Especially when its glaringly obvious hes not there as his science project sat on his desk. I'm betting his teacher 'assumed' Kyron was at this mysterious drs appointment, but we don;t know for a fact or not if Kyron was on some kind of meds where the teacher would have to fill out a form for the dr before the appointment..if he was, the teacher might have wondered, "why didn;t Terri give me the forms last week if his appt was today?"
Also, I must say this, yes its snarky but here it goes- Terri has a lot of nerve saying that it was "Kyrons teachers first year of teaching, and she was hard of hearing" which seems, to me, to be a condescending statement. Terri has alot of nerve saying that, as if SHE had so much experience as a "teacher", sure she had gone through the education but according to her CV she had only been a substitute teacher during her short "career" as a teacher, so "who is she" to criticize a new teacher who, by the end of the school year, had actually logged in more time as a teacher (full time teacher) than Terri ever did as a substitute. There, I said it. And, I feel better!
abbie
Are we sure that the science project sat on the desk he was using that day? Or that any of the science projects sat on desks the kids were using that day? Could the science fair projects have been clustered into one area away from the class-in-session area? Didn't I see some round tables being used in the classroom with kids at them in older photos?
As for criticizing a teacher--I don't see how saying that a teacher is "new" is a criticism. If she's new, she's new. And if she has a hearing problem, then she has a hearing problem (which we don't actually know, either way).
But were anyone to actually criticize the teacher, well, she's a public employee. As my old editor used to say, anyone who feeds at the public trough answers to those who provide the $.
It's not out of line for a parent to criticize a teacher. Or another teacher. Or a tax payer. It goes with the job, and every teacher knows that they are literally "on stage" and will have to deal with parents and public perceptions.
I actually have what is considered to be the equivalent of a dual degree. Because my university wasn't yet fully accredited to *officially* issue journalism degrees (but it was an excellent program and at that point, most of us already had experience from home town papers or working as stringers), they also told us to fulfill the requirements for another degree. Mine is in education. I've done months of intern teaching at the high school level, have taught college-level courses (writing) and also have taught in adult ed, including one class almost totally made up of kids in trouble from bad homes to armed robbery, and written state-mandated curriculum as a consultant. (Horrible task, never again.)
I never doubted for a second that at any point soemone could have a beef with me. Not that they did--other than my supervising internship teacher, who came up with something bogus. Her complaint shocked everyone. So the university's intern advisor got curious, and started checking her out, and then wondered why she never stayed at any one school very long. Turned out that she wanted an advanced degree, and so got interns. She basically then turned the class over to the intern (as she had with me) and disappeared for the term, only showing up to wave now and then. At the end of the term, she consistently showed up and issued some sort of complaint in the evaluation in order to "prove" that she'd been monitoring and evaluating all along. In my case, because I looked so young and I got along well with the kids and actually had improved their grades and levels, she complained that I was too "immature" to teach kids that old, as evidenced by my looks and the fact that the kids liked and respected me (and hated her). And oh yea, she also without warning handed out one test that wasn't even based on what I'd taught, but what she dredged up, assigned a huge weight, and knocked every kid down at least one grade level, taking away the achievements that rightfully made them feel good.
What a piece of work she was. She never again was allowed to have an intern--at least from our university. But due to tenure she couldn't be fired--although I was told that she was being "encouraged" to take early retirement.
So I learned early on that if you teach, you will be criticized, and sometimes very unfairly. Truthfully, I loved teaching (still do) but hated the paperwork and irrelevant stuff that distracted from the actual subject.
Bottom line: if someone had said "Well, she's an intern" about me they might have said it dismissingly, but it would have been fact. The connotation of their statement would be open to personal interpretation by the hearer.
And if your child is involved, IMHO, you have not only an extra right, but a responsibility, to praise or critize the teacher, aides, principal, school facilities, or whatever affects your child. JMO. (FYI, when the nutso teacher tried to do her number on me, both students and parents lined up to speak out for me. Parents *should* be involved. A good teacher welcomes that.)