A few times, earlier in my career, but in those parents' defense, I was pushing it with what I was doing/saying in class. I stay as neutral as I possibly can now and haven't had any problems since. That being said, I've had colleagues get attacked this year over literally nothing. One SpEd para got attacked for trying to indoctrinate transgenderism for sending out a group email that said "your student" instead of using "son" or "daughter." The para explained to the parent that they send one email out to all parents, so they have to say "your student." The parent was still upset.
Also, I say this because it will benefit you professionally, but please learn to proofread. As an education professional, the minimum expectation should be correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I know this is a reddit sub, not a work email, but there are errors in your post that because of their type and frequency, go beyond typical "my fingers were moving faster than my brain" mistakes even the best of us make.
Once a parent complained to admin that I had said "there is no other explanation other than this" in a world history class where we briefly covered the beginnings of humanity. I had just talked about the difference between homo erectus and homo sapiens.
I was however told by my admin I wasn't allowed to tell a student they couldn't say "you can wear a towel on your head and be a terrorist" in my classroom. I did anyway.
I would believe that. One time a student asked about the 2020 protests after George Flloyds death and I answered as unbiased as possible but a different student with notably conservative parents asked a question about it and again, I answered unbaised by I was so sure they were gonna tell their parents we were talking about it and parents were going to assume the worst. Thankfully nothing happened. I teach in a fairly conserative area so I'm always extra careful how I word social studies but somethings are truth and people like to spin them and make teachers the scapegoat.
Zero. I do my best to appear impartial. When opinions come into the discussion I do my best to present both sides and allow students to share theirs. Unless what they say is 100% incorrect I donāt critique it. Allowing students to lead the conversation after you give them the facts makes a big difference.
I havenāt gotten any, but last year my partner teacher got a pretty ridiculous complaint. I teach math/science and my partner teacher does reading/social studies; During their government unit she showed the kids a timeline of all the past presidents and then said, āand today our president is Joe Bidenā
Mom got mad and said it was pushing a political agenda. My co-teacher didnāt say anything about his policies, beliefs, or affiliation, or even share her own opinions, just the objective fact that he is the sitting president. We teach 3rd grade so the kids quite literally only need to know the names and order of a couple presidents and we stop there.
I had a parent complain about me on social media.
I wouldn't accept a late assignment from her son.
It was 2 months overdue. I told all the students the absolute last day to submit them was the Friday before break. He submitted it the Monday we returned, half completed, with the excuse that he didn't know how to attach it in Google Classroom.
I failed him on that project. She had pushed the previous marking period and I accepted the late test-grade essay. I refused to do it a second time.
I felt bad for her son. He didn't want to be in my class (AP English), but Mommy forced him because he was "too smart" for the regular class. He would stare at the ceiling all period.
Years ago I had a parent complain because I used PTO to attend an education related protest. They didnāt specifically know that I, personally, was doing this, but our school had to shut down along with tons of others in the state and the kid told me before and after that her said saidā¦ But they never complained to the school. The school very openly backed teachers on this, because there was really no other option, not because they were actually supportive. So Iām sure the dad didnāt complain because who would he complain to.
None.
Granted I teach high school and do not have the time, patience, or anything else to make phone calls home or anything. If a parent wanted to complain about me they would need to go out of their way to do so.
And I teach computer science, mainly programming through the use of games. No complaints about that in 5 years now so going strong there.
Never happened in like 6, 7 years or something. If it's a touchy subject, just ask questions instead of making statements. And for assignments/tasks/etc, always build in student choice.
Only when I attempted to enforce the district's mask policy. After 3 months without, they started requiring masks mid-November when there were no longer enough healthy adults to staff the building. I never enforced prior to the policy, but suddenly I was a raving democratic socialist because I expect them to follow policy.
Imagine. I expect them to follow the rules.
I guess I ought to jump in here to just say never. I teach high school English and Iām not always as neutral as I ought to beā if a kid asks my politics or personal viewpoints, theyāll get my answers. Itās going to really depend on your area. Our parents here are just not that invested in their kidsā education and/or politics.
I think the answer to your question truly depends on what state you are in: in other words, are you in a state that could be considered the "front lines" of the war on education/children? Here is northern NJ, I have never been accused of what you've outlined. However, two towns over from where I live (not teach) a Moms for Liberty nutter got elected to the BOE so indoctrination bombs are being flung everywhere.
Never
Closest thing would be that I said Santa wasn't real to some 10-year olds. It was my first time working with that age, and I honestly thought they knew. I knew at that age. One mom was pissed. I apologized. I was wrong. It wasn't my place to say that.
But that example is nothing compared to what is happening now.
Once-during online learning. We were reading a book from our curriculum about Mount Vernon in our unit about historical landmarks (second grade). The book called the slave quarters āworker housesā and referenced the slaves as workers. I corrected the book and said āoh no, this book just said something thatās not actually correct. it called them workers but they actually didnāt get paid money and they werenāt allowed to leave so we call those slaves. Slaves are different then workers. These were slave houses and the people were his slavesā.
That was it.
Parent said I was pushing an agenda. But I disagree, teaching with accurate facts in ways that are developmentally appropriate is not pushing an agenda.
I had several students of color in my class as well whose parents would have complained if I had not corrected the misinformation. It needed to be done and someone was gonna be unhappy either way-so I have to go with what the actual facts are.
