Day 2 of school and I’m already thinking home school or transfer
At least last year it took more than a couple of days to get me upset at the way our school is ran. It was my truest hope to be able to sell, move and transfer schools before this school year began. Obviously that didn’t work out quite as I’d hoped.
This year I have one child in middle school and two in high school. It wasn’t until later in the day that I realized I was going to be at one school on campus so rather than have the other two ride the bus home, I called the school to get word to them that I would pick them up.
While the secretary had me on the phone, she was very pleasant. When my son got in the car after school, he informed me that I’d gotten him in trouble. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing – of course I asked, “how?”
When he went to the office to get the message, not one, but two secretaries told him that he “needed to inform his mother that she was not to call the office with such requests again and that from now on, decisions on transportation would need to be made prior to school.”
I’m trying to practice my self control and not phone the office while steaming angry – but WTF? Why do school staff members not have the nads to tell parents what they are doing wrong, but place the burden on the kids and make them feel as though they’d done something wrong?
Last year I had a phone conversation with the school superintendent where I expressed my growing disappointment in Shenandoah School Corporation here in Indiana. He informed me that he was quite taken with my disappointment – after all our school had some of the highest iSTEP scores in the state.
I calmly (yes, calmly) informed him that I believed there was far more to an education than the iSTEP scores – that these kids were people, not robots that step up only during iSTEP week to help get another feather in the schools cap.
I went on to remind him of a sampling of my personal complaints over my kids school careers since arriving in the middle school of this particular corporation…
- A principal having loose lips and telling the parent of a bully that I am an ultra sensitive parent. I’d like to add that that parent is now in jail for fraud and deception for selling caskets to families and not delivering. Nice, huh?
- That my kids were made to feel bad and forced to sit in classrooms and feel punished because we couldn’t afford to send our kids on the Washington D.C. class trip.
- That I was served with a letter that I was being turned in to the prosecutor because my child had missed too much school. This was the year he had horrible health problems, always a doctors note and even a surgery – yet still maintained a C and above grade average.
- I had to visit the office when my child’s lunch bill was coming up to $4.00 per day. When I did some checking and asking, I found that a bully was stealing my boys food. I was given nothing but lip service on the issue and made to feel guilty for wanting to deny a child food – So, I gave my son permission that on the next time the kid reached for food on his plate to take his fork and stab the kids hand.
- I was made to feel guilty and petty when I complained about a kid stealing my son’s football cleats when he was not able to attend. The child was told to not do it again and nothing else happened.
- I complained to the office when my son, one who struggles with low self esteem was walking into class when a girl grabbed his shirt and pulled it up over his head. I asked the office what they would have done to my son had the roles been reversed and he had done that to the girl? Care to guess what happened?
- I informed the superintendent of my concerns when the principal shared too much private information with me on a child that had to be visited at home, picked up for truancy. The principal was late for an appointment with me and I guess felt the need to provide too much information in order to make himself look the hero.
Granted, these examples are from MY point of view – however, over the summer, I’ve learned of more parents who have similar issues with the same staff members.
I do have to admit the elementary school is spectacular – but it should not be placed in the position of making the entire corporation look good – because it doesn’t.
So many members of the staff in the middle school and high school are two faced beyond belief. My cousin had a daughter who graduated a couple of years ago and she had similar complaints with staff acting one way to the student, one way to the parent and one way with the principal or super present.
At this point, I’m seriously considering paying tuition just to get my kids out of this mess. I know all schools have their faults, but at least with a new school, my kids won’t have 9 years of complaints behind them.
As much as I would love to homeschool, I would HAVE to find a virtual classroom they could work through because I know I don’t have the smarts to teach them myself – nor do I have the patience.
So tell me – am I being an over sensitive parent or would you be a little pissy too?
No way are you an overly sensitive parent! We’ve got parents in our elementary school who complain about a lot less; everything you mentioned warranted that you speak up.
Is there anywhere higher up that you can go to? Obviously no one is checking on this principal or staff if they continue to act this way after all these years.
