“And If Thy Brother (or Sister) Hath Ought Against Thee”

When I was a young mother, our oldest son had an elementary school teacher that was brand new and fresh out of college, and still learning the ropes of teaching. When her students misbehaved, she sent pink slips home to the parents. Apparently she gave out a lot of pink slips and this riled some of the parents. Our son received a few.

I went in to discuss the matter with his teacher and to see what I could do, to help our son take responsibility for whatever had gone wrong. The visit with his teacher went well, and I was given simple things our son could do to improve. 

Later that week, I was contacted my another mother informing me that a bunch of parents had arranged a meeting the following Monday night to get this teacher fired. The parents didn’t like the fact that their children were getting so many pink slips. I was shocked and saddened that others had judged this teacher so harshly. I felt the way things were being handled by the parents was not right. So I met with the principal to discuss how I saw the situation, which was

1. There is a line of authority that should be followed when solving problems. If parents had a concern with how a teacher was handling a situation, they should discuss it with the teacher directly, not with other parents. 

2. If things could not be resolved by meeting with the teacher, then they could bring the concern to the principal, not to other people.

I then asked him as our leader if he felt it appropriate to teach the parents these principles and to look for ways to help this brand new teacher succeed?

The principal asked,“Where did you learn this? I said, “In the New Testament. The Savior taught that we should go to the person we have a concern with.” He replied, “I wish everyone could understand this.” He then assured me that he would teach the parents this preferred way of resolving concerns. 

The night of the firing meeting, we invited our son’s teacher to dinner and family night. I was worried about her being all alone the night the parents were meeting with the principal with the intent to get her fired.

As we ministered to her that evening, we discovered it was her birthday! She was new to the city and had no friends or family around and was all alone. As she shared her story, I felt a bucket of God’s love pour over me! It was as though God was saying, “Thank you for watching over my dear daughter tonight.” 

Thank heaven for the teachings of Jesus. God’s ways are higher than our ways and I have found they always make us happier. Incidentally, the teacher was not fired. Thankfully, the parents decided to work to help her succeed.