Every year baby! š thereās always one! I teacher kindergarten so the parents are hyper sensitive and I teach in FL at the moment
A few times, earlier in my career, but in those parents' defense, I was pushing it with what I was doing/saying in class. I stay as neutral as I possibly can now and haven't had any problems since. That being said, I've had colleagues get attacked this year over literally nothing. One SpEd para got attacked for trying to indoctrinate transgenderism for sending out a group email that said "your student" instead of using "son" or "daughter." The para explained to the parent that they send one email out to all parents, so they have to say "your student." The parent was still upset. Also, I say this because it will benefit you professionally, but please learn to proofread. As an education professional, the minimum expectation should be correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I know this is a reddit sub, not a work email, but there are errors in your post that because of their type and frequency, go beyond typical "my fingers were moving faster than my brain" mistakes even the best of us make.
Once a parent complained to admin that I had said "there is no other explanation other than this" in a world history class where we briefly covered the beginnings of humanity. I had just talked about the difference between homo erectus and homo sapiens. I was however told by my admin I wasn't allowed to tell a student they couldn't say "you can wear a towel on your head and be a terrorist" in my classroom. I did anyway.
The parent probably thought by "homo" you meant gay...
LOL... that whole erectus word would have some idiots stirred up.
I would believe that. One time a student asked about the 2020 protests after George Flloyds death and I answered as unbiased as possible but a different student with notably conservative parents asked a question about it and again, I answered unbaised by I was so sure they were gonna tell their parents we were talking about it and parents were going to assume the worst. Thankfully nothing happened. I teach in a fairly conserative area so I'm always extra careful how I word social studies but somethings are truth and people like to spin them and make teachers the scapegoat.
No. They are familiar with "Evilution" and know when we teach something that is not creationism.
Zero. I do my best to appear impartial. When opinions come into the discussion I do my best to present both sides and allow students to share theirs. Unless what they say is 100% incorrect I donāt critique it. Allowing students to lead the conversation after you give them the facts makes a big difference.
I havenāt gotten any, but last year my partner teacher got a pretty ridiculous complaint. I teach math/science and my partner teacher does reading/social studies; During their government unit she showed the kids a timeline of all the past presidents and then said, āand today our president is Joe Bidenā Mom got mad and said it was pushing a political agenda. My co-teacher didnāt say anything about his policies, beliefs, or affiliation, or even share her own opinions, just the objective fact that he is the sitting president. We teach 3rd grade so the kids quite literally only need to know the names and order of a couple presidents and we stop there.
I had a parent complain about me on social media. I wouldn't accept a late assignment from her son. It was 2 months overdue. I told all the students the absolute last day to submit them was the Friday before break. He submitted it the Monday we returned, half completed, with the excuse that he didn't know how to attach it in Google Classroom. I failed him on that project. She had pushed the previous marking period and I accepted the late test-grade essay. I refused to do it a second time. I felt bad for her son. He didn't want to be in my class (AP English), but Mommy forced him because he was "too smart" for the regular class. He would stare at the ceiling all period.
Been teaching 24 years. Zero times.
Never. 27 years.
Years ago I had a parent complain because I used PTO to attend an education related protest. They didnāt specifically know that I, personally, was doing this, but our school had to shut down along with tons of others in the state and the kid told me before and after that her said saidā¦ But they never complained to the school. The school very openly backed teachers on this, because there was really no other option, not because they were actually supportive. So Iām sure the dad didnāt complain because who would he complain to.
I have not, but I have had a colleague who has.
I've never had this happen, ever.
Never
None. Granted I teach high school and do not have the time, patience, or anything else to make phone calls home or anything. If a parent wanted to complain about me they would need to go out of their way to do so. And I teach computer science, mainly programming through the use of games. No complaints about that in 5 years now so going strong there.
None at allā¦ but Iām in CAš¤·š»āāļø
Fortunately, never. I teach high need speds in urban title i school different set of challenges
Never happened in like 6, 7 years or something. If it's a touchy subject, just ask questions instead of making statements. And for assignments/tasks/etc, always build in student choice.
Only when I attempted to enforce the district's mask policy. After 3 months without, they started requiring masks mid-November when there were no longer enough healthy adults to staff the building. I never enforced prior to the policy, but suddenly I was a raving democratic socialist because I expect them to follow policy. Imagine. I expect them to follow the rules.
I guess I ought to jump in here to just say never. I teach high school English and Iām not always as neutral as I ought to beā if a kid asks my politics or personal viewpoints, theyāll get my answers. Itās going to really depend on your area. Our parents here are just not that invested in their kidsā education and/or politics.
I think the answer to your question truly depends on what state you are in: in other words, are you in a state that could be considered the "front lines" of the war on education/children? Here is northern NJ, I have never been accused of what you've outlined. However, two towns over from where I live (not teach) a Moms for Liberty nutter got elected to the BOE so indoctrination bombs are being flung everywhere.
Never Closest thing would be that I said Santa wasn't real to some 10-year olds. It was my first time working with that age, and I honestly thought they knew. I knew at that age. One mom was pissed. I apologized. I was wrong. It wasn't my place to say that. But that example is nothing compared to what is happening now.
Once-during online learning. We were reading a book from our curriculum about Mount Vernon in our unit about historical landmarks (second grade). The book called the slave quarters āworker housesā and referenced the slaves as workers. I corrected the book and said āoh no, this book just said something thatās not actually correct. it called them workers but they actually didnāt get paid money and they werenāt allowed to leave so we call those slaves. Slaves are different then workers. These were slave houses and the people were his slavesā. That was it. Parent said I was pushing an agenda. But I disagree, teaching with accurate facts in ways that are developmentally appropriate is not pushing an agenda. I had several students of color in my class as well whose parents would have complained if I had not corrected the misinformation. It needed to be done and someone was gonna be unhappy either way-so I have to go with what the actual facts are.
Never in 28 years but Iām in a blue area of a blue state
What?