Dear Snarky – A Family Member Is Pretending to Be a Teacher

Dear Snarky,

My husband’s stepsister is lying about being a teacher and I need a way to stop her. Due to a lot of schools deciding to start the school year virtual she is advertising herself as being a teacher and is offering tutoring sessions to help parents homeschool their kids.

She’s calling herself a “teacher on the go” and will even go to people’s houses for tutoring. The huge problem is this relative didn’t graduate from college. She flunked out her sophomore year.

When I called her out on this she said anyone can be a teacher. Her excuse was that parents that homeschool their children are “teachers” and she homeschooled her kids for one year so technically she has taught kids.

I told her that when she tells people she’s a teacher they’re expecting someone with an actual teaching degree. This is when she told me to shut the F up.

How can I stop her from lying to parents that I’m sure think they’re getting an actual teacher?

Signed, So Pissed Off

Dear P.O.,

Woah, this is so messed up. I’m sure every teacher reading this right now is thinking WTF? I think your first course of action is to have your husband or another family member who has a closer relationship with her to give this moron a come to Jesus talk on what she’s doing is probably illegal.

I’m not a lawyer but I think pretending to be a teacher could be construed as fraud. It’s also all kinds of horrible for her to be taking advantage and preying on worried parents during a pandemic.

When a parent sees “teacher on the go” I think you can reasonably assume they’re  thinking of someone with an education degree who is or has been an actual teacher in a classroom setting. Not someone who got bounced from college at 20 and then years later homeschooled her kids. 

Yes, I realize , it’s up to parents to do their due diligence on anyone they invite into their kid’s lives but I also agree with you that this relative needs to be stopped

If she doesn’t listen to reason then I would feel compelled to let any of her clients know that the “teacher” they’ve hired doesn’t have a degree nor has she ever stepped foot inside a classroom.

Is it a busy body move? Hell yes. But parents need to stick together especially right now.

If you have a question for Dear Snarky – advice with an attitude – email me at snarkyinthesuburbs@gmail.com. 😉