r/Teachers • u/Independent_Mode_347 • 1d ago
Policy & Politics Does your district allow parents to work at their child’s school?
Our district has a strict policy against parents working at the same school their children attend.
I started working as a lunch aide at my daughter’s school when she was in 1st grade. At the time, the district made an exception to the policy because they really needed to fill the position. I ended up loving the experience so much that it inspired me to pursue a teaching degree!
Now that I’m preparing for student teaching, I was really hoping to be placed at that same school for several reasons, but the biggest is logistics. I’m the only parent available to get my daughter to her bus stop in the morning (8:35 a.m.), and if she misses the bus, I’m also the only one who can drive her to school. Being placed at her school would make managing those responsibilities so much easier.
I know I’ll have to figure something out because policy is policy, but I’m genuinely curious about the reasoning behind it. None of the surrounding districts seem to have this restriction, and what makes it even more frustrating is that my best friend, who teaches in the next town over, actually has her own daughter in her classroom this year!
I’m not necessarily arguing that the policy should be eliminated, but I would love to understand why our district feels it’s necessary when neighboring districts seem to manage just fine without it.
Does anyone else’s district have a similar policy? If so, do you know the reasoning behind it?
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u/myopicinsomniac 1d ago
Mine actually has the opposite policy; school employees may enroll their children at the school they work at even if it isn't their zoned school as a professional courtesy. If we are expected to be on campus 30 minutes before students begin to arrive, we cannot also be whenever our own children are getting them transported to their zoned school. Our district recognized the logistical challenge this presents and solved it by allowing us to bring our kids along.
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u/deafballboy 1d ago
It's state law in Washington: all children may be enrolled at a school where their parent is an employee, even if they are outside of the boundary.
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u/Beruriah 16h ago
Ours allows this and allows you to enroll them in the closet “feeder” school if you are at a different level for easier pick up and drop off, so long as it isn’t at capacity.
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u/yarnhooksbooks 1d ago
This has been the policy (or close to it) at both districts I worked at. I grew up in a small town where there was only one school option, so all the teachers’ kids went to our schools. There wasn’t another option unless they paid to go to the catholic school. I had a couple of different classes over the years where a classmate was a kid of the teacher. At my current school no one teaches their own kid , but we have a 2 page spread in the yearbook of all of our “family ties” in the building. I teach on a team of 4 and 2 of us have kids in the building.
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u/maestra612 1d ago
The district where I live let's teachers enroll their kids if they live outside the district. I think they started during COVID and kept the policy.There aren't a lot of out of district kids, but I can think of at least 10 elementary or middle school teachers that have kids in to the school. Our town only has 1 elementary and 1 middle school.
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u/jennylala707 Instructional Assistant | California, USA 1d ago
Ours is the same. It’s a charter school and staff kids get priority in the lottery.
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u/amusiafuschia 13h ago
Ours used to be this way but because of enrollment numbers they had to change it to staff kids are automatically the top of the list for open enrollments. We can also use our school building as our kids’ bus stop if needed!
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u/myopicinsomniac 13h ago
Oh now that I would love! Our zoned school would be my preference for our child to attend if I had a way to make it work, but both of us have to be at work before 8am and the earliest drop-off is 8:15
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u/myopicinsomniac 1d ago
So become a teacher, then you too can enjoy the perk of being around your child 24/7/365 including every second of your commute to & from work 🤷♀️
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u/BaconApple9 1d ago
Exactly. That part is exhausting. I am jealous of my spouse’s alone time commute.
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u/maestra612 1d ago
Most people don't have to be to work the same time their child has to be at school.
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u/UpperCutCentral 14h ago
Why are you on the teacher subreddit??? Just join us already if we have it sooooo good 🤪
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u/loftyshoresafar 1d ago
Lol I'm literally a primary teacher only because it came with tuition for my kids (private school). The school has a few dozen kids from the teachers and staff.
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u/ontrack retired HS teacher 1d ago
Yup at international schools this is also standard. I had the head of school's kids in my class. No big deal.
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u/loftyshoresafar 1d ago
Head of Studies has 3 kids in the school, but they're in the younger years (I teach 5th and 6th). I have my older daughter in my class this year.
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u/CriminalEducator 1d ago
😆 Most of our teachers (private) are teachers because their children are in the school and staff were needed. My last 2 private schools were the same. I’m probably one of maybe 2 teachers who doesn’t have a kid in the school.
When I was public, my kid went to my school for one year, then I transferred him to a better performing school (private). Some staff had their kids in the school and a few lived in a different area, so their kids attended their home school.
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u/BigDougSp 1d ago
Bad policy...