IMO what you have experienced is HORRIFIC. Are we not paying taxes for this service? Don’t we deserve to be treated like paying customers? I am sick of schools acting they they are doing US some huge favor.
Last year my son was taking homemade bento lunches to school every day and a bully was spitting in them. The school did NOTHING about it….actually told him to try covering his food with his hands to deflect spit. My son was slapped across the face by a kid 4 grades older and again nothing. The same kid was forcing him to hold his books on the bus too. He had a teacher that would punish the whole class when just one child misbehaved by making them stand along a brick wall and watch other kids playing at recess.
I didn’t want to wait and see what more advanced years would be like. I have pulled him and he is doing an online school.
How do you find and register for online schools? I’d love to have my kids do this – I’m just not sure where to begin.
I don’t know exactly who to go to that is higher than the super – where do you go?
I do have to admit there are some teachers and staff members who are amazing and a valuable asset to the system – but the school doesn’t recognize what they have in those teachers either.
In fact, it wasn’t until just this year – after several years, that the teachers began working under contract.
Nope, not overreacting in my opinion. There is a long list of reasons why I don’t want my kids in the public school system.
It looks like our best option will be the homeschool coop program with our local Christian school. It is a great program that allows the homeschooled kids to play sports, take music, art, spanish classes on campus but still be home most of the time getting their education from the parent (with the schools cirriculum).
They offer teachers to help if we run into problems with certain subjects – offer testing …etc. In essense they get most of the benefits of going to that school but the kids don’t have to go to the school to get their education…they get it at home. I was homeschooled from gRade 2 – graduation and found it to be a fantastic experience.
There are all kinds of homeschool – distance learning – online learning options nowadays but I know these don’t work for all kids and all parents.
It’s just a total shame that our country has let its public school education slide into the mess it’s in today. We should be making it a priority but it only seems to be getting worse.
I could have written some of this myself. I was just taking a short walk from work trying to contemplate this issue.
My two oldest children would like to be homeschooled, and as I am an educated woman, they have far surpassed me in their schooling. Both of them taking college level classes in high school and doing things I have little understanding of.
I am fortunate enough to work in the school district so I have the opportunity to be there at the drop of a hat if there is an issue.
However, I do not believe that any parent or child should be treated as you and your son have. I can not even imagine what I would do if these situations came up and the office was ignoring my requests for assistance. A child should never dread going to school, knowing those people who are there to teach and protect them were lending a blind eye to the situations. What about the kids who’s parents don’t stand up for them? Someone needs to speak for those children.
I hope you find a solution, and if not, I hope you can get him out of there and on to other options.
I checked online to see if Indiana had a any public funded online schools and it appears they DID:
http://www.invcs.org/enroll/index.html
BUT the site says that a bill was passed there that took away their funding and it is no longer free.
My son had a choice between 6 online schools that are essentially virtual public schools. So no tuition.
Your Indiana school was using this curriculum though:
http://www.k12.com/
same as the one my son is doing and anyone can do it in any state if you pay the tuition.
I would consider writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Be careful not to mention anything that you will regret / that will come back to haunt you and don’t slander, but if the school system is that cracked and no one is responsible enough to enact change, you may have to push the buttons through public notice such as a letter. Just an idea…not necessarily the solution.
I’d be more than a little pissy. There’s a reason I’m a homeschool mom.
http://www.schooloftomorrow.com
You are most definitely not an overly-sensitive parent!! Sounds to me like you are dealing with an administration that is not sensitive enough. I would confront the office worker who gave your son a hard time about your pick-up message.
I have to say that I feel much better about my kids’ schools now. At least when I stomp my foot about something, they seem to listen.
Hang in there, though. You’re in my prayers that things get better or you find an alternate education arrangement for the kids.
That makes me so mad! I can’t believe the secretaries treated your son like that. The secretaries at my son’s school are evil too! My friend and I call them sometimes when one of us gets stuck at work and we are using a different mode of transportation and they get angry! It’s kind of funny : ). Aren’t they supposed to help us?