Vault: This Parent Spied On Her Kid's Teacher

Summary

The Bert Show – “Vault: This Parent Spied On Her Kid's Teacher”

Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Bert and the Bert Show Cast (Pionaire Podcasting)
Episode Summary By Segment

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on a controversial story from Houston, Texas, where frustrated parents gave their four-year-old daughter a tape recorder to capture what was happening in her kindergarten classroom. The subsequent audio revealed shocking treatment from the teacher—prompting the show cast and listeners (including several educators) to react. The episode dives into the ethics, prevalence, and stress factors behind inappropriate teacher behavior, blending listener stories with candid opinions and calls.

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Key Topics & Discussion Breakdown

The Houston Tape Recorder Incident

[00:00–03:40]

• Setup:

  • Melissa introduces a Houston news story involving a parent whose child exhibited behavioral issues at school, despite the child behaving well at home.
  • The mother sent her daughter to school with a concealed recorder to discover what was really happening in class.

• News Clip & Audio Excerpts:

  • The show plays the local ABC news segment, which includes harrowing quotes from the teacher:

    “You're just a bad kid now. When are you going to be a good kid?... I'm gonna be mean to you too. Everybody understand that you're mean to me, so I get to be mean to you, you stupid kid.” (Teacher on recorder, [02:07])

• Cast Reactions:

  • The revelation prompts immediate shock:

    "Oh, no. That wasn't shocking. I just—I couldn't believe it.” (Bert, [02:32])

  • The teacher was removed from class pending investigation; the principal called the comments "reprehensible and totally unacceptable."

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Perspective: Teacher Burnout or Unjustifiable Abuse?

[03:40–04:59]

• Cast members debate whether high stress or tenure can justify the teacher's behavior. There’s consensus that, while teaching can be like "being on the front lines," nothing excuses verbal abuse:

  “If you're that stressed, you can't stand it that much… just take the day off.” (Bert, [03:55])
  “That is just abusive, you know?” (Melissa, [04:00])

• Discussion about whether the teacher understood the gravity of her actions, or rationalized them due to classroom challenges.

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Listener Stories: Surveillance and Bad Teachers

[05:01–07:47]

• Caller Alicia: Shares a childhood experience where she and her brother recorded a babysitter’s abusive language to prove it to their mother:

  “As my mom drove her home, she kind of put it in the tape deck and let the babysitter hear it... I don't think I'll need your services anymore.” (Alicia, [05:05])

• Caller Lexi, Kindergarten Teacher:

  “I'm just shocked by that. I mean, no matter how frustrated you get with a child... that's just completely uncalled for.” ([06:01])

• Caller Sally: Reveals this type of verbal abuse is more common than people think, citing her own daughters’ experiences with a teacher who humiliated female students:

  “The teacher would single out the girls and tell them how stupid they were if they failed the test because no man would ever want them, shut their pie holes…” ([06:30])

• Discussion of administrative responses: some teachers face only reassignment while continuing inappropriate conduct.

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The Spectrum of Teacher Stress Responses

[07:47–09:40]

• Melissa and other cast members recall seeing teachers suffer stress-induced breakdowns and discuss the difference between a public meltdown and direct verbal abuse of students.

• Caller Holly: High school teacher of behavioral disorder students, empathizes with feelings of being overwhelmed but draws a clear ethical line:

  “Her wording—you never refer to kids as stupid or tell them they're being mean... you have to watch the way you word things to kids.” ([08:36])

• General agreement: Teachers have a tough job, but direct insults or belittling are never acceptable, regardless of student age.

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Discussing Discipline, Authority, & Policy

[09:40–11:33]

• Debate about where to draw the line in enforcing discipline and how teachers sometimes lose their jobs for physical intervention, even when breaking up fights:

  “He grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him off the other kid... (He) was fired for stopping the fight.” (Cast, [10:12])

• Distinction is made between this and verbal abuse; the latter is seen as more damaging and less defensible.

