Have you ever had a teacher leave...

[tiggereyore]

in the midle of the year?

We had a meeting last night and found out that my DS Pre-K teacher is leaving as of 4/2. It is a great thing for her and the needy kids she'll be working with, she'll be going to work with kids at a safe house (mothers and kids in flight). I'm feeling very selfish right now and wishing she'd stay. It will be extremely hard to replace someone who has her magic with this age group. The principal was at the meeting and promised that Melissa and Sue(the paraprofessional) will both be in on interviews and they will be working to find someone with Melissa's style. (they don't want to upset the apple cart with 24 days left in the school yr.) The principal also said that there will be changes in the next 2 yrs with the pre k and k grades. Has anyone else been through this? How have the kids handled it?
Thanks
Christy

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

My son's 5th grade teacher left halfway through the year. She had the teacher that was taking her place in the classroom with her for the last several weeks. That seemed to make that transition much smoother. Now they all love the new teacher (as do we) and are so glad to have her in our son's life! I hope you have such a positive experience as well!:

 

[campingcorgi]

Happens in schools all the time with teachers moving and being on leave to have babies. Kids adjust--it'll be fine!

 

[tjmw2727]

Yes actually my oldest dd's pre K teacher left due to a high risk pregnancy (all was fine!). We didn't have much time to prepare but suffice to say I was more upset than my dd was. Like your situation the teacher aide stayed. They ended up replacing her with a sub that the kids were familiar with for the remainder of the year. The following year they had a new full time teacher and all was well.
Good Luck.
TJ

 

[Whosemom]

My dd just got a new first grade teacher last week. I was sure the world would stop spinning, and she hardly seemed to notice. LOL. I think we worry too much (me anyway). Kids just blow with the breeze.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

I am the director at a preschool and I got a call in the middle of the night Sunday night that one of my four year old teachers was having emergency surgery. She's fine but will be out for a few weeks. I am sure your child's school will do everything they can to make a smooth transition for the children. Your daughter will have the security of all the other children in her class, the other teachers and the classroom it's self not changing. I am so lucky to have a very low staff turnover, but the reality is that many preschools have a great turnover of staff the children do fine.
If your daughter has a hard time with the transition, seek the advice of your principal. I am sure they will be glad to help anyway they can. She will be fine and so will you.



Jordan's mom

 

[tiggereyore]

I know that the parents are going to take this harder than the kids. We usually do. The hopefull nice part is they will have the long term sub by 4/2 so that she/he will be there for parent teacher confrences on the 3rd and 4th with melissa. That way each parent can talk with them. Levi has problems with certian letter combinations and has been tested this fall he tested at a 5 1/2 yr olds level (he was just over 4) but these combinations aren't normal ones ju (he can say jumping but not jump)and ch come out as k's kanes versus chains. They will be retesting him this spring but melissa and sue spend a little extra time with him on them. Our school system has a very low turn over rate and will rarely let teachers out of their contracts so I know that they really care not only about the kids but about the position some of the teachers find themselves in in this economy. I'm just worried that this will maifest itself into behavoir problems we just went through that and its only been over for a couple of weeks, all just because his nanna and papa didn't get home fast enough. No amout of talking or timeouts helped I spent 2 awful weeks just ignoring it and scooping up the younger brother when the agression came out. Don't feel I have the energy to do it agian anytime soon. (Once again Melissa to the rescue she was the only one he'd talk to)
Anyother stories?? All help is greatly appreciated along with going away party ideas.
Christy

 

[alwaysmom]

Teachers, Assistants and aides all leave mid year more often than most people realize. But rest assure more often than not it affects the parents much more than the child.

I am an aide in a pre-k classroom who joined mid year. The teacher set up a "meet the new aide" night for parents to come in, meet, relax and just to see how there child is doing.

As far as replacing the previous aide (whom the children really liked) it took a little time (perhaps 1 week) for the children to adjust. But I can in all honesty say the they are fully adjusted, since each day I am greeted by complete enthusiasm when they walk through the door.

So rest assure they will and do adjust rather quickly.

On a sad note, I have just recently (3 days ago) found out that due to budget cuts (thank you NY govenor) our schools pre-k has been reduced to 2 classes instead of 3, therefore both myself and the wonderful teacher have been let go. Fortunately we both will finish the year with our wonderful group of children.