satchelmcqueen
03-03-2009, 08:53 PM
Here it is....
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" Ive been a little leery about putting this letter in the news paper, but I feel very strong that if no one says anything, then nothing will ever change and things will only get worse. This is mainly to anyone who has a child in the Fannin County School System.
Have you had to deal with phone calls or threatening letters sent home with your kids concerning tardies or absences that go beyond a common sense approach? If so, are you tired of it?
I received a message on my answering machine a few weeks ago from the Fannin school system saying that I needed to return their call because it was about my sons attendance. I was a bit confused as to why this might be since our 2 kids very rarely miss any school days unless they are sick or some unavoidable situation comes up. At this point in time my son had only missed 2 days due to sickness, with a doctors excuse, and had been tardy only about 3 times that I knew of with 2 of them being unavoidable with very good reasons. One tardy was because he was in a car accident on the way to school. I came to the accident myself and took him and his sister on to school since they were not injured. They arrived around 8:30 and informed the office of the reason with a note signed by me. The 2nd tardy was due to our Jeep having a dead battery one cold morning and it caused them to be about 15 minutes late and the office was informed. The 3rd tardy was due to getting stuck in traffic on HWY 5 which amounted to about 5 minutes tardy time. Fine, Ill except that one. We should have left earlier.
When I returned the call I was told my son had 2 days against him with 4 tardies. When I asked what the 4th tardy was for, I was told that he signed in at 8:00am. Knowing the answer, I asked what was the latest time that a child can sign in. I was told 8am. I then asked how and why this could be counted as a tardy? I was told that they "figured" that if a child signs in at 8am then they are probably lollygagging or late anyway. Key words here "probably" and "8am". So not only was my child NOT tardy by their own admitted 8:00am sign in time, they are assuming other things with no proof and counted it as a tardy anyway.
The phone call was basically insulting to me as a parent since there was no common understanding or reasoning with the school as to how the 2 days missed were not excused and the other tardies were things that sometimes happen in life and are unavoidable, with the exception of that one occurrence of course. The doctors excuse wasn't considered and the car wreck wasn't mentioned on their part and should not be counted against any child.
Here is a letter I received in the mail over the week end which shows how much common sense is lacking in this situation. Here are the exact times counted against my kid towards tardies...8:03, 8:01, 8:00, 8:05, 8:27. Im guessing the 8:27 one is due to the car wreck as it doesnt say otherwise. Other than that, he has a total of 9 minutes missed. Seems a bit nitpicky to me and ridiculous.
This isn't the first time Ive had to deal with letters from the school system since they began bullying the parents and threatening the kids over things that a little common sense and understanding could easily solve. When my daughter was in the second grade, we got a letter saying she had missed over 10 days and that an officer would be making a visit to our home if she missed anymore. We knew right away this wasnt right. After making a call to the school office, we found out that at least four days were counted against her even though she didnt miss those days, and that a doctors excuse for the flu was not considered as it should have been.
I'm all for making sure a child is in school, and I understand truancy laws, but the school system should not go about it with a police state attitude and incorrect information. If a child isn't in school because the parents are lazy or just don't care, then I say something should be done within the limits of the Constitution. I also think that a little common sense can easily sort out the parents that do care and those that don't. A phone call or letter isn't necessary every time. It should be considered that things in life will happen sometimes that will make a child late or have to miss a day here and there. Ive heard that the school system is now threatening kids with community service and threatening to take them away from their parents for missed days even when some of those days were supposed to be excused. I have to wonder what that does to a childs mind and ability to learn and concentrate after a letter like that? And we are the bad parents? This is not right and needs to stop now. Here is what the Constitution says about involuntary servitude or community service in this case.
"Amendment XIII
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
I do realize that the school will claim this is a state law and they are within their rights, but just because a law is passed does not make it right. They claim this is done to ensure a child doesnt miss out on instruction time. In my opinion, most all of it is done to ensure that the schools dont miss out on government grants and free money. Do we not have tardy bells anymore? Of course not. That would soften the free government money opportunity. This is just the beginning of us losing our rights if we don't speak up.
One more thing that must be said is, don't expect our President to help in these kind of situations either. He has an even bigger and intrusive plan for our kids in the form of 50 hours of required community service per year from middle school through high school for ALL students if he gets his way. This will be mandatory and not voluntary. Go to his government website under "http://www.barackobama.com/issues/service/" to see this yourself. I urge everyone that has a child or grandchild in school to write our Congressman and tell him to fight against this authority and the laws that give the school system this power over our kids and our rights as parents if a common sense approach cannot be used. If you feel this way, then please say something. I can't be the only one. Junk laws and misplaced authority like this could land you and your child in court real quick for no real reason. Stand up!
...when government turns bad, the best people ultimately become criminals. The people don't change; the laws do. Initiative, dissent, individual pleasures and exercise of one's basic rights become "crimes"...."
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Now before anyone says to simply "just get your kids to school on time!!!"
that isnt the point, but hopefully as the letter reads, i am totally for just that IF it is within reason and barring any car accidents, sickness, and common things in life that will happen to anyone involved.
ive had a child in school since 1999 and it just seems that each and every year the school system gets more and more aggressive and strict in the way they handle anything.
there is a difference in not caring or trying vs the opposite.