• Reflection on the lack of authority teachers sometimes feel and the fact that every profession has its “worst” practitioners:

  “There is the worst teacher in the world, and one of your students, one of your kids is being taught by that person.” (Bert, [11:33])

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Final Thoughts & Memorable Quotes

• A theme of empathy for teacher burnout weaves through the conversation, but the hosts and callers are united in condemning direct insults to students as unacceptable.
• Closing lines are laced with the show’s trademark wit and candor:

  “She's in Houston. She was in Houston, and she's out of work right now.” (Bert & Show, [11:46])

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps & Attribution)

• Teacher (on tape):

  "You're just a bad kid now. When are you going to be a good kid?... I'm gonna be mean to you too... you stupid kid." ([02:07])

• Bert:

  "Oh, no. That wasn't shocking. I just—I couldn't believe it." ([02:32])
  "If you're that stressed, you can't stand it that much… just take the day off." ([03:55])
  “There is the worst teacher in the world, and one of your students, one of your kids is being taught by that person.” ([11:33])

• Melissa:

  “That is just abusive, you know?” ([04:00])

• Caller Lexi (Kindergarten Teacher):

  “I'm just shocked by that. I mean, no matter how frustrated you get with a child... that's just completely uncalled for.” ([06:01])

• Caller Sally:

  “Teacher would single out the girls and tell them how stupid they were if they failed the test because no man would ever want them, shut their pie holes…” ([06:30])

• Caller Holly (Behavioral Disorder Teacher):

  “Her wording—you never refer to kids as stupid or tell them they're being mean... you have to watch the way you word things to kids.” ([08:36])

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Segment Timestamps

• [00:00] – Introduction to Houston story
• [02:07] – Audio of teacher’s comments (from recorder)
• [03:40] – Cast reactions and teacher burnout discussion
• [05:01] – Listener Alicia’s babysitter tape story
• [06:01] – Kindergarten teacher Lexi weighs in
• [06:30] – Sally shares her daughters’ experience
• [08:36] – Teacher Holly discusses proper boundaries
• [09:40] – Cast reflects on physical intervention vs. verbal abuse
• [11:33] – Closing reflections, “worst teacher” concept

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Episode Takeaways

• The episode puts a spotlight on inappropriate conduct in classrooms—especially verbal abuse towards young children.
• Listeners and educators alike contributed personal stories, revealing that such incidents may be more widespread than most suspect.
• While hosting styles remain light and authentic, the show treats the subject seriously, ultimately affirming that while teaching is tough, respect for students must be non-negotiable.
• The story also prompts a broader consideration of school oversight, teacher support, and parental vigilance.

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For more on these discussions, tune in to The Bert Show or visit www.thebertshow.com.

Transcript

[A]

The Birch Show. All right, Melissa, you brought this in, so you set it up. I'm really interested to hear this.

[B]

Well, this is a story I found. This is out of Houston where a parent says that her child was being reprimanded by the school for like disorderly conduct or having behavioral problems. And she's like, well, she doesn't do this at home. I don't understand why she's getting berated at school. So she decided, you know what I'm gonna say. And this, she has a four year old. So we're talking about we're a kindergarten student.

[C]

So.

[B]

So she's like, I'm going to give my child a tape recorder and I'm going to let her take this to school and turn it on and I'm going to just see how the teacher is teaching in the classroom because I got to figure out what's going on with my kid in the classroom as opposed to at home. And she came away with some pretty shocking results.

[A]

Now, I'm really curious. Even before we play this, if you're a teacher and you're listening right now, listen to it and maybe you hear something in it. We don't that makes it defendable. You know, we can hear that.

[D]

What's that?

[A]

We can hear that.

[D]

Oh, sorry.

[A]

So if there's something in here that you're like, you know what, to the person outside of the education system, this seems harsh. But me, I'm a teacher. I understand it a little better. Maybe you can call up and clarify exactly where she was coming from.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So let me give you the phone number right off the bat. 404-741-Q100.

[B]

And I just want to let you know this is from the ABC affiliate in Houston. So this is the full news story. We'll give you all the explanation and the audio from the teacher.

[C]

Tonight, local parents armed their child with a tape recorder and sent the youngster off to class. They say they did it to help her, but what was recorded has them demanding action from HISD. Tonight, Eyewitness News reporter Jessica Willey has the tail of the tape.

[E]

At home, four year old Megan is like any little girl her age. She likes to play and loves her kitten.

[F]

Jiminy.

[E]

It's what was happening at school at Memorial elementary that has had her parents puzzled.

[C]

She's been having some behavioral problems in class, but the behavioral problems that we're getting described are not things that she does here at home.

[E]

So after months of wondering why Diana and Oscar Mijiadis spent 50 bucks on a digital recorder Put it in Megan's backpack, turned it on and sent it to school. And this is just a sampling of what they heard.

[C]

Nobody. Are you good for. You're just a bad kid now. When are you going to be a good kid? And do you think any other class acts like this? No. You're just mean to your teacher. I'm gonna be mean to you too. Everybody understand that you're mean to me. So I get to be mean to you on this stupid kid.

[A]

Oh, no. That wasn't shocking. I just, I couldn't believe it.

