Monday, January 23, 2012

SCHOOLS

Today I am ranting and raving about the school system. My middle son is in the first grade this year. We attended the Joplin school district last year at the time. Absolutely loved the school he attended and loved his teachers. But the school system itself not so much. I believe someone should look into the attendance situation a more bit detailed.
Last October my son became VERY ill, was diagnosed with pneumonia with possible abscess in his lungs and was asked to stay home for two days from school and was to return to school after seeing his personal physician. (With a note) We then proceeded to do this and went and see his pediatrician, but we were informed it had gotten worse and they were shipping him to the Cox Hospital in Springfield. We were in the hospital for over a week and then was commanded to stay home for another week because of his immunity to catch something was VERY high with being around other children at school. At the end of the second week we went to his doctor got a note and returned to school that following Monday. 
Now, after keeping the school up to date every other day, and providing notes from all of his doctors, one would think that this would be a excused absence, right? Nope! Not at all. Any child that misses five or more days with or without a note is put on a list as "problem" child,(well in my words at least.) I have lived in Kansas all of my life and this was a HUGE shock to me. The parent was always contacted I think atleast of eight days, just by the school and was warned of the issue. But at Joplin? Nope, again we were contacted out of the blue by a SRS representative and was told there needed to be a meeting, as soon as possible about our childs well being of missing school. How does this make me feel as a mother? Horrible. I started crying at work and was very upset and hurt. I provided EVERYTHING possible to the school and was hit in the face with a ball bat. My husband went to the school because he was upset that I was upset, and after going to the school to see if he could get more information out of this, and wanted to know why we weren't contacted by the school before hand to give us some kind of heads up. And there response was protocols. Well Joplin school district your protocol SUCKS. Yes, I said it, sucks.  I understand that the system was brought up to help students that were abusing the system, or parents abusing the system. But what about the people that don't? And provide the right information but still get stabbed? How is this right?
I am sorry if anyone feels as this is hurtful, but I am hurt. All my asking is that we look into this a little more detailed and see what we could change for those students that have done no wrong, and not make them feel so bad about being parents!


4 comments:

  1. I am in complete agreement with you. Joplin needs to be a little more understanding. My son has a hearing loss, resulting in hearing aids. Children's Miracle Network was amazing and helped us pay for them. My son went to Irving. Guess where his hearing aids were on 5-22-2011? You guessed it! At Irving. Children's Miracle Network is not able to help with a replacement pair. The schools reaction? Oh well, it's not our problem. Believe me, we are on the same side! Don't worry. SRS is just a big bully. They are required by state law to contact you if there is any claims, false or otherwise. It sucks but you are not a bad parent. We have all had the dreadful visit. I have six kids and my husband just went theough a very nasty custody battle to gain custody of his kids, which he won. Needless to say SRS was our constant buddy for quite some time.

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    1. Thanks Erica. I know it was a little harsh, but I just feel things should be looked at in our perspective and give us good parents some slack! And I also forgot to put what happened for the end...and NOTHING..our meeting got canceled and nothing ever happened. I dont know what happened but it did scare me!

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  2. And people wonder why I plan to home school my kids... Between this and the sinking literacy/numeracy rates, there's no way on earth I'd send my kids to public schools!

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  3. This is horrible for you Megan. I just have to tell you one time what happened to me. A juvenile officer came and picked me up from High School a few years ago (this was in Webb City) and then called my Mom at work to let her know that they were sending me to Springfield or Nevada for Psychiatric treatment. They thought I was in charge of a Satanic cult when in fact I had been creating a large circular monument that I considered Art. I had been reading about Stonehenge,ancient monuments and I had also been at "Woodhenge" in Cahokia mounds so I was just creating my own that apparently looked menacing to officials. They locked me up for a day while my Mom came up with proof that I was only making an environmental art project. She ended up having to pay $800.00 for a lawyer so child services would not take me away from her. Interesting how officials want to take things into their hands but really are clueless as to the truth of the matter, just like in your case.

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