Taking a poll...The new controversy at school surrounds teachers bringing their personal kids to school on preplanning days (or post planning days). What is your take or opinion? Do you do bring them or put them in child care?
We all bring our kids to school during inservice and work days.
If we have an emergency or something P lets teacher's bring little ones if they need to as well. I think its fine as long as it doesn't interfere with learning. I am at a small ISD and it is VERY family friendly, one reason I don't mind driving to work!
My kids are young, so they stay in care! I have no problem with children being there IF the teacher is in the classroom working on things, but if there are meetings or things involving more than just the one teacher (with kids), then I say put them in child care. If the kids are old enough to start organizing things in your classroom and helping you out and are able to keep themselves busy without getting into trouble, no problems either.
Basically, I think it boils down to each particular situation. My principal is very family oriented and accomodating, but at the same time, I know that if it is going to become a distraction to your personal duties or the duties of others for children to be there, she will say something.
with 2 school aged children and YES I have taken them to school on workdays. I am in my room working and they are with me...therefore, they are not bothering anyone. Because one goes to the same school as I teach in and the other attends our elem. feeder school, I do not have child care for them. So, unless we are told not to bring them on particular days, they often do go with me.
I think it's okay on an in-your-room work day, but not for a staff development day. No matter how quiet they are, kids should NOT have to sit through a day or 1/2day workshop on differentiation. And as a parent, I KNOW that mine couldn't sit that long without taking my attention away from what I'm supposed to be learning!
Our school allows teachers to take their kids to school on preplanning days. I did notice this year though that our principal came up with a set of rules addressing this issue. I think it was really all due to a single teacher who had a tough time controlling her kids and they would be running in the halls and going in and out of other rooms on their own...it was really a safety issue.
I always took mine when I went up early in the summer, but never once we "officially" started. Even if I could have/would have, they would have been bored to death sitting in my room while I was in meetings all day...
I really didn't get to take them too much in the summer, anyway, because they didn't want to go to school if they didn't have to!
I have brought my kids to school to help me set up my room but never on a day where I will have meetings. My kids have helped with the counselor's office or office when at school with me. During the school year I usually let my oldest come one day with me and get service hours. She tutors kids, grades papers etc.
I only bring them once or twice before school starts because they are sometimes more trouble than help
I don't have kids, but I am in charge of watching one of my younger siblings this summer and until our PAID work days, he'll probably be joining me at school. I figure, though, if you're getting paid to be there, you should pay for childcare. The only exception is with staff that have kids at the school and early release days... If the kids had to be at school to begin with, that's fine as well.
At my school we have few (OKAY 2) teachers who allow their children to run wild and prevent others from working. Of course these children never thought the rules applied to them. We have also had one teacher's kid steal from other teachers. I feel that the kids should stay in their parent's room, if they are going to come to school. They should not be running around the hallway. It is really unfortunate that a few irresponsible parents don't look after their kids. It makes it hard for parents who do supervise their children.
if I am not paid, she always comes with. If it is a paid workday, I usually don't unless I know we will be in my room all day. And she is old enough to help me organize and clean. She is also very well mannered and helpful and respects the boundaries of other teachers.
As a matter of fact, I took her to school last year to help ME and when she left to use the restroom, she disappeared for more than two hours. When she finally returned, she had over ten dollars in "tips" from other teachers who hit her up for odd jobs on her way down the hall. One teacher had her clean off a VERY large and messy marker board and then "test" over three shoeboxes of markers to throw out those that no longer worked. The other teacher had her unbox stored books and reshelve them on a huge bookshelf. Both teachers then asked her to come back and work for them (for "tips") the next day too. She ended up working all week making a few dollars at a time all on tedious tasks that had to be done yet the teachers didn't want to take the time to do it themselves. She was very proud of herself and the teachers thanked me many times for sharing my helper.
Last edited by whatever; 07-07-2008 at 07:11 PM..
Reason: typo
Mine are little (one and three) so they go to daycare. I wouldn't get a thing done otherwise plus I have already paid for their care.
My last principal didn't like it, but my new one allows it. I am ok as long as the kids are behaving and such. We do have a few that RUN around the school after school.
I think it's okay as long as they aren't bothering anyone else. We have teachers whose kids bother people in the afternoon when school is out and we are trying to get a little done in our rooms before we leave.
These are the best years of your life, with your darling little children. You can tuck them into bed every night and know they're safe, can hold them anytime and as much as you like. Enjoy these years!!!!
When I went in on my own time, my children would come sometimes. Sometimes they wanted to play with friends, so they didn't join me. Once I was on the clock, they were at day care, or as they got older, they stayed home.
I did have a friend that brought her child to her school, so at the end of the day he would go in her classroom. When he was in first grade, he had a filing cabinet almost fall on top of him- not sure why he had the drawers open. She walked in just as it was tipping. The following year she had him attend his neighborhood school, just to keep him safe, and her sanity!
