Week 7 Discussion - Meeting Attendance

Meeting Attendance

Tuesday, December 3, 2019, 12:10 PM

 

What do you tell her?

Before I could answer this question, there would need to be several assumptions made. I am assuming that these dates were provided well in advance of the meeting time. I would also assume that this teacher had not previously missed a meeting. If both these assumptions were true, then my first course of action would be to explain to the teacher the importance of meetings and what would constitute as a proper reason for missing a meeting. I would also explain that while her excuse is not valid, I would allow her to miss this meeting this one time if she met with another veteran teacher to get important information missed from the meeting.

When is it permissible to allow one of your staff to miss staff meetings?

I think the only valid excuses for missing a meeting would be in emergency situations. The other reason would be a doctor’s appointment that was scheduled in advance of the meeting schedule being released. 

Should teachers know the rules in advance, or will you consider these kinds of requests on a case-by-case basis?

I do think teachers should know the rules in advance. I also think I would consider requests on a case-by-case basis. If a teacher has never missed a meeting before, I would be more likely to allow them to miss whereas if a teacher is constantly making excuses or missing meetings, I would be less likely to give in to their requests. 

Will allowing this teacher to keep her hair appointment set precedent for future meetings in your building?

I don’t think that allowing this one teacher to miss the meeting this one time would necessarily set a precedent but if I were constantly allowing teachers to miss meetings, that would begin a trend. It would be important for me to consider each request carefully otherwise it could easily get out of hand. 

Is that sending a message that the meeting really isn't important? Or are you showing that teacher that you can be flexible and sensitive to personal needs?

I think it is more showing the teacher you can be flexible or sensitive to their needs. Especially if I stress the importance of the meeting when the request is made. Ultimately, no one wants to work under a dictator and I would believe that the teacher would do everything in his or her power to not miss the meeting. If this were true, I don’t think that allowing them to miss the meeting would show the teacher that the meeting was unimportant.