The News Observer is the paper I posted this in. It is local, where IMO, all things need to start. Here is the contact info if you would like to thank them for letting a voice be heard. Please no nasty letters if you disagree. i still have to live here, lol!!
http://www.thenewsobserver.com/contacts/
-----------------------------------------------------------
" Ive been a little leery about putting this letter in the news paper, but I feel very strong that if no one says anything, then nothing will ever change and things will only get worse. This is mainly to anyone who has a child in the Fannin County School System.
Have you had to deal with phone calls or threatening letters sent home with your kids concerning tardies or absences that go beyond a common sense approach? If so, are you tired of it?
I received a message on my answering machine a few weeks ago from the Fannin school system saying that I needed to return their call because it was about my sons attendance. I was a bit confused as to why this might be since our 2 kids very rarely miss any school days unless they are sick or some unavoidable situation comes up. At this point in time my son had only missed 2 days due to sickness, with a doctors excuse, and had been tardy only about 3 times that I knew of with 2 of them being unavoidable with very good reasons. One tardy was because he was in a car accident on the way to school. I came to the accident myself and took him and his sister on to school since they were not injured. They arrived around 8:30 and informed the office of the reason with a note signed by me. The 2nd tardy was due to our Jeep having a dead battery one cold morning and it caused them to be about 15 minutes late and the office was informed. The 3rd tardy was due to getting stuck in traffic on HWY 5 which amounted to about 5 minutes tardy time. Fine, Ill except that one. We should have left earlier.
When I returned the call I was told my son had 2 days against him with 4 tardies. When I asked what the 4th tardy was for, I was told that he signed in at 8:00am. Knowing the answer, I asked what was the latest time that a child can sign in. I was told 8am. I then asked how and why this could be counted as a tardy? I was told that they "figured" that if a child signs in at 8am then they are probably lollygagging or late anyway. Key words here "probably" and "8am". So not only was my child NOT tardy by their own admitted 8:00am sign in time, they are assuming other things with no proof and counted it as a tardy anyway.
The phone call was basically insulting to me as a parent since there was no common understanding or reasoning with the school as to how the 2 days missed were not excused and the other tardies were things that sometimes happen in life and are unavoidable, with the exception of that one occurrence of course. The doctors excuse wasn't considered and the car wreck wasn't mentioned on their part and should not be counted against any child.
Here is a letter I received in the mail over the week end which shows how much common sense is lacking in this situation. Here are the exact times counted against my kid towards tardies...8:03, 8:01, 8:00, 8:05, 8:27. Im guessing the 8:27 one is due to the car wreck as it doesnt say otherwise. Other than that, he has a total of 9 minutes missed. Seems a bit nitpicky to me and ridiculous.
This isn't the first time Ive had to deal with letters from the school system since they began bullying the parents and threatening the kids over things that a little common sense and understanding could easily solve. When my daughter was in the second grade, we got a letter saying she had missed over 10 days and that an officer would be making a visit to our home if she missed anymore. We knew right away this wasnt right. After making a call to the school office, we found out that at least four days were counted against her even though she didnt miss those days, and that a doctors excuse for the flu was not considered as it should have been.
I'm all for making sure a child is in school, and I understand truancy laws, but the school system should not go about it with a police state attitude and incorrect information. If a child isn't in school because the parents are lazy or just don't care, then I say something should be done within the limits of the Constitution. I also think that a little common sense can easily sort out the parents that do care and those that don't. A phone call or letter isn't necessary every time. It should be considered that things in life will happen sometimes that will make a child late or have to miss a day here and there. Ive heard that the school system is now threatening kids with community service and threatening to take them away from their parents for missed days even when some of those days were supposed to be excused. I have to wonder what that does to a childs mind and ability to learn and concentrate after a letter like that? And we are the bad parents? This is not right and needs to stop now. Here is what the Constitution says about involuntary servitude or community service in this case.
"Amendment XIII
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
I do realize that the school will claim this is a state law and they are within their rights, but just because a law is passed does not make it right. They claim this is done to ensure a child doesnt miss out on instruction time. In my opinion, most all of it is done to ensure that the schools dont miss out on government grants and free money. Do we not have tardy bells anymore? Of course not. That would soften the free government money opportunity. This is just the beginning of us losing our rights if we don't speak up.
One more thing that must be said is, don't expect our President to help in these kind of situations either. He has an even bigger and intrusive plan for our kids in the form of 50 hours of required community service per year from middle school through high school for ALL students if he gets his way. This will be mandatory and not voluntary. Go to his government website under "http://www.barackobama.com/issues/service/" to see this yourself. I urge everyone that has a child or grandchild in school to write our Congressman and tell him to fight against this authority and the laws that give the school system this power over our kids and our rights as parents if a common sense approach cannot be used. If you feel this way, then please say something. I can't be the only one. Junk laws and misplaced authority like this could land you and your child in court real quick for no real reason. Stand up!
...when government turns bad, the best people ultimately become criminals. The people don't change; the laws do. Initiative, dissent, individual pleasures and exercise of one's basic rights become "crimes"...."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now before anyone says to simply "just get your kids to school on time!!!"
that isnt the point, but hopefully as the letter reads, i am totally for just that IF it is within reason and barring any car accidents, sickness, and common things in life that will happen to anyone involved.
ive had a child in school since 1999 and it just seems that each and every year the school system gets more and more aggressive and strict in the way they handle anything.
there is a difference in not caring or trying vs the opposite.
The News Observer is the paper I posted this in. It is local, where IMO, all things need to start. Here is the contact info if you would like to thank them for letting a voice be heard. Please no nasty letters if you disagree. i still have to live here, lol!!
http://www.thenewsobserver.com/contacts/