A Florida teacher is fed up with the way parents have been behaving while their students learn online. Edith Pride, a teacher at Boca Raton Elementary School, took the mic at a school board meeting last week to deliver a lecture to parents who she says are showing up in the backgrounds of their children’s Zoom calls smoking, drinking and in their bras and underwear. Her fiery speech is getting cheers from other teachers who say they’re dealing with the exact same problems.
“Parents, please make sure that you have on proper clothing when you are walking behind your child’s computer because we’ve seen them in their drawers, their bras and everything else,” Pride said during her public comments. “Remember, all children are on the computer and can hear your private conversations, so please try to use proper language. No cussing. I’ll say cussing because if I say no profanity they might not know what I’m talking about.”
Her comments drew laughter from the crowd at the meeting, and they’ve drawn even more laughter and commiseration from teachers online. One Facebook user who shared the video from the meeting writes, “Someone needs to find Edith from Boca Raton Elementary and hug her from all teachers! She just might be my new hero!”
“It’s interesting that we are ALL dealing with the same thing, even in a different state,” one person writes in the comments on that post. “We had the same conversation yesterday with students about getting out of bed, wearing proper clothes and not playing around in the background while your child is learning!”
While Pride’s parental etiquette lesson received praise from teachers, it drew mixed reactions from moms and dads. In a discussion on the Boca News Now Facebook page, some parents expressed annoyance at teachers telling them what to do in their own homes.
“Pay MY bills, and pay for my clothes, and then you can then tell me what to wear,” one person writes. “Probably not even then, but you are welcome to try. What is wrong with people? They don’t know that maybe we have medical conditions or maybe are feeling under the weather or just need a day. Goodness, we don’t come into your home and judge what you are wearing.”
Another commenter adds, “This isn’t the teacher’s classroom. It’s the student’s homes. Until you open schools back up, shut up. At worst, you’re invaders in their homes. At best, you’re guests. Guests don’t dictate rules in a household … And as far as drinking alcohol in the morning, does Dad work the night shift? Did that even occur? My kids are adults, and I’m glad. Y’all need to stay in your lane.”
While it’s understandable that parents don’t want teachers creating house rules for them, it’s also important to note that teachers aren’t exactly “guests.” By signing up for distance learning, families have agreed that, at least in some respects, parts of their home function as a classroom during certain hours of the day. That’s a tough situation, and parents and teachers both seem to be struggling to figure out the expectations for this new frontier of learning.
Prior to the start of the new school year, many parents were outraged when an Illinois school district tried to implement a dress code for students participating in distance learning. The rules prohibited pajama pants, hats and hoods of any type. A lot of parents and even some teachers felt the dress code was way too strict. But when it comes to other guidelines, such as parents not drinking, smoking or swearing in the vicinity of the “classroom,” is that so unreasonable?
The pandemic has served to make a difficult job even tougher for educators. They’re teaching students in entirely new ways, troubleshooting as they go and doing their best to meet the diverse needs of each child in a very limited setting. Similarly, many parents are juggling multiple distance learning schedules, their jobs and other small children or caregiving duties.
There are going to be mishaps, and no one can blame a parent for not realizing the Zoom class could see their pajama pants or for accidentally saying “sh*t” while they try to find the mute button. But Pride’s speech is a reminder that teachers and parents have to work together. This is a chaotic, imperfect school year, but it’s the only solution we have right now, and we all play a vital role in helping kids get the support they need during this difficult time.