[E]

The couple was stunned. This was a veteran teacher talking to four and five year olds and sometimes singling them out. They took the recording to the principal who in a statement to us, called the comments reprehensible and totally unacceptable. He writes he immediately removed the teacher from the classroom and reassigned her as the investigation continues. But Megan's parents say the district has an obligation to keep this from continuing.

[C]

I really don't feel that she should be teaching anymore.

[E]

Megan's parents don't think this was an isolated incident. They believe their daughter's behavioral problems are in part because of the way the teacher speaks to her. By the way, we are not naming that teacher because this is still being investigated. She did not respond to my request for comment. Live in the newsroom, Jessica Willey, 13 Eyewitness News.

[A]

I don't know how you defend that.

[D]

That's a tough one to work around.

[A]

I don't know any teacher that could call up and go, okay, let me tell you about the stresses of being a teacher. And I could see how she could sort of snap like that.

[B]

4 and 5 year olds.

[A]

4 and 5 year olds.

[F]

Kid who's mean to the teacher.

[D]

You think the teacher just got to the point and snapped? I mean, like, just got, just got to the end. Like she's been teaching for X number of years.

[A]

Just doesn't matter.

[F]

You got to check yourself out one year too many.

[A]

Just take the day off. If you're that stressed, you can't stand it that much.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, because now you're talking about a scarring experience.

[B]

You know, I mean if it's like being in a battlefield, like if it being a teacher. Because I'm, I cannot imagine being a teacher. I'm sure that is so overwhelming and so stressful and so much on you. But, but like I said, it's almost like being. Yeah. On the front lines. And if you, if it means that you can only teach for so long to make sure you don't get burned out But, I mean, that is just abusive, you know?

[A]

I said, don't you wish that you could, like, buy the TiVo of somebody's life? I would love to see the teacher's face when she was informed that there was a recorder in that backpack. All the things going through her mind.

[D]

She may not think there's anything wrong with it.

[A]

Well, then she would have gone on camera with the TV station.

[D]

Well, now, if there's an ongoing investigation where her job's in jeopardy, she may not.

[A]

Her job's not in jeopardy. Her job is gone.

[D]

She may. There may. She may think that's acceptable. Like, she may be justifying it to her friends going, you don't understand. These kids were throwing stuff at me. They wouldn't stay in their seats. Like, I would almost bet that she is. I think she'll probably come out after she gets fired and go, I'm sorry for my actions.

[A]

Hey, Alicia.

[D]

I think when it happened, she was probably totally into it.

[A]

Hey, Alicia.

[C]

Hey.

[A]

Hey.

[C]

Morning.

[D]

Good morning.

[C]

When I was little, my brother and I had a babysitter that we just hated. And she yelled at us, and she was really nasty to us. So my brother and I got the right idea to record her to prove to my mom that she really was nasty to us. So we gave the tape to my mom when my mom got home from work. And as my mom drove her home, she kind of put it in the tape deck and let the babysitter hear it as my mom was listening to it, too. And so when my mom dropped her off, she was like, I don't think I'll need your services anymore when I feel that.

[A]

So she put it in the tape deck in the car.

[C]

Exactly.

[F]

Smart kids.

[A]

Really smart kids are crafty, man. They're crafty. All right. Thank you for your call.

[C]

Thanks.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think we're going to be able to find a teacher this morning that says, look, let me just try to understand, explain to you guys the mindset of the teacher probably on that day.

[B]

Right.

[A]

That's going to be tough to find. Good morning, Lexi, you're on Q100.

[C]

Good morning.

[A]

Morning.

[C]

I'm a kindergarten teacher here in Atlanta, and I'm just shocked by that. I mean, no matter how frustrated you get with a child that's just completely.

[A]

Uncalled for, at some point, you know who might be. Check yourself and just say, look, I'm done with this. It's time for another career.

[D]

You know who might be cool with it is, remember the teacher we had that hated teaching?

[A]

Yeah.

[F]

She'd be fine with it. She'd be like, well, they are stupid.

[A]

Well, she, she might have transferred to Houston.

[D]

That may be her.

[C]

Yeah, you're right.

[A]

Hey, Sally. Good morning. You're on Q100.

[C]

Good morning. Tell you that this is more common than you think it is. Please tell me that my daughters were in fourth grade and a teacher would single out the girls and tell them how stupid they were if they failed the test because no man would ever want them shut their pie holes. I'm going to put you in the corner if you don't pass the next test and you're going to sit there for the rest of the year. She would put kids in the hallway and tell them how stupid they, that they were not good enough for anything but to stand in the hallway. I think it's more common than you think it is.

[D]

Shut your pie hole. To a five year old is awesome.

[C]

To a fourth grader.

