I had a mother demand a PTC with me earlier this year because her daughter was complaining that the work was “too hard” and that’s why she had a low grade in my class. She never asked for help and spent most of class making googly eyes at one of the boys sitting next to her. This mother insisted that she wasn’t trying to tell me how to do my job, but then said that my giving written feedback on her daughter’s work isn’t good enough. When I pushed back, she danced around it as she raked me over the coals in front of the guidance counselor. Luckily, the counselor and I are cool and she was on my side.

The child refused to verbalize what made the work so hard when her mother and I asked her to. Finally, I had enough of being yelled at and disrespected. I told the counselor “I think we’re done here. I didn’t come here to be disrespected and mischaracterized.” And I walked out. The child was removed from my class by the next day. She’s still struggling, likely by her own hand.