OK, here's my dilemma. I've got a kid who's been without a teacher in a core class for at least half of the seven weeks school has been in session. That means for several weeks in a row they've been doing "sub work", which as far as I can tell means doing homework at school. On one hand I really want my kid to learn in this class both for the current work and for the work that will come in the future that is based on what they should have learned. On the other hand I understand the problems of staffing and the need to be flexible and supportive of staff that has personal/health issues. I am hesitant to call up the school and complain, because I understand that there's a very fine line between involved parent and overbearing one.
This doesn't seem to be an isolated occurrence in BCPSS schools. Between the three kids I'd say that one of them has a long term substitute every year or two. Staffing is difficult and people's lives are complicated, so I guess this is to be expected, but it seems like this adds up to a lot of wasted time in school.
So what's the right thing for me to do? The kid isn't complaining - given that there's is much less work going on that's not surprising. Eventually I suppose there will be an actual teacher in this subject, but honestly I don't know when. I guess I could call just to find out if they know the answer to that.
Update 10/23/08
As of this week there's a new teacher. I ended up not calling the school since I wasn't sure what was happening. I'm afraid that there will be a lot of catching up to do, but the word from the HSS is that the new teacher is "cool", so I'll be optimistic that they will learn what they should this year.
Well, as a teacher in BCPSS I have a few ideas. If the teacher is sick I would not call because this would be a reason for the administration to give them a hard time. If they have not found a permanent teacher for this position I would call and let them know you are a concerned parent, it might speed up the process.
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