Do You Keep Your Kids on the Same Team as Certain Kids?

I can't beleive that a school would do that. Kids need to be in the class that is best for them to learn, and sometimes that means meeting new friends or being with the teacher that teaches the way they learn.

They also need to learn that everything is not always going to be rainbows and butterflies.

Parents who do this for their kids are the ones writing to ther commanding officer in a war zone because their son does not like the food. Yes, my husband got such a letter while he was in Iraq the last time. Sad for these kids that they never grow up.

M.

I know some kids on my son's baseball teams have stayed together. We have decided to just deal with the cards we have been delta and let things ride...whatever will be, will be.

I like the experience of meeting "new" people...I think my kids should have that too!

I think it's a sure sign of a (group of) helicopter M.(s)! Really, I think that's ridiculous. And I don't think it should be allowed that pe=arents request a specific teacher anyway. I can see requesting NOT to have a teacher for O. reason or another.
In our district you CANNOT request a specific teacher.
This year (2nd grade) is the first year that my son had ANY of his usual buddies in his class. But in K and 1st, he made SO many new friends! I wouldn't change it--if he had familiar faces he may have just stayed stalled at those friends.

I think variety is the spice of life, and why would you want your kid to be with all the same kids every year? Don't follow suit and don't worry about what they are doing. It's a gang of moms..... and you know how gangs are.

That's horrible. These parents have started their kids in clicks awfully young. Our school does not do that. They randomly split up kids and as our luck goes most of the boys my son is friends with ended up in the same class so he has had to branch out and make some new buddies he is finally getting there. Our sports teams are also randomly split up.

I don't see the need for that personally.
Don't you remember every year it was fun to anticipate what classroom and teacher you got and who was in your class? I always loved that. Some of your friends got different teachers... gave ya something to talk about.... Is your teacher mean? No, is yours? lol
Why take that fun and anticipation away from your child? New and different is what the world is all about, ever changing, ever adapting to what life throws at us.
Dont get into "click" mode.... it's really not a healthy place to be.
I agree with the other poster about "gang" moms. It's just ridiculous.

Is this a private school? I cannot imagine this. It sounds like a terrible idea.

The students should be placed with the teachers that are the best match for each student. , not the kids just because they are friends.. .

Also allowing parents to pick and choose? Ugh sounds just awful.

Wow-I can't believe they 'officially' let you request a teacher. We are not allowed to do that in our school. We can only say what kind of teacher we think our kids would be best with. You should suggest this to your school. It is completely unfair that one group gets their request granted every year. I would make a HUGE stink about that if it were happening in my school.

At my children's school, if you mention a teacher by name, it is an automatic guarantee that you WILL NOT receive that teacher. You can write a letter explaining your child's learning style and they will take that into consideration, but no names, please.

It also seems that every year, they really scramble the kids. Rarely have either of my children had the same kids in their class for two years in a row. It has been great because it seems that even with though they still have their friends (although they are in a different class), they make fresh, new friends, too. This is a public school.

I hope the school resolves this for you- it's not right! Good luck to you and your daughter.

Honestly our district says that you cannot request a certain teacher. Some parents do it anyway, and sometimes their requests are granted but keeping a group of friends together would not be seen as an acceptable reason to request a teacher. 8 kids in a class - 1/3 of the class - could not be a request, as there are certain criteria that the district uses to construct a class, the right balance of below average, average and above average readers. I would not request a certain teacher to keep my kid with friends, I would be more interested in my child getting the right teacher for his/her learning style and personality

I've never heard of a school actually granting something like this.
I think it's kind of selfish.
Kids in our school are placed according to ability. With teachers that better fit their learning style and ability ( ie , gifted) .

No, my daughter's school does NOT allow this... for the reason you stated.
My daughter's school is a public school.

At my daughter's school... they do NOT even allow, parents to "request" a Teacher. Period.
AND... the classes are RANDOMLY arranged. ONLY the Principal... does the classes. Randomly. AND he will only consult with the Grade Level Teachers... about children that are a "concern" or may need to be put with a certain Teacher... for their benefit. But it is NOT based on race/gender/socioeconomic or academic levels.

At my Daughter's school, Parents are NOT given the power or the choice, to "choose" the Teacher or class their child is in. Because as you see... it causes BIG problems.

