I'm confused. Earlier today, one of my kids told me that he was being bullied in the cafeteria. Since on of the administrators, let's call her "Dr. Doe", supervises that shift, I sent her an email letting her know about the situation. I also cc'd the principal and guidance counselor. Well...I get a call about twenty minutes later. It's Dr. Doe. She's like, "I got your e-mail about the situation. It sounds serious." Then she starts LAUGHING this high pitched, kind of mocking "you're so stupid Ms. Em" laugh and goes, "I noticed that you didn't just send it to me, but you sent it to the GUIDANCE COUNSELOR TOO!" (she said "guidance counselor" in the same way she would have if I had cc'd President Obama on an email about, I dunno, sucky school lunches). :lolthat's what I imagine her face looked like based on how she sounded) I told her that I sent it to her because I know she covers that shift and to the guidance counselor because it was a bullying situation. Dr. Doe continues to crack up and laugh at me like I'm stupid. Then she's like, "Oh, okay. That makes sense" and she LAUGHS even harder like she can barely catch her breath. Finally, I was like, "What? Why are you laughing?" She never really gave me an answer. She said that she would address the situation. An hour later, my student was called up to the office and the situation was resolved with guidance. Did I miss something? This is the second time this has happened. Last December my Aunt was visiting my room the day before winter break and Dr. Doe stopped by. I had just run out of chalk, so I asked Dr. Doe if she had a piece I could borrow. Dr. Doe started laughing, then she kept winking at my Aunt and shooting my Aunt "knowing" looks. Kind of the way two parents would exchange a glance when their four-year-old is doing or saying something utterly ridiculous except my Aunt was looking at Dr. Doe like she was crazy.
She sounds sort of crazy . Is there any other back story - previous disagreements? Is she known to do this? Can you prescribe her medication?
It's hard to say because I think we all have a hard time understanding why an admin would be dying laughing... who knows, maybe you have a career in stand-up comedy that you never considered :thumb:
I'd stop calling on this person for support. Find other support systems...guidance, child study team, other colleagues.
There's no real backstory. As far as I know, I've never crossed her or done anything she didn't like. The only "run in" I had was rather positive -- I was planning a field trip and having some trouble getting parent chaperones and she overheard one of my phone conversations. She stopped in my room and said, "I understand your pain. A lot of times parents don't want to get involved, but then they complain that we dont have enough projects. Welcome to the other side of the coin, ya know?" Then she said to hang in there, gave me some tips to encourage parental involvement and continued off down the hallway.
So, it could also be something unrelated. For example, maybe there was someone else in the office talking to her about something funny when you were on the phone? Maybe when your aunt was in the room, the wink was a "hey there - how are you" kind of wink? Just trying to brainstorm through the craziness!
I think maybe Dr. Doe honestly may think you're an idiot. I wouldn't really address the situation until it gets truly insulting. Like if you consult her on curriculum and she laughs at her face. Then you should definitely confront her. Cautiously and graciously though.
One of my administrators last year told me that "You people, your babies don't look like you when they're born...but in the African American community, our babies look just like us." :| ...I think there is a prerequisite for being in admin: you must be off your rocker and know how to insult people. Do you have a union at your school? You might be able to ask your rep if there is anything you can do. I would also talk to the admin person, if you feel comfortable doing so, and telling her that you were confused and unsure if you had done something wrong. Unless, of course, she's the same admin woman I dealt with last year. Then I recommend finding a new job as far away from her as possible!
There can be several reasons that something strikes someone as funny while others don't see the humor at all. My very first job with a hospital was in the Data Processing Dept. and part of my duty was to read the E.R. sheets from the day before and "code" them according to the severity of the injury and time spent by the doctor with the patient. One of the main things I looked at was "Chief complaint of patient". One morning, I saw a complaint that created the same reaction your admin had. It simply said "Hit self in head with wrench". When I read it, I got an immediate mental image of some good ole boy sitting on his porch Saturday night (after drinking a beer or 12), picking up a heavy wrench and saying "Ya know, I wonder what would happen if.....WHAM....OH MY HEAD. Dang that was stupid." The ladies I worked with could not understand why I thought the complaint was so funny and I said "Just HOW do you hit yourself in the head with a wrench." One of the girls said "Maybe he was under the car working on the engine and the wrench slipped." I had to admit that made a lot more sense, but still couldn't shake that initial mental image I had. I'm not trying to make light of the admin's reaction and absolutely not making light of the bullying incident, but it sounds like the incident was handled properly, despite the admin's inexplicable reaction. Or, like EdEd said, it could have been something entirely unrelated that got her laughing just before you sent the email. Since she did apparently take the situation seriously when the child came to the office, I wouldn't automatically assume her first reaction was personal towards you.
I find it extremely ironic that a student reported being bullied, and when you reported it to admin, you, in turn, were bullied as well. Have others experienced similar behavior from this person? Document everything that you've experienced thus far. If it continued to the point where it affects your daily work, you may want to communicate directly to her that you feel her behavior (be specific) is inappropriate and will be reported to her superior, then follow through. One other possible explanation is that sometimes people laugh when they are nervous, although I doubt that is the case here.
Would you be willing to share the email you sent her, or at least read it over yourself? Is it possible there's a funny typo? Whatever the case, whether someone was making her laugh in the office or something else, she did not handle the situation properly.
Is this Dr. Doe older than you and has she been in the teaching field for a while? Maybe since you are a younger, newer teacher, she thinks you don't know what the heck's going on, hence the exchanges between your aunt (who I'm assuming is closer to Dr. Doe's age than yours) and laughing at you for making a "silly, newbie" mistake. I'm not saying what happened is okay, just a thought on why she is doing this.
What the h e double hockey sticks?! That is so weird! Had you just had a baby or something? I assume from the quote that you're Caucasian -- she thinks only African American babies look like their parents? She is older than me, maybe 50. I think that she may just have random weird moments because I ran into her today during lunch and she was being friendly and making small talk. I think it's definately a requirement to be weird to be an administratior. :woot:
I think a lot of people don't think what they've said could be considered bullying. Without you quoting the e-mail, it's hard to tell. Most likely she thought it was completely harmless and you agreed. Thus thinking your e-mail was meant to be humorous. Any chance we could find out what happened?
I think she sounds rude and unprofessional, not to mention unhelpful. As someone else mentioned, I would perhaps stop seeking her help. Does she do this with anyone else that you are aware of?
