My Daughter's Work Won an Award, but the Credit Went to a Classmate

After my message, the group fell into complete silence.

Even the other parents whose children had been criticized didn't stand up with me to question it.

Ursula's response came quickly. [The quality of the work is obvious. It's clear that the later pieces have much lower completion compared to the better ones!

[Mrs. Ramirez, if you have any issues with my teaching methods, feel free to speak directly to the principal!

[Please don't disrupt the atmosphere of this group.]

Her tone was bold, almost as if she had nothing to worry about.

Immediately, other parents chimed in.

[Ugly artwork is ugly. What's there to question?]

[Is this one of those troublesome parents you hear about online? Never thought I'd meet one in real life.]

[Being a preschool teacher is tough enough without dealing with people like this.]

I was practically laughing in disbelief at how blindly these people defended the teacher.

Ignoring their comments, I pushed forward with my own.

[Ms. Keller, whose work is this really? Is it the child's work or the parent's work?

[If it's the latter, why not just assign it to the parents directly?

[It's better than you criticizing my child's effort after she worked hard on it!]

The ripple effect was immediate.

Before Ursula could even respond, the messages from other parents started flooding in.

Everyone started tagging me.

[You didn't pay attention to your child, and now you're blaming the teacher for your child's poor work?]

[You didn't help your child, and now you don't want other parents to? I've never seen someone so unreasonable.]

[Maybe the reason your child was criticized is because of her own shortcomings. Why is it always someone else's fault?]

[Seems like jealousy, since other kids' artwork is better than hers.]

[Ms. Keller, can you kick her out? She's obviously just stirring up trouble.]

I stared in shock at my screen, my message halfway typed out. Before I could send it, the screen flashed, and I was removed from the group chat.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened with Holly. Ursula had a habit of taking photos of poorly completed work and posting them in the group for everyone to see. But what shocked me even more was that no other parent seemed to have a problem with this approach.

I clicked on Ursula's profile and was ready to confront her, but before I could, she had already launched into a long-winded message.

The most eye-catching line read, [Our preschool is the best in the entire city. Many people can't even get in. So of course, our standards are higher. Other parents have no issues with this. Why do you have so many complaints? If you can't accept our methods, you're welcome to transfer your daughter to another school.]

I wasn't about to be led around by her, so I got straight to the point.

[So, this is your excuse for throwing my child's artwork in the trash, then?]

[Your daughter's work really lowers the average. Would you prefer we framed and displayed it instead?]

The moment she sent that, I saw her quickly retract the message, and then she went completely silent.

It seemed she had decided to ignore me.

But little did she know, I had been recording the whole conversation, from the group chat to the private messages.

The next morning, Holly had developed a strong aversion to school, so I decided to let her stay home and took the opportunity to meet with the principal, Kenneth Harding.

When Ursula arrived at the office, Kenneth was still trying to smooth things over with me, pouring tea with a nervous smile.

The moment she saw me, I could tell she realized the problem. She shot me a quick, annoyed look, then turned her gaze to Kenneth.

"You wanted to see me?"

Kenneth slammed the teapot down on the table with a loud clink, his face stern.

"If it weren't for Mrs. Ramirez coming to see me, I wouldn't have known you had such an attitude! I've always said I liked your work ethics, but this is how you handle problems behind the scenes? Apologize to Mrs. Ramirez right now!"