AND it benefits the children, by being in different classes than their "buddies." Because otherwise, they do not learn how to get along with others, they form negative cliques (and the Moms too) and it is just a big mess of cliques. NOT good.

My daughter's school does it this way because... ONCE the children are in middle school... they would have met/got acquainted with/mingled with MANY of the kids in their grade level... and THUS, once they go off to middle school... they then while there... can know and HELP each other.... and look out for each other.
WHICH to me, is a GOOD thing and approach... to how my daughter's school... arranges the classes.

My daughter, while in 1st grade, did not have one single "friend" in her class... she is on the shy side... but so what. She did NOT mind, she did fine, she made friends and was perfectly adjusted and liked her class and Teacher. She did well and was confident in class....despite having all new faces. She now knows... more kids, than before.

all the best,
Susan

We can not request a teacher. Also I have had parents in the past strongly dislike a teacher. Then the next year my daughter had that "Bad "teacher and he ended up being her favorite teacher!!!!It all depends on the child go with what your child likes to do in sports/dance etc.. its about her not the people around town. Keep her active in the areas she likes, with the people she likes its all about her.

I have never heard of that before but it sounds like a really good way to make lasting friendships. When my son starts school I might look into that. I think it's dumb to think that they will not make any other friends. But with the way schools don't do anything about bullies and kids that are younger and younger are being targeted I see absolutely no reason whatsoever to help your child adjust to new situations.
These people who think it is outrageous have clearly not been effected by the many many kids that are killing themselves because they have no one at school. And so many think oh these are jr high and highschool kids. But no they are as young as 3rd graders. Not to mention lasting friendships start somewhere.

Our local school district doesn't allow parent requests -- at all. And the private school my daughter goes to is the same way. It's just not allowed. I'm surprised in this day and age any school still allows parents to have this kind of control. If I were you I'd either write to the school or talk to the administration to let them know your concerns. If nobody speaks up, nothing gets changed.

In our area, you can't request a teacher. You can request not to have a particular teacher (like one you have had trouble with or really disliked when another child was in their class). If you have 5 teachers for a particular grade you can NOT ask for one or request to NOT have the other four but you can exclude one. You can specify that you think your child needs to be with a "more understanding, more strict, or some other characteristics" but not by name.

I think some kids (those that may need a lot of structure) may do well in a class setting that you described but not so much for the average child. They don't learn how to socialize outside their group and may not really like each other just because they are forced into being classmates/teammates/"friends" by their parents.

This was not allowed when I was in school (my kids aren't in public school yet). I think one year the teacher kept the same class and moved up to teach them the next grade. Otherwise the school only did things like split twins/siblings if requested by the parent or separate kids where there was bullying or fighting.

At summer camp the camp did honor requests to put kids together, either friends or siblings. But if they weren't close in age then the older kid was stuck in with a group of younger kids.

I have for sports with one other parent just for convince on both of our parts. Example-my neighbor and I requested our 4yr old sons be on the same soccer team because she was working and dad worked a rotating schedule. This way I was able to take their son with mine to practice on the days dad had to work late and so M. wouldn't have to rush home. I also did this with a M. on my daughter's team so we could help each other out too. But that's the only reason I've done it really.

S.

Sounds like the parents are in charge at your school and not the principal or the school board. Tulsa is a huge town with many schools so how they get away with this is beyond reason. If this is a wealthy part of town with parents with political clout and money they must be pulling some mighty strong strings. Here you get whatever teacher they assign to your child and unless you had a major problem with that teacher due to another child that is who you get.

I would have my daughter look for outside interest and activities away from your area. We live in a small town and the kids who were a big fish there seem to sink when they have to survive where M. and dad have no influence and rarely make friends outside of the ones M. and dad foster on them in grade and middle school.

Good luck.

This is some specific issue to your area. I would go and see the principal and even take it further.

Our teams are formed at first from random kids because they are all new at 4 1/2. The coaches have never met the kids and they jsut take who they get. As the teams grow older the coaches know who they want on the team. They obviously want the best players and kids they know that will listen and pay attention to them. That's how teams are made. I find it hard to imagine how hard it must be for kids in your school. I hope the teachers and other officials there can change that for the better.