Having a parent who always checks in on you can be hard, especially when your parents meet with your teachers. For a few students, though, their teacher is their parent or, perhaps even more intimidatingly, their administrator. Such is the case for Tiger students like Palmer Blanchard, Brandon Crews, Lauren Stanfa, Luke Roeber, William Melega and Margaret Stoffregen.
One of the first anxieties these students have is that their parents constantly keep tabs on them and check in with their classroom teachers.
Sophomore Luke Roeber said his dad, social studies teacher Patrick Roeber, “definitely” kept tabs on him.
Palmer Blanchard agreed.
“Yeah, he probably does, not that I would know,” the sophomore suspected.
Lauren Stanfa said she was positive that her father kept tabs on her.
“My dad definitely keeps tabs on me. There have been multiple instances where he has called me out for late assignments or missing work because my teachers told him about it personally,” she said.
The teachers did not necessarily see eye to eye with their children.
“I check through PowerSchool, just like everyone else,” science teacher Eric Stoffregen said.
Patrick Roeber said he didn’t formally check in on his son, but “if I see one of his teachers in the lounge, they might tell me if he did something.”
Principal Blanchard has adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward his son’s academics.
“I do my best not to interfere with Palmer’s business and work around the school,” he said.
Although teachers said they enjoy having their kids enrolled at the school where they work, not all of the teachers want their children in their respective classes.
English teacher Tom Stanfa specifically asked for his daughter not to be in his class.
“I just didn’t think having her in here would be moral,” he said.
Unlike Stanfa, social studies teacher Bill Melega did have his daughter in his class at one time.
“I didn’t think of it as immoral or unfair,” Melega stated. “I actually held her to a higher standard than my other students.”
It’s not just academics faculty parents are inclined to police, say the students, many of whom said having a parent at the school affected their behavior.
Parents and discipline are synonymous for most. When these students were asked if having a teacher at the school affected their behavior, they had varying answers.
“I know if I act up and the teacher knows my dad, he’ll know what I did by the end of the day,” junior Luke Roeber said.
Palmer Blanchard agreed.
“It definitely does impact how I act in class. Without him I’d probably wouldn’t do as well as I do,” Palmer Blanchard said.
Lauren Stanfa, though, said she is actually more calm when she’s in class.
“My behavior in class is usually more relaxed than it would be if I didn’t know my teachers,” she said.
Margaret Stoffregen, who isn’t fazed by her father working at the school, said her behavior is unaltered.
“He knows that I’m on my best behavior in my classes,” she said.
Teachers, unlike the students, said they are not affected by their children’s presence at the school.
“The only way it changes my lessons are that I have to be careful about talking about my home life,” Tom Stanfa said.
Sometimes having a teacher as a parent has actually benefited the students. William Melega gets greeted in the hallway by upperclassmen because of the popularity of his father with the older kids.
There are other advantages, the students say.
“I enjoy the fact that my dad works at the school because it allows me to always have a place to go to to work if I need to,” Lauren Stanfa said.
Margaret Stoffregen said having her dad on staff was helpful to her in the early hours of the school day.
“It’s easier to get to school in the morning, and I won’t ever have to worry about getting a parking space,” she said.