A good show of faith in the quality of a school is IF a teacher who works there trusts it enough to send their own kids to it. The teacher whose kids are in district have a vested interest, beyond their paycheck, to make the district high quality.
I draw the line at a child in their own parent's classroom... too much potential for conflict of interest. I had my own father in 5th grade... long ago... it was terrible. But same building or district... no problem.
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u/Logical-Mobile-7643 1d ago
Parents work at the same school as teachers, admin, and paras in my district. Several teachers have their kids move schools so they go to the same school they work at
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u/IllustriousCabinet11 1d ago
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this policy exists at your school because someone in the past ruined it. That’s why terrible policies like these exist.
“In 1985, Mrs. Martin’s kid was in Mrs. Brown’s class and the kid failed a math test and Mrs. Martin screamed at Mrs. Brown in the hallway causing some chaos.” Who are these people? No one knows in 2026, but their legacy lives on in the form of this terrible policy.
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u/Delicious_Attitude_7 1d ago
That’s a super weird policy imo.
My son goes to the school I teach at. Technically he’s zoned for a different school in the district. Staff members can fill out a transfer form so their child can attend their parent’s school. (I teach in a huge county with 175 schools)
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u/camasonian HS Science, WA 1d ago
No, no such policy whatsoever. And my daughter attended the school where I teach. Although I made sure I never had her in class.
In fact it is the opposite. One perk of employment in the district is that you can enroll your own students in the district even if you live outside the district boundaries. So have several colleagues who have their kids in the district and the school where they teach even though they live outside. Makes it so much easier for commuting.
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u/arb1984 1d ago
One of the things that got me hired was my kids being students because they felt I had a vested interest in the district (rightfully so)
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u/ShoddyCandidate1873 1d ago
That's how my district is. I'd say it's probably close to 50% of staff district wide are alumni and/or parents of kids in the district. Many teaching for 30+ years there. When my daughter got to middle school almost all of her teachers were ones I had or people I graduated with. It makes sense imo
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u/amscraylane 1d ago
I have several of my colleagues kids as students and I personally hate it.
Our office manager is messaging me a lot about her kid’s grade and ….
One class the student’s were complaining about the math teacher whose daughter was in my room and started bawling …
Kids that don’t think they have to be with the others, that they can go to their mom’s classroom.
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u/Independent_Mode_347 1d ago
I was pretty strict as a lunch aide with making sure my daughter didn’t get too much time with me(I would be out at recess while she was in the lunchroom and vice versa) and I didn’t talk to her teacher unless they came up to me.
She did so much better when I was there. She has selective mutism and didn’t speak at all in kindergarten and then I came in when she was in 1st grade and she started talking to other students but not in class. I was invited to be a guest reader and it was the first day any teacher heard her speak.
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u/ApprehensiveOkra9977 1d ago
We have 1 middle school and 1 high school in our district. That policy sounds absurd to me
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u/JollyHamster8991 1d ago
Considering I have the Super's kid in one of my classes. Yes.
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u/Independent_Mode_347 1d ago
That would be nerve wracking.
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u/JollyHamster8991 1d ago
Without giving too much information, the kid is still in Elementary, and has one of the strictist teachers for homeroom, sooo all things considering im not the worse part of his day 🤣
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u/Intelligent_Fan6237 18h ago
I have taught two of the superintendent’s kids and had several former colleagues’ children in my classes. I also have had my cousins’ kids in my classes.
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u/jesslynne94 1d ago
As a teacher we can't have them in our class. Thats it
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u/Independent_Mode_347 1d ago
That makes sense to me
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u/jesslynne94 1d ago
Forgot to add, I have been a teacher that had a student with a parent on campus and sometimes its cool. Others omg I cant stand my coworker/the parent. I have had them walk into the middle of my class disrupt everything to talk about their kid.
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u/PNWGreeneggsandham 1d ago
Anyone teach a singleton? What would happen if the kid wanted/needed to take it? It happens all time in my district as we are all usually the only subject teachers in the entire district.
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u/jesslynne94 1d ago
Yes my last school was that way. They moved around the subjects. So instead of my worker teaching 7th graders, I got the 7th graders and she got the 8th graders. Then it swapped again.
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u/BugsArePeopleToo 1d ago
This is strange. I was under the impression that it was illegal to discriminate hiring based on family status (married, parenthood, etc.). I was also under the impression that a public school district is required to accept any student in the area (with exceptions for expelled students). So how do they enforce this policy without breaking any laws?
