“I feel like all eyes are on me and I have no freedom,” says Haley Player, a tenth grade student.
Player’s mom, Tracy Player, is a teacher at Chapin High School, and having her mom with her all day, everyday can be both and good and bad.
On the long, hard and stressful days Player says it is good to know her mom is here. Mrs. Player loves being at school with her daughter.
She said, “The best thing is I get to be actively involved across the board- clubs, athletic events. I wouldn’t know half this stuff if I wasn’t here.”
Sometimes a parent can be a blessing but at other times the extra attention has a price.
“If my mom wasn’t at school, I would behave differently because every time I do something wrong my teacher always e-mails my mom,” adds Haley
Just having one parent at school can get a little frustrating but imagine having both parents around.
“With both my mom and dad at school, it feels like I have never left my house,” says senior Jamison Legrand.
To LeGrand, it isn’t a problem having both parents around all day.
“I rather have both my parents work here, because my dad is a very good teacher and my mom makes me lunch everyday,” says Legrand.
While parent teachers help outside the class, there is also the special circumstance of having a parent as teacher.
“I have my dad as a teacher for two classes, Psychology 101 and Political Psychology, and in those classes I refer to him as Dad, not Mr. Legrand,”says Legrand.
Many parents find out the secrets their kids try to keep long after the events have happened, but with students with parent teachers the lag time is significantly reduced. Friends of students mistakenly say something in front of the parent teacher and soon the parent in the parent teacher wants to talk.
“They know everything and can find anything out,” says Legrand.
Haley has two more years with her mom but unfortunately for Jamison this is his last year at school with his parents.
“I’m sad and it is going to be different, but I’m ready for a change without them,” says Legrand.
