Letter to my daughter's high school principal about her choir program

[TokyoBayer]

@overlyverbose

As a very wordy person myself (see username), your letter is way, way, way too long, so much so that it took the other Dopers’ synopses for me to figure out what it was the issue was.

Yes, I say too much myself, but even I thought this was way too long.

And this is the problem with overly verbose prose (the the poster is that if the reader can’t understand what the point is, then it’s meaningless.

Unless the OP realizes that things are going to be the same, and is just bitching to be bitching.

[Grestarian]

@Acsenray

Why should the school also take up the cause of enforcing exclusive social occasions?

Because…

@kittenblue

It wasn’t considered elitist to have a private outing; it was a “team-building” experience.

Furthermore…

@monstro

Also seems like something the kids could coordinate on their own, if they really worked at it.

…believe it or not, that really was part of the OP’s letter – though a very minor part: What the kids coordinated on their own was undermined by the current choir teacher. If the Varsity Football team’s QB invites the Offense guys over to see Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard, it’s rather rude of the coach to invite the Defense and Field Goal guys to show up and watch as well. It wasn’t the teacher’s event, it was the student’s private off-campus event in which the teacher lacked the authority to interfere. It’s worth a complaint, but should be a separate complaint.

@kittenblue

If the teacher is not doing the work she has been contracted to do, the parents are right to demand answers. If this is a pay-to-play type thing, or if these kids are not getting any rehearsal time at all when in past years this has been a competition choir and they will be expected to be performing soon, then I think the parents should be asking why. If this teacher doesn’t want this job, there are surely lots of under-employed teachers out there who do. The kids should not have to be dealing with these type issues

And that’s why the parent is by asking the Principal “Why is the current choir teacher engaging in these unprofessional actions?”

@kittenblue

[Parents didn’t] get involved because they didn’t have to…both our choir directors/band directors were professionals who took every single group and sub-group seriously and showed up to work when they were supposed to.

And that is the salient issue here. The dedicated professional has been replaced by someone who seems less dedicated and doesn’t seem to be acting professionally. Does the principal know/support/require this change in actions?

We’ve seen other threads in which we’ve shared complaints about restaurant, airplane, hotel, or retail service.
“I ordered a steak and was told it would be out soon. It’s been an hour and two families have come and gone at the table behind me. Did you forget my order?”
“I asked for a pillow when we boarded in Los Angeles and we’re landing in Tokyo in five minutes. Why didn’t I ever get a pillow?”
“I requested a wake-up call at 5AM and now it’s Noon and my 9AM meeting is over. Why didn’t I get a wake-up call?”
“I ordered a brand-new laptop computer. Why is the hard drive half-filled with StarCraft game files?”

Kayla’s 99th Dad is simply sharing another, very similar complaint:
"We enrolled Kayla in a program with certain parameters and expectations. Why is the teacher not fulfilling those expectations? AND, Principal Schulmeister, why were we parents not notified of changes to the program and its expectations? Had we been notified, those of us who felt is was important could have made other arrangements in advance.

Had Professor Escalante been pulled from the math program and replaced by me, you can bet the customers (kids and their parents) would be complaining about a lack of calculus, statistics, or after-school and summer-time tutoring. And the paying customers (the parents of students) would be complaining loudest.

If you’re going to offer something – steak on your menu, untainted parts on the brand-new laptop for sale, or after-school rehearsals, then you’d better be able to make good on that offer. If you can’t, then your customers (every parent in your district) need to know before the presence of an offering sets up an expectation you can’t fulfill. Failure to fulfill an expectation (particularly an expectation you foster) leads to relative deprivation – and all sorts of social unrest in response.

—G!

I want more than I see coming
All I want is everything
. – Jon Bon Jovi (Bon Jovi)
. *All I Want is Everything *
. These Days