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u/Independent_Mode_347 1d ago
They have multiple elementary schools in the district, so parents can work for a different school within the district, just not the one their students attend. However, we only have one middle school, so I am not sure how they handle the policy in that case. We don’t currently have any middle school teachers who live in the district, I’m not sure if that’s intentional or just a coincidence.
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u/Creative-Wasabi3300 1d ago
I agree that generally should be allowed to work at their children's schools. I've known parents who've been teachers, paras, and even admin at their kids' schools, and in almost all cases it's been fine.
However, I have personally witnessed it create problems in one case. I don't want to give too many details for privacy reasons except to say we had a campus supervisor at our school whose son attended there. The kid had numerous, very serious behavioral issues which were ignored or downplayed because the other supervisors, and one of our admin, were very friendly with the kid's parent. I had colleagues who lobbied to get that supervisor transferred to a different school in our district, but it never happened. The supervisor still works at our school, but thankfully the kid moved on to high school a couple of years ago.
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u/MyDogSam-15 1d ago
Our district allows parents to work in the same building as their kids, and subs can be in the same school as their kids. I’ve done it, too. I’ve never heard of it being a problem. Our principal’s kids go to our school, too. Many are technically out of district but staff are permitted to bring their kids to our district. Tbh idk if that would apply to noon/lunch aides. I was actually one many years ago but my kids were in-district.
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u/turtleswift01 5th Grade Teacher | Virginia 1d ago
My school district specifically makes it so teachers can choose to enroll their children in their own school for free even if they’re not zoned for the area. It’s part of the perks.
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u/Agreeable-Fee-7320 17h ago
My school does. Our principals kids are here, lunch aides, teachers, we have nieces and nephews, grandkids. Big family school. really it’s one of the reasons people come to our district.
In terms of student teaching- your college/uni might not allow it. My college would not allow (unless extremely excruciating circumstances) a person to student teach at a school where a relative attended.
I ended up at my sisters high school (I was teaching with juniors she was a senior) ONLY because it was the only school in within an hour drive of my college that had a qualified teacher in my subject area who could and was willing to host an intern and by the time my advisor and I had called all the other schools in the area it was mid-Jan and I had to go somewhere or risk not graduating. I had to sign a bunch of paperwork over it.
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u/Independent_Mode_347 15h ago
The only stipulation from my college is that I can’t student teach her grade level. They do collaborative placements as much as possible since most of their students are parents. We are already not getting paid for the 12 weeks of student teaching, and yet now we will have to pay for before-school care? No thank you. Im hoping my brother in law will be able to help out if needed.
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u/SnooGoats9114 1d ago
Our school serves children of administrators, office staff, teachers, ECEs, ESPs, SLP, daycare workers, and custodians. It is the only school within a 30-minute drive in one direction and a two-hour drive in the other; if the kids did not go to our school, they would not be attending any school. Our building also contains the town pool and the daycare. Those staff members' children attend our school, and many of our students attended the daycare at some point.
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u/Hot_Equivalent_8707 1d ago
Yes, but if you're a teacher, you can't have your own child
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u/scfoothills 1d ago
I taught my own child her senior year. It was an AP class, and I'm the only one that teaches it. And bunch of her friends were in the class too, some that I'd known since they were in elementary school. It was my most fun year teaching ever.
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u/PNWGreeneggsandham 1d ago
I’m staring down the barrel of this as I’m the only HS teacher for 7 different classes, four more years and the horde of my son and his buddies who I’ve coached in youth soccer hit my chairs. It’s going to be interesting.
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u/teachinglittlebeings 1st Grade | Charter | Arizona 1d ago
i’ve literally never heard of that and would not work at a district that had this rule, nor would my child be student there
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u/No-Cell-3459 1d ago
Not only does our district allow us to work where our kids go to school- we can transfer them from their home school to the school we work at… and we can have them in our class, if we choose.
My son goes to school where I teach. I am not and will not be his teacher.
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u/DuckFriend25 Math | HS & MS 22h ago
So what would happen if you started working there before having kids, and the school you’re at is your child’s zoned school?
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u/Common_Tip_6173 6th grade ELA | MO 19h ago
We have many parents who teach at their child's school. I didn't realize some didn't allow it.
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u/zazataru 1d ago
I’ve never seen a policy like this before. My district gives the children of faculty and staff special permission to attend their parent’s schools if they are out of zone. Very strange.
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u/Several-Honey-8810 35 year career educator 1d ago
I had one of my kids in my class
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u/Interesting-Coat-469 1d ago
Same....but generally that isn't done...I was just the only instructor for that particular dual enrollment class
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u/Joe-Stapler 1d ago
Just about every teacher in my school has had one or more of their kids in their classes.
