cuthbert

Again thanks for all the info, my wife spent half an hour on the phone to the the parents rep, and it seems a snowball has started rolling and it could be the straw the broke the camel's back so to speak.

The more I speak to other parents the more there seems to be alot of anti-directeur feeling and a parents meeting is at this moment being organised by all the parents representatives round ours for tomorrow night, with invites going to the other parents who have issues.

And thanks for the info on the recording of conversations, it's seems the directeur has a habit of getting creative with previous discussions, and calling people liars so any meeting my wife and I have with him, I may wish to have an aide memoire

dmu

Good!!

dennerlymum

Glad to hear you are moving to more positive footing

DMU I am not an opponent of mixed year classes, just the crossover between maternelle and elementaire...

le plumber

Personally I would complain (verbally and in writing) directly to the Rectorat. It has to be nipped in the bud quickly.

The problem with other parents is that they will complain long and hard about it between themselves but will rarely go the full hog to get the matter seen to. If you get the rectorat involved, they would most probably have him summoned and or will involve l'inspecteur academique which should be enough to put a stop to his bullying.

Failing that pay him a visit yourself, if you know what I mean

cuthbert

I hear ya , we have a meeting with him tonight so we'll see how it goes.

Etoile de Berger

Just to lighten things up for a moment...I thought of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMoB6ms2mE


Good luck with your follow-through. I taught all my working life and HATE bullying of any kind.

cuthbert

Well now that was a turn up for the books; within 30 seconds of the meeting starting he said he'd thought about what happened most probably due to my reaction at the time and realised he had erred. He didn't quite go as far to say he used too much force on my son, but he'd given it some thought and realised that the message he'd given to my son was probably confusing and the fact he was de-stabilised by a new environment etc most probably compounded the issue.

We had a plan to go into the meeting not to try and change his mind or to see our point of view, as that would get nowhere and would just end in recriminations. We just wanted him to be aware that we don't appretiate that type of action. We then had planned to ask about him and what we could do with the class for Jacob to better integrate, but the directors stating he'd reflected on the situation at the opening stage and frank admission of error totally took the wind out of our sails. We then had a good 20 minute discussion about the class the problems he has trying to balance student numbers with the state and keeping classes when they fall below certain numbers.

Came away from the meeting with a slightly different perspective of Le Directeur, I think he's somewhat introverted with maybe communication issues, which is exacerbated in the morning by trying to organise umpteen kids, parents asking questions and would contribute to his seemingly abrupt nature.
It doesn't excuse his actions, and it bears watching but I think he may need some help instead of militant parents bearing down on him. And though I still won't accept anyone what I consider harming my son, try and see if I can maybe promote a less confrontational style of communication and so he can understand conflict resolution, not with adults though with kids.

So all in all not a bad day, and that coupled with the fact that we found out I'm having a daughter in January all pretty good. Santé

dmu

Glad to hear it's all turned out well in the end!
And félicitations for the New Year arrival of Jacob's sister!

dennerlymum

great news all round

Domino

my daughter is 30 now so it is many years since I was at a school, but as others say, this appears to be an unhappy situation for a number of people, more especially your son, who's whole scholastic future could be effected by one mistake.
as the guy has admitted he is under pressure, is it possible to alleviate that pressure by volunteer parents organising the children first thing in the morning and getting sorted into class.? This would leave time for le director to be able to talk to the parents. Mind, this could be only a short term resolution as there still seems to be something wrong and the PTA should surely be at the forefront on this.?

best of the luck with the new arrival, more sleepless nights, but isnt that what parents are for!

dmu

Hi, in France, except for the very first day of school for newcomers in Maternelle/Primaire, parents are not allowed through the school gate. The Directeurs/trices are available after school but parents must make an appointment first.
School premises during school hours are out-of-bounds to parents and even volunteers supervising homework after school are vetted.... I

Kontiki

I asked two of my local teachers and they say it is forbidden to touch children at all, unless the child is going to harm themselves or are in danger of being harmed. They say this ruling has been in force for a long time.

cuthbert

Thanks for that info.

Since this all kicked off, my wife and I have come to realise that the directeur was someone who got pushed into the headmasters role. Very few teachers want to come to a tiny village, just across the border from Geneva where the cost of living is equivalent or worse than Paris. When the previous head left it seems it was a case of who has the most experience, so by default ended up with the job. He is harangued daily by militant parents and both my wife and I since the original episode have tried to come across as a friendly face in the morning, and it seems to be paying dividends. He's not a bad guy, and after one parents evening I feel he's not just having to deal with too many kids in one class, but also the attitude of some parents doesn't help. It still doesn't excuse what happened, but it's somewhat water under the bridge.