Carroll County school officials told a grandmother to stop coming to her grandchild's class after she spent two weeks studying the teacher. A Baltimore County teacher recalls being threatened physically by a parent who happened to be a boxer.
And in Howard County, overbearing parents are becoming such a concern that more than half the teachers surveyed say they have experienced "harassing behavior."
For the past two years, 60 percent of the teachers responding to a job satisfaction survey conducted by the Howard County Education Association reported that they have been subjected to harassment. Last year's survey specifically identified parents as the offenders in 60 percent of the cases. This year's survey, to be released in the coming weeks, will report similar results, said Ann DeLacy, the HCEA president.
"The workload is bad, but coupled with over-demanding parents, the job is horrible," said DeLacy, whose organization represents most of the workers in the school system.
Of particular concern are parents - dubbed "helicopter parents" for their tendency to hover over their children - e-mailing teachers, school officials say, with messages often excessive or abusive or both. The prevalence of incidents contributed to the Howard school system's decision to implement a civility policy last year and prompted the PTA to send a warning to parents about e-mail at the beginning of this school year.
"People were getting daily e-mails from the same parents," said Patti Caplan, spokeswoman for Howard County schools. "It got to the point that the employees felt that they were being harassed."
Growing demands
Dealing with difficult parents is neither a new issue for educators nor unique to Howard County, as teachers from other jurisdictions across the Baltimore region recite similar experiences.
But many educators say they are seeing a rise in such behavior, due in part to the growing use of technology such as e-mail and online progress reports. And DeLacy and others in the profession say that the demands placed on teachers have hurt retention, particularly among special education instructors.
"Teachers are leaving teaching because of parents," DeLacy said. "The turnover is incredible. I have teachers who refuse to teach special education."
Affluent areas such as Howard County are fertile ground for demanding parents, said Helen E. Johnson, an author and consultant to colleges on parental involvement. Parents typically have time and resources, and are motivated by social status to have their children reflect positively on them, she said.