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u/Which-Break5673 1d ago
Yes. And it was not a good decision for a friend of mine. She was way too involved either both of her daughters.
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u/Independent_Mode_347 1d ago
See I understand that but there are other policies that could be implemented to address this
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u/lolabythebay 1d ago
I got recruited by my kid's principal, who basically said, "you have a bachelor's degree you're not using and you're great with the kids. If you do the accelerated program at the local university, I will set your student teaching placement."
She got moved to another school, but then the new principal hired me and I began teaching my own kid's grade.
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u/nummanummanumma 1st-3rd Montessori Aide 1d ago
I have my own child, another teacher’s kid, and the principle’s two kids in my class. Private school. I have seen no problems with the arrangement. The TKs are by far the most well behaved
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u/PANEBringer 1d ago
That policy is does and just sounds illegal to me. I have taught several relatives, including my son for two years!
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u/soonerfreak HS Speech/Debate Texas 1d ago
No, we have multiple children of staff at my school. That sounds like a horrific school for staff that live in their school's zone.
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u/legalsequel 1d ago
I once was the teacher to both our principal’s son and the superintendent’s son.
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u/leftshoe18 1d ago
My district has no such restriction. I've had the opportunity to see all of my boys pass through the school I work at.
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u/mhiaa173 1d ago
I have my grand-daughter in my reading class (5th) this year. I think this year we've hit a record high of 20 staff kids (also have 3 sets of husband-wife staff members).
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u/ShoddyCandidate1873 1d ago
I think the spouse issue is worth. My daughter just had a teacher leave a month into school because they both worked there and are now getting divorced.
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u/Terrible_Trick_9875 Job Title | Location 1d ago
I worked at the school my son attended only one year and I would never do it again. I had a small disagreement with his teacher as a colleague and then spent weeks worrying about the repercussions that could have on her relationship with him as a teacher. I could never put that stress on myself again.
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u/Key-Hand958 1d ago
Agreeing that this is a weird policy! My own child is not in school yet but I have 3 students this year whose parents work in our building, and one of them I had both of his older brothers too 🤷♀️
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u/HelloBookworms 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve never heard of a school or district not allowing you work where your child attends. The only thing that is common practice is that your kid can’t be in your class. My friend’s mom was the ISS teacher when we were kids and I’ve had coworkers who are able to have their kid attend schools in their district even if they don’t live in that district. One coworker is looking forward for their kid to moving up to high school so they can be in the same building. That doesn’t mean she’s going to be her classroom teacher.
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u/POGsarehatedbyGod Kitten Herder | Midwest 1d ago
Of course. One of our science teachers has her daughter doing an independent study class during her 4th hour.
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u/Revolutionary_Car630 1d ago
This is ridiculous and crazy. Kids are my school, and though we purposely do not place kids in their parents classes, in middle school they will have their parent for one class. Since it's small and only 4 teachers for the 3 grades.
I can understand having your kid in a small district that can't be helped. But to have that rule, really limits who you hire.
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u/SooooManyDogs 1d ago
I taught at my daughter’s elementary school and then, when she got into a magnet arts school for middle, I transferred there to teach. It was the absolute BEST, we have always been really close but it was really great getting to spend lots of QT time with her in the car on the way there and back instead of her being on a bus!
You should at least see if you can get an exception. The worst thing they can say is no!
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u/jennylala707 Instructional Assistant | California, USA 1d ago
I also find it fun because I know all the kids they are talking about when they give me the tea about their day.
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u/ADHTeacher HS English 1d ago
That seems weird. In my district, teachers who work outside their zone often get variances for their kids specifically so they can attend the same school.
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u/IndieBoysenberry 1d ago
Teaching at the same school as your children is allowed in my district, but the local university does not allow student teachers to intern at a school that a family member currently attends. They also cannot intern there if they are a former student of that school.
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u/ShoddyCandidate1873 1d ago
I teach in the district I graduated from, the same district my kids now attend. It's rather common here. If staff couldn't be at their child's school the district would need to be filling a lot of positions from cafeteria and custodians all the way to admin
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u/yeahipostedthat 1d ago
Absolutely not. In fact most parent teachers or other support staff have kids in our school.
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u/Adorable_Bag_2611 Retired Elementary 1d ago
Oh god no! In fact, that is a 100% approved intra-district transfer to have your kid go to the school you work at! Even when almost all new transfers were being denied those were approved.
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u/Immediate-Tone-5031 1d ago
We have tons of child/parent employees! Out of 74 employees (teachers, TAs, office, admin, custodial, cafeteria), we currently have 23 with children at the same school. About a dozen others previously had children here.