[F]

Is this person still teaching?

[C]

As far as I know, yes. She actually had done a separate class, like a separate science class and she didn't have a classroom and then they needed her so they did put her in a full time classroom.

[A]

Oh wow.

[C]

The article that you just had on, they didn't even fire that teacher. She's just been reassigned. If you listen to the commentary.

[A]

Well, just had to investigate too, right? I guess you can't fire anybody until you investigate it. But she's got one foot out the door already.

[D]

Did you ever report the teacher, the pie hole teacher?

[C]

I did and they did speak to her. But my daughters would tell me every day that she was still doing it.

[B]

What man would want talking to them.

[C]

Like, you know, like they were nothing.

[B]

God, that's horrible. I remember now that we're talking about it. It wasn't anything that she didn't berate the students. It was our music teacher in my elementary school lost it in front of the class. Like I think she had just lost her son and the stress of teaching and all these things. And she had a nervous breakdown in front of the students.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah, right in front of us. Just snapped. And like I said, she didn't take it out on the students. It was almost like this self contained breakdown that we were just all, all sitting there very polite and behaved and thought we didn't know what to do.

[D]

What was she doing?

[B]

She was just like screaming and then started crying and then just kind of. And then she kind of excused herself. But it was just this whole scene right in front of us.

[A]

Yeah. Hey, Holly. Good Morning. You're on Q100.

[D]

That'd be awesome.

[C]

Good morning. How are y'? All?

[A]

Good. How are you?

[C]

Good. I wanted to call and say I teach behavioral disorder kids. I teach at a high school level, and I completely understand what she's saying if you have that type of day. But her wording, you never refer to kids as stupid or tell them they're being mean. She could have talked to the kids if they were disrespecting her, but she needed to use totally different wording with those age group of kids.

[A]

So what you're saying is you understand the frustration she might have been going through, but there's no way that you can lash out like that.

[F]

You can't insult your students.

[C]

Yes, exactly. I mean, I completely agree with where, you know what she's going through and how she feels, but as a teacher, you have to watch the way you word things to kids. I work at a high school level, like I said, and I mean, I had to be particularly careful because my kids are, you know, know, a lot more than a kindergartner. And I get. Days I get frustrated, and I just have to watch the way I talk to them and the way I word it. And that teacher, you never use the word stupid with kids, no matter how old they are.

[F]

And I remember when, you know, there was always the bad kid in class who was acting out and, like, constantly driving the teacher crazy and that sort of thing. I remember in middle school, this one kid was so bad and he was berating all the other kids. He was bullying the other kids. He was even, like, going to beat up this other kid and was screaming at this and actually physically had his hands on another kid. And one of the teachers got so frustrated with this bad kid that he grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him off the other kid.

[D]

And.

[F]

And just from doing that in, like, this, you know, bit of anger, like, stop doing that and grab the kid. He was fired.

[A]

Is that right?

[F]

The teacher was fired for stopping the fight from happening and actually putting his hands on the kid. He didn't even really hurt. I mean, he didn't hurt the kid at all. He grabbed his shirt.

[A]

Sure.

[F]

And yanked him away. But even just doing that, we had.

[D]

A teacher fight for the same exact thing. Breaking up, breaking up a fight, but pulling away the kid too hard. And it was on a. Got. Was on a camera like that. But, like, all he did is he. The kids were fighting and he yanked him away, and the kid fell backwards and said, he threw me on the ground.

[A]

That was it.

[D]

That was it.

[A]

Hey, Whitney, you're on Q100. You be our last call. What's up?

[C]

Hey. We had a course teacher in middle school who was actually famous for losing his temper in front of the class and throwing stands and chairs at the blackboard and wall.

[A]

Really? So he's like a. Like a. Like a football coach at halftime trying to fire up the team.

[C]

Yeah, he's like, little old man. And when I signed up for course, I was like, oh, you need to watch him, because don't tick him off. And sure enough, one day, somebody ticked him off, and he just started chucking chairs and told us all to get the blank out of his class.

[B]

Man. Well, I think it's a shame that the teacher here in Houston we just heard from because she did not put her hands on the students. I think that the comments are far worse than the two examples that Jen and Jeff just gave, because I have a friend whose husband quit teaching because of the lack of authority he had in his own classro.

[A]

When you think about it, we've said this before. There has to be mathematically a worst in every profession. There's the worst hairstylist in the world, and somebody is getting their hair cut by her or him. There is the worst teacher in the world, and one of your students, one of your kids is being taught by that person.

[D]

She's in Houston.

[A]

She was in Houston, and she's out of work right now. The bircho.