DS and summer school.....UGH!!

[Jaxxie]

Okay will try to make this condensed version...lord i am soo angry.

DS is in summer school, this is our 3rd year in summer school..Old pros we are. Well this year there is a new Principal. A very very strict one. After i paid the $440.00 dollars for 2 classes we were given a requirements paper to sign. When i first read it i thought ...must be a typo.

In previous years if the kids came in a min or so late they owed the teacher that time during their break, or after class. Unless it was a chronic problem they let the teachers work it out.

This year the new principal has new rules....you can be no more than a total of 15 min lates, and after 3 times late you are excused from the program. For the times you are late...you will spend a half hour in detention. If you are excused from the program you will not get money back or credit.

Well there is another boy my son drove everyday whose mother passed away right at xmas time. He has no other way to get to school. One morning the boy was running late, they got to school 3 minutes late. Both DS and friend had to spend half hour in detention.

Well that night, i had to take son to work with me. I needed extra help, that kid worked his butt off, and sadly we didn't get home until well after 10 pm. At 11 he headed to bed., cause school started at 7:45 am. Try as he might this kid could not sleep, he was still awake at 1 am. All that physical work. He overslept half hour. And me the stupid fool forgot to set my alarm. Well the principal was beyong angry and tried like heck to toss him out. Hubby and i both went to school and explained, that again this really wasn't his fault. He spent a HOUR in detention for that one. And she was none to happy about cutting him a break.

Well the final week was last week. On monday i said goodbye to him and he left with plenty of time to get friend and make it to school. I get phone call...he was 60 SECONDS late. That is all that is said. Son comes home Monday and says nothing about it. I think all is okay.

Monday son again spends half hour in detention for his 60 seconds late. He gets to school on time tuesday, but about 8:30 he calls me on cell phone. Mom she threw me out of morning session. I said where are you? He says in car waiting for friend to be thrown out too. Now i am angry, this woman KNEW she was going to toss him out monday, but instead let him stay in class, serve detention, go to school the next morning only to tell him to leave. Now my son is NOT a discipline problem, nor a drug addict, doesn't carry weapons. He does however have a learning problem, and evidently a tardy problem.

I was so mad i called the superintendant of schools, course he won't call me back. And the actual high school principal, who won't call me back either. And no you can't just show up....they are NEVER in their office.

She actually fired a teacher for calling out sick and not coming in with a doctors note. Because her rules stated that if you didn't come in for class a doctors note was required. And if you had to make up time it was at $35.00 an hour extra.

Now keep in mind this is a summer school principal, not the actual high school principal. She actually told me, it was a hard decision for her to make, but she pulled out all his school records and his 504 plans and saw that he had been late last year too. And she didnt like his attitude that it "was just a minute". Now what business does she have in his actual records?

Please don't get me wrong, i am angry with son for being late. ANd i do understand that rules are rules. BUT

Do you think the punishment fits the CRIME?

And thanks for listening!

[3tbear]

I know she is trying to teach your son a lesson, but isn't it a bit harsh to throw him out of class? Children need an education to do well in life! Is this woman on a power trip or something?

[Jaxxie]

I think she msut be on some kind of power trip. She is about 50 years old. I even told her that DS may not have enough credit now to make it to graduation. She told me to hold him back then. He has already been held back once in 1st grade. I replied i don't know many kids who are 20 when they graduate and why should he have to repeat an entire grade because of one class.

So I said to her "somewhere down the line you have forgotten what it means to be a teacher and now all you concentrate on is how to discipline, and through that you have become nothing more than a bully." She took great insult to that. GOOD i thought.

I was soooo proud i didn't use not ONE foul word at this woman. Cause some of the ones going through my head were ripe ones.

One teacher even said to me, it was her first year teaching summer school and you can dang well bet it would be her last, it was so miserable.

[Jaxxie]

Finally spoke with the High School Principal today, took only a week of daily calling to get him to talk to me. Was informed that he would have to look further into me hiring a tutor so DS can get the remaining hours left to get his credit. I even told him the English teacher offered to tutor him herself. He still had to look further into it. Guess that will take him another week to decide. UGH!!

[LocaChica]

I'm sorry, Jaxxie. What is UP with this woman?! 60 SECONDS late?! One measly minute?!

Now i am angry, this woman KNEW she was going to toss him out monday, but instead let him stay in class, serve detention, go to school the next morning only to tell him to leave.

Now THAT is strange, and I think you are right, she is on a major power trip. I think some people in the teaching profession really don't belong there.

I hope it all works out.

[Mouse7088]

Oh WOW! I would be so fuming as well!!!!!! PLEASE keep us updated babe!!!!! Your poor son...man-oh-man. HUGS!!!!

[jen6889]

Whew! Thank God that wasn't MY principal when I was in high school. I would have repeated 8th grade 5 times, AT LEAST. I was late daily. I spent a whole lot of time in ISA (In school alternative - alternative to suspension. You spent the whole day in this tiny little room doing school work). Sadly, the majority of the time, it was my mother's fault for not getting up out of bed. I walked half way to school one day because of her. Wish she would have stood up for me in school and taken the blame for the times it really was her fault.

Bravo to you for standing up for your son. I agree that it is TOO harsh for a child in school. In a professional job, I can see it as being reasonable, but not in an educational setting. I hope everything works out ok. Let us know how it goes.