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u/Original-Move8786 1d ago
Nope. We have teachers, admin, staff, cleaners, etc all who are parents or relatives. I have always taught kids of other staff and teachers. Also I am now teaching children of children of children that I taught at the start of my career. It is always fun for me to think that if I could tell you about the time I caught your parent drunk at a dance…….
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u/X-4StarCremeNougat 1d ago
From the world of private school, they’d be all out of teachers really quick 🤣
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u/Logical-Log5537 1d ago
I have had my daughter in my classroom for 4 years in a row now, and have the potential for another 3 years with her (I’m a secondary performing arts teacher so I teach multiple grades/levels in each building I’m assigned to). The biggest challenge for us is that she struggles with navigating the difference between “mom” and “teacher” versions of me due to autism, but we are working on it and it’s improving. It’s good for her because she has an hour each day where she doesn’t have to work quite so effortfully with masking; it’s also a big challenge when she needs me to be mom more than she needs me to be teacher and I can’t switch roles because there are 25 other students in the room that need me as teacher.
I could understand the policy your school has in secondary levels if there were issues with parents asking colleagues for special consideration for their student, especially with grades… I had a situation where a colleague whose children were in my classroom asked if her senior could have extra credit after the grade deadline for graduating seniors in order to turn a B into an A and graduate with honors due to some other classes grades being lower than expected. I didn’t want to say yes, but felt that I had to because that parent happened to be the assistant principal… what made it worse is that 24 hours previously she had told me I couldn’t give grades for my final student performance because grades were due at 3 pm and the performance wouldn’t be graded until it concluded (scheduled to run 7-8:30pm… so grades in realistically by 9:30 pm if I needed to). I’m still made about that and wish I’d had the spine to say no, but I was concerned about losing my job if I didn’t say yes. So, I could understand that if your admin / district is trying to prevent that kind of situation. I don’t see ANY reason for refusing kid + parent at the same attendance center for elementary level!!
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u/Necessary_Salad_8509 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes and it's a major draw to work at the school for I would say all the teachers with school aged kids. Teachers kids who live outside the district do not pay tuition and if a grade level fills up they do everything they can to keep teachers kids in the school. They have even gone to great lengths to fund a PreK class locally instead of thru federal funds to make sure teachers in the district can definitely send their kids to PreK.
I work in elementary specials so I could end up with my kids classes but I have already talked to my counterpart about making sure they always get to have her when possible. I will enjoy getting to see them at school but I think they deserve a change to build relationships with other trusted adults and to not have their mom probably getting onto them more so than the other kids.
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u/texteachersab 1d ago
That’s insane! I taught both my kids (no other choice
I was the only 6th English teacher) and my husband taught at the high school they both graduated from. I’ve never heard of a policy like that.
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u/Unicorn_8632 1d ago
I work at Public school, and I have been adamant that my own child or children not go to the same school (or feeder pattern) where I work. The main reason is that I don’t want someone to treat my child differently in a school setting based on how they may feel about ME. My child deserves to have their own educational experiences that are NOT directly tied to my job.
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u/Tennisbabe16 1d ago
No policy against it and that’s weird as hell. We are the only elementary school in our small town so that wouldn’t work anyway.
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u/fruitjerky 1d ago
That rule is lame af. I transferred to my kids' school on purpose. A lot of staff members are also parents. We all agree that a teacher shouldn't have their kid in their homeroom, but I've had two of my kids for math and I love it.
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u/dtshockney Job Title | Location 1d ago
The area i live and teach in is so wide spread that to not work in the same building as your kid means one of you have a 30+ min commute to school. I already drive 30 min but my district has 4 buildings. 2 k-5, a 6-8, and a 9-12. The amount of spouses, siblings, and cousins that work for the district is astounding tbh (like over half the staff between the 4 buildings are related to some others in some form or fashion)
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u/Either-Percentage956 1d ago
I've never heard of that before! Ours doesn't mind at all, they actually kind of encourage it because they like having us be stakeholders in more than one way since they think it heightens our investment in the system success.
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u/Disastrous-Nail-640 1d ago
Yes.
My son attended the high school I work at. It was a non-issue.
I’ve also known many teachers that have had their children in class.
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u/Altruistic_Hat1634 1d ago
I’m a school social worker and the nurse, hall monitor, and a teacher both zone to have their kids there instead of the home school. My son is a toddler and not in school yet but due to confidentiality I am not sure if I will bring my son to the school I work out (might be sticky if he seems me helping his friend in crisis). Where I live it was also required that the superintendent has to live in the school district, I see the value in it but that is also a huge pain for someone with the family that would have to relocate (feel bad for a kid having the change which know happened to the last superintendent who was a good guy).