I have seen this issue cause some really hurt feelings at my school. There are many factors that I see. One year we had a large amount of teacher kids all in the same grade. They were really good kids, but they were kids. When they were all together, they could get loud. This was very disrespectful when teachers were having conferences after school, trying to use the phone, or just simply wanted some piece and quiet to work. The rule at my school is teacher's children are not to wandering around the school without their parent. That took care of the problems like I described and prevented any more hurt feelings.
I am not sure if there is an official rule, but teachers haven't in the past brought students on staff development or in-service days. Some will have their kids on the days when teachers come and go working on rooms. It hasn't ever been a problem. Actually, there are several kids in our school we all hope will be there because they are terrific helpers. The teachers in my school tend to be really respectful of others, so they will not allow their children to be disruptive or bother others.
It is accepted at the school that I teach in to allow your kids to come to work with you. Mine prefer to go to their Nanas and I get more done if they do. If she isn;t available and my husband is working though they come with me. There are many children that are my kids age and we are also friends outside of school so they keep one another occupied. My children are both school age and I don't have a regular sitter that I can call on so I am glad it isn't an issue.
Most of us bring our kids, along with stuff for them to do. It's annoying at times, but seems more annoying for the mom bringing them than anyone else.
My kids stay in my classroom with whatever they brought, and I check on them on breaks. Usually all the kids of the same age will hang out together doing whatever.
My son comes with me on days when I'm working in the classroom. He goes to the school where I teach, and I don't have anyone to care for him, so he goes. On days when I have a huge staff meeting, dh takes off and stays home with him.
this is still our job -children do not come to school or stay there after school. However, teachers with older children we ask to babysit for us on the playground, gym and in one classroom. They are paid. Children go to a nearby childcare center after school at the parents expense for the half hour difference in time.
has this fairly well-defined. In North Carolina, we have Protected Workdays and Required Workdays. Protected workdays are for teachers to work in their rooms, no staff meetings or PD allowed. We are allowed to bring our children but they are not to roam the halls! If I cannot get a sitter, then DD comes with me. On required workdays, I know I'm going to be in meetings, so I beg and borrow (haven't had to steal, yet) to get some sort of childcare. We are not supposed to bring our children on required workdays. There are one or two high school students I can rely on--one is graduating next year--eek!
My principal is pretty understanding when child care falls through though, and DD has been doing this since Kindergarten, so she sort of understands what her boundaries are. I'm going to be car pooling with one of her best friends families next year (we don't live in district), so at least she'll have one "buddy" around each day.
I do understand how difficult it is for other teachers to have to "put up with" colleagues' children and I try to be considerate whenever DD is at school on a workday. Thankfully, our staff is very close knit and we've had very few problems with this issue in the past.
When my kids were young I left them with someone at home.
Now my DD is 16 and she always comes to pre and post-planning. She is very helpful with packing or unpacking, cleaning, organizing. She labels my new books with their AR levels... gosh she does so much for me I can't imagine not bringing her! She also gets community service hours for helping.
Last year our children were not allowed to come with us during any work days. Before that we were allowed to bring them. I only brought my children when I was decorating/setting up my room. However, I did bring my older niece along during work days when we were allowed because she was great help.
I bring my children with me for work days - on most occasions. My two year old attends day care on the majority of those days - however, I have had to bring her a few times. Luckily, I also have an 11 year old and an 8 year old. Both are very helpful entertaining the toddler when I do have to bring her. Most of the time, I just have the older two and they offer lots of help with organizing supplies, running errands and arranging furniture. They also help out other teachers around campus. Bringing kids to school during work days has been an acceptable arrangement and most teachers are respectful of the boundaries. As far as professional development days, I try to make other arrangements - even for the older two. However, if the prof. dev. is held on our campus for just our faculty- bringing our school-aged children has never been an issue.
We are not allowed to bring them on days pre/post planning days. Thank goodness mine are old enough to stay at home alone and DH works strange hours so he is often home to stay with them. We even have a policy that if your children attend the same school that you work at you can not bring them with you in the morning before school starts. They are not allowed on campus until 8:15 when all students can come. This has been a topic of debate many times in our district.
I feel that if it's a PAID day, then they shouldn't be at school. Any other times, I think it's ok as long as they are not running wild around the building. My 4 1/2 yo daughter LOVES to g visiting at school with me, but only on unpaid days. We tour and she flirts and gets freebies! **
I don't see any problem with it as long as them being there is not interfering with the work that needs to be done. If your child can occupy them self in your room and you can get the work done that you are being paid to do then what's the problem? However if your child is running up and down the hallways and distracting other teachers then they should definitely be left with some sort of child care.
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07-07-2008, 06:28 PM
The teachers in my school tend to be really respectful of others, so they will not allow their children to be disruptive or bother others. 
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