Need a quick answer to a career or personal dilemma? Career and life coach Marielys Camacho-Reyes will answer your concerns in her column “Ask the Coach.”
Dear Coach,
On my son’s last day at school, I was asked to go and see the school director in reference to my son’s attitude toward school. When I went to see this lady, she started going on and on about how undisciplined my son was during the whole school year and how “unfocused” he was during most of his classes. When I asked her why was I hearing about this now and not before the school year ended, she said that they were giving my son a chance to get his act together, but that since he never did, that she felt that it was time to talk to me. Her attitude pissed me off and what made me more upset was that she even suggested that I should start medicating my kid to treat his “ADD.” My son has never being diagnosed with ADD. And, to add to this, even if he had ADD, I would never medicate him. She ended the meeting by telling me that if my son does not get his act together next school year, that we may have to start looking for a different school for him. What do you think I should do to get this lady off of my back and make her leave my son alone? I do not want to have to move him from that school.
The Upset Mother
Dear Upset Mother,
You would be surprised how common is for teachers and school directors to suggest to parents that a kid needs to be medicated to be able to perform well in school. It upsets me that, instead of these people to try to help the kids succeed at school by using real teaching techniques, they expect the parents to drug the poor kids just so that the teacher does not have to deal with the kids’ “issues.” If I were you, I would go ahead and talk to your school district about this and see what they have to say. I am sure that they would not be happy to know about what this director did to you. The truth is that her job as a school director is to run the school, not to diagnose a kid with a condition that he/she may not even have, or to even suggest to the parents that the kid needs to be medicated. That, in my opinion, is not only unprofessional, but at the same time insensitive and she needs to face the consequences of her acts. Go ahead and talk to your school district and see what happens. I know that you do not want to move your kid from school, but if I were you, I would think about it because I would not want my kid to be around of such rude people.
Would you like to contact “The Coach” for a quick advice? Send her an email at askthecoach@mcreyes.com