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u/thosetwo 1d ago
That’s dumb as hell. All of my kids went to my school, then they went to middle school with my wife.
We are in a neighborhood where they should have gone to a school in the opposite direction of ours and it would have been physically impossible for us to wait for the bus with our kids and get ourselves to school on time.
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u/Glittering_Walrus310 1d ago
When I was a teacher I had my son in my class (kinder) and it was a terrible experience for me 😅 He’s now in third grade and still expressed how much he loved it. I on the other hand left teaching not long after (for completely different reasons, but still)
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u/WahooWifeAndMom 1d ago
Sure does! In fact, many of our teachers have children in the district. But then it is a rural district and we would lose at least half of our teachers if we had that rule.
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u/Got-it-maybe 1d ago
Only through major vetting. They can never work in the classrooms. Lunch, recess, et al.
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u/welchasaurus Biology & Envi Sci | Virginia 1d ago
Lol, the private school where I work gives free tuition to the children of teachers. The children of staff and faculty members are usually a positive addition and the free tuition prevents parents from leaving positions at least until their child graduates. We're literally encouraging the opposite of your school's policy because it works well for us. The policy you describe is silly.
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u/sarahshift1 1d ago
Our district allows staff to get a waiver, as long as they live somewhere within the county, to bring their kid to the school they work at (or the geographically nearest one of the appropriate age level) for logistical reasons. It’s honestly a huge perk for a lot of people. I teach one kid who has both of his parents teaching in our building. We’re not a small town or anything either- 10 high schools in the county.
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u/No-Butterscotch-8314 5/6 combo | California 1d ago
I have never worked for a district that did not allow you to enroll your kids in the school you work at. I have my TK kids in our neighborhood schools and I work in a nearby district…the logistics are tough. I will be enrolling them in my school next year.
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u/TNthrowaway747 1d ago
I bring my kids to school with me! If I was still a grade level teacher I would avoid having them in my class. However, I am the school librarian so I will have them once a week for 6 years! I love getting to have that extra time with them
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u/luringpopsicle95 Special Education Co-Teacher | Texas 1d ago
I co-taught with a teacher whose child was in our class. She was the only gen ed co-teacher for the grade level subject and he had to be in-class support.
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u/Vegetable_Top_9580 1d ago
We have parents that teach their own kids. Obviously this is avoided as much as possible. But at a small school, when there’s only 1 gym teacher, or 1 Spanish teacher, you can’t really give them a different teacher.
In my high school (different district) it was the same. Putting students in their own parents class was avoided if possible. I will say that I was friends with two kids in this situation, and their parents were harder on them than on other students. Like the calculus teacher gave partial credit sometimes for small mistakes, but never would do that for her own kids in case someone wanted to investigate favoritism.
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u/DarkClozet ELA 1d ago
well, interesting such a range of rules for people! In our district, there are no rules like that. It is my first year teaching, and my son is one of my student students. 😅
is this something that you could go to your union about and have it changed in the contract? I don’t even know how that all works. but I feel like that could be petitioned
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u/Saturdaysunday12 8th ELA | WA, USA 1d ago
Teaching in the same school as my kids is one of the best perks of the job. FWIW, I also got to have my kids in my class -- our district lets you request it, but I would've had them anyway because I was the only teacher for the specific program they were in. The principals warn us that people may have concerns about fairness, but I've never had anyone say anything.
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u/jennylala707 Instructional Assistant | California, USA 1d ago
All 4 of my kids went to the same school I worked in last year. One graduated to high school so now there are only 3 at my school.
I used to supervise my two youngest during lunch recess but one moved up a grade level so now I just supervise one during lunch. And honestly I get a quick hug and then she is off like I don’t exist.
None in my class or cohort though. I even occasionally supervise my own kids in afterschool program but usually not.
ETA: I also have or have had several coworkers children in my class.
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u/Diligent_Magazine946 1d ago
I’m the preschool special education teacher, and my child is in our AM preschool class. So I’m not his direct teacher, but I push into that class for 80% of most days.
The gym teacher’s daughter also goes to our school, and obviously has her dad for gym class.
We were having such a para shortage, and started recruiting moms of students. With the hours and having non-school days off, it’s worked really well!!
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u/maestra612 1d ago
Almost all of our paras have or had kids in our school. There are no teacher's kids in the building right now, but there have been. They love having parents substitute, we have a lot of subs.with kids are the school.
