was my experience, but I hope you choose something that you are comfortable with. Any way that it goes.