Principal's making student house calls – 600 of them

[flashl]

Middle school leader plans to visit parents, children each summer

By STEVE MAYNARD
THE NEWS TRIBUNE

FEDERAL WAY – Damon Hunter climbed off his scooter and rang the doorbell of Dennis Good's house.

The seventh-grader answered and looked up at the 6-foot-4-inch tall principal of Saghalie Middle School in Federal Way.

"Wow, Mr. Hunter," the 12-year-old exclaimed. "Am I in trouble?"

No, no, Hunter said, as Dennis' mom came to the door. Dennis, whether joking or not, and his mom, Colene Good, had advance warning the principal was coming.

He'd sent an automated voice message to parents, telling him he was coming to visit the homes of his students at Saghalie.

All 600 of them.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. When I taught school, I visited every student's home

before the start of the school year. Found it very effective. But this was in a small town. When I moved to one of the largest cities in the country, I was assigned to a school in a tough neighborhood. My husband was armed when he escorted me to work because a teacher had been raped there a few years back, and another had been murdered, with the crime never solved. Sad that I couldn't make home visits, but there was a limit to what I could do there.

[noamnety]

2. I would view that as an invasion of privacy

I don't expect my students' parents to show up at my house uninvited.

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. He did call in advance and let them know he was coming.

I think this is a great thing to do.

[noamnety]

8. But not WHEN he was coming.

"Most knew Hunter would be coming some time during the week because of his message. They just didn't know which day or at what time."

When I'm home alone, I don't dress for company. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable holding a meeting if he were in semi professional clothes and I was in a bathrobe, like some of the door answerers were, or a low cut tank top, stuff like that.

Actually I wouldn't answer the door at all, to be honest, just on principle (no pun intended). As far as I'm concerned if I'm home alone and some guy I don't know wants me to open the door, he can wait there all day. If he needs to talk to me, he can treat me like an adult and request a meeting on neutral ground. I resent the assumption that anything I am doing can and should be dropped with no notice to make time for him at his convenience - at my home, no less.

I saw a frontline (I think? maybe 20/20?) video where the school had someone going to all the homes doing "inspections" to ensure the students really lived at those addresses. They were demanding to see the student's room, looking through their personal possessions, deciding if their possessions matched what they thought a teen would have. The goal was to "catch" students who were claiming to live in one location so they could attend a decent school, when their income and neighborhood required them to attend a substandard school. God forbid they get one over on the rest of us by receiving the sort of education only rich kids are entitled to. If you want to examine my living quarters, get a search warrant.

I'm a teacher. I've had students and other teachers at my house. When my daughter was a student where I teach, kids would stop by unannounced to see her sometimes. I was fine with that. But things are different when someone in an authority role treats us in a way they would never allow themselves to be treated. Like I said, I doubt he'd want parents calling to "let him know" they'd be showing up at his house at some random point during the week. It's like telemarketers - there's a part of me that wants to say "you give me your home phone number and I'll call you during your dinner time."

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. We did this at my school for several years

It was very effective.

[LWolf]

4. I know this is supposed to be effective at something.

I value privacy. I have a deeply embedded respect for others' privacy. I don't think I could do this without an invitation.

I'm the one that lives at the dead end of a private road with only 3 neighbors that, while we are cordial, don't communicate unless we're talking about fixing the road or the fence.

The only students whose homes I've been to have been those that were seriously ill and had to stay at home for extended periods of time.

That, and one student whose mom always invited the teacher to an afternoon "tea" at some point in the year.

[DebJ]

5. In York Pa the Spec Ed teachers are forced to visit numerous

homes because that is the only way they can get IEP's signed. Often have to visit many times to catch the parent at home.

[donco6]

6. We do this every year.

Our principals just got done. I don't believe they've ever had a complaint.