When I was at a different school in the district our new principal had 2 kids at the school and she transferred them to a different school in the district so it wouldn't be uncomfortable for the kids or their teachers.
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u/the_gaymer_girl JH math/sci | 🇨🇦 1d ago
I teach a kid of one of my colleagues. If they’re in the catchment there’s really not much they can do.
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u/DrZooLittle Senior Biology Teacher | South Africa 1d ago
Not US so this sounds crazy to me. Most teachers I know with kids specifically want their kids in the school they work at because all schools (as far as I know, I have never seen a school public or private not offer this) waive a percentage of the school fees if you work there for your own kids or in cheaper schools your kid goes free. My mom worked at my high school and she didn't have to pay for me. My current school is 60% off which is a lot considering how very very expensive it is (private). There's even a note in the bottom in your contract about how you cannot get this in any other way because it's so common as part of a teaching contract here (as a teacher who doesn't have a kid I kinda always want that amount in monetary value as part of my pay check or an alternative benefit but alas.).
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u/Great_Narwhal6649 1d ago
State law (WA) allows staff to being their children to learn in the district/building they work in. My son was at my school from 3rd grade thru 6th (previously I was in a preschool settin while he was in primary grades, but at the elementary school I formerly taught at prior to moving to the preschool).
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u/Rich_Celebration477 1d ago
I worked at a really tiny school once where I would get there early to set up the gym where I had to teach music and the children of the teachers would come in and start playing basketball like they owned the school.
In a school of less than 100 kids, at least 8-10 of them were the kids of teachers.
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u/daisy-chain-of-doom 1d ago
This is wild!
My kids are at the school I teach at, not because they want to, but because I get a 75% staff discount on school fees.
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u/Able_Boysenberry_481 20h ago
My husband was working overseas when our son was little so the easiest way to deal with school was for him to come to the same school as me. He had the same hours and holidays as me and the school allowed discounted and then free before and after school care for staff. I’m in the uk though and we have school choice here. No one has to go to any school, parents choose any school they like and if there is room then your child is in.
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u/fading_relevancy 20h ago
Yup. Matter if fact have watched an art teachers role change as her daughter moved to different schools. We had a wonderful assistant principal in our 2-5 school but she found a different administrator job in another district, I think due to her own son's being not the greatest of students kinda sort of trouble makers or something.
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u/Aly_Anon Middle School Teacher | Indiana 🦔 20h ago
I teach a co-worker's kid right now. At the beginning of the year he was acting up and I told him "That's pretty brave for someone whose parent is three doors away." Student complained to his parent, but parent told him I was absolutely right.
On the other hand, there's also a couple of people in my building who stop other teachers in the hallway and get aggressive about why they're not taking an August worksheet in October. I'm imagining how much more of a nightmare it would be if that was their actual child
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u/farawyn86 20h ago
Sounds like something happened in the past in your district that was a major enough problem that they decided to write the policy.
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u/rdale8209 18h ago
Nope, this is the first year in the past five years that I don't have a kid with me in my building. I miss it a little.
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u/SecretMusician8485 18h ago
Our district policy for some reason is like this but only in the five elementary buildings (K-5). However in the middle school, where I work and am a parent, this isn’t a problem. Bizarre, but I don’t question it.
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u/EntranceFeisty8373 18h ago
I've worked in three districts, and none of them cared if a teacher's kid was a student. They did try to avoid placing the kid in their classes, though.
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u/Electronic-Duck-5902 17h ago
That's odd. I currently work at my son's elementary school. We're in Northern Illinois.
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u/MakeUpTails 17h ago
I teach at a charter and no we have several teachers with theirs kids there they just don't have them in their class. My daughter will go but only until 4th. I teach 5th and we are departmentalized. I refuse to teach my own kids she will go to our public school at that time since 5th is middle school for my district.
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u/No-Ship-6214 17h ago
No, how strange. When I got a job at a good school in my daughters’ district, they came with me to that school in large part because it solved a significant problem with paying for before and after care. It’s one of the few perks of being a teacher IMO. There were lots of staff kids at that school.
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u/Winterfaery14 ECE Teacher 16h ago
There are a lot of teacher's kids at my school. In fact, I taught my Para's daughter a few years ago (she wasn't my para at the time).
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u/StreetMaize508 16h ago
I taught in my children’s schools. I had one student in my class. It’s a stupid rule, imo.
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u/Fiyero- Middle School | Math 16h ago
That is a bizarre rule. If I teach 2nd grade and my child is enter kindergarten…. That would mean they are either going to fire me or not enroll my child.
In my district, they will let a child from another district enroll in our schools if they work here. But they also let students be in their aunt and uncles classes. I thought that was inappropriate unless it’s the only option.
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u/bbbeachplease 15h ago
That is insane to me. How inconvenient is that for teachers who are parents? I have actually changed schools three times to be with my own kids (and have taught both of my kids, they just couldn’t be with me for state testing). When I was at a different school than my kids, being on different schedules and not being able to be involved in their school, teaching was not worth it to me.
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u/Beneficial-Focus3702 15h ago
Didn’t have a choice. It’s a rural “1 school in the district” type school. The next one is too far away, teachers with kids wouldn’t work there if their kids couldn’t go there.
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u/EnchantedTikiBird 15h ago
As a student teacher, you are not working there. You are not employed by them. You likely do not fall under that rule. Good luck!
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u/RoCon52 HS Spanish | Northern California 14h ago
My coworker lives two towns over, we work right just barely into the third town, but traffic is awful. They allowed her to transfer her kids to the district we work in but not the exact school.
Town A
Town B
Town C
So she was driving from town A, to the southern edge of town C to drop off kids, all the way back to the northern edge of town C for work.
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u/AuntT-Ann 14h ago
Mine does, we’re allowed to enroll our own children even though we don’t live in district. My son attended the school I teach in through second grade, before we moved him to a different school because he’s autistic and struggled in a traditional school setting. My daughter came with me K-5, then came back for 7th after spending 6th in our home district because she missed her friends. She wound up going back to our home district midway through 7th, and has remained there. But it really cemented me into the community and she was the reason I started coaching volleyball, and in turn started a youth volleyball program for our district. Her cohort will all be seniors next year, and then I’ll have about a decade left before I can retire. 🤷🏻♀️😂
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u/MrsKretzerIII 13h ago
I have never heard of that type of thing before. We have teacher’s children at our site and they are living in a different district’s boundaries. That is the strangest thing I have ever heard of. Wow.
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u/MaybeImTheNanny 12h ago
I wouldn’t work in a district that restricted teachers from teaching in the same building their children attended. We don’t allow teachers to teach their own kids but otherwise it is fine. Student teachers would be different because they aren’t school employees and there’s essentially no disciplinary process for them with the school district other than dismissing them.
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u/albino_oompa_loompa HS Spanish | Rural Ohio, USA 12h ago
I teach in a small, rural district. Most kids around here have had their parent or a friend’s parent as their teacher / aide / bus driver / lunch lady at least once. This policy seems bizarre to me.
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u/OdeManRiver 10h ago
My wife and I work at the same school. Our kids attend our school. They even had their mother as their teacher.
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u/Feline_Fine3 9h ago
That’s an interesting policy, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that. I could see maybe having a policy where you can’t have your own kid in your class, but even that seems debatable. I have a couple of coworkers whose kids go to our school. Another friend of mine who works in a different district got a job where her kids were already going to school.
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u/flowerodell 8h ago
Yep. And when their kid has an IEP, it’s all sorts of awkward for so many reasons.
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u/Own-Joke-1461 7h ago
You can have your kids go to school at my school! You don’t have your own child in class (at least I’ve never seen that) but it is a non-issue for kids to attend the school their parent works at. In fact, it is thought of as weird if your kids don’t go to the school when their parent is there.
When I was student teaching my college had a rule that I could not be related to anyone at the school I was placed at even though the school I was placed at did not have policies like that for teachers. my college was just weird about it I guess!
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u/Imaginary_Way2078 6h ago
That’s a dumb policy. Ours is the opposite. Even if you live out of district your kids can go to your school.
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u/Rude_Permission2953 34m ago
Students of staff members are one of our priority enrollment categories after district lines (large public charter with 4 priority categories and lottery for the rest)
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u/sugarmag13 Retired 2023!! NJ Union VP 15 years 1d ago
Mine originally allowed teachers to bring their children to our district as a perk. It was one of the reasons I accepted a position there. As a single mom to 3 it made my life 1000 easier
They eventually stopped it but they can't stop kids from attending school if they live in the district even if parents work there
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u/This_Artichoke6975 11h ago
I’m a TA, and my child attends the school I work at. I don’t understand why it should matter unless they are in your class.
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u/Emotional_Match8169 3rd Grade | Florida 1d ago
This seems like such a weird policy to me. Why would a school district want to make it deliberately harder for their employees to get their own kids to school by forcing them to be at a different school?
I can understand not allowing a teachers own personal child on their roster, but to be essentially banned from the school is counterintuitive.
I got my job at my current school because my son was a student there and I subbed. The principal knew I had taught in the past and asked me to stay on permanently.