THIS HAS TO STOP

[Varmit]

As I said before, with a few exceptions, our kids here do not see the police as someone who will drag them away.They visit the police station as well as the firehouse in preschool. The Safety Town Day Camp has a police officer assigned to it every day to teach safe street crossing,etc. The kids do learn that if they misbehave or break the law the police will intervene if necessary. Parents tell their kids here that as long as they behave the police are their friends and will help them if they need it.

Diane I can remember doing those things when I was in school.  And it used to be that the police were your friend.  However, I can't really call them that anymore, not because of personal experience but because of the actions of law enforcement within the last few years.  Take the incident at Goose Creek High School for example.  What kind of "friend" points a gun in your face when you have not done anything wrong?  What kind of friend would use a taser on a person having a siezure?  I could go on and on with the examples. 

The fact that our children are being indoctrinated into this "trust the authorities not your parents" way of thinking is what gets me mad.  Should parents pick up their children on time, yes without a doubt.  However, sometimes things happen that are out of our control.  In the case of cronic offenders then other arragements need to be made without involving the cops unless there is a crime being broken.  Think of it this way...teachers don't like staying late or whatever to deal with late parents, do you think the cops do? 

Cat, as far as emegerency numbers being outdated thats a pretty easy fix.  For example, when I was in the Army we had to provide a number where we could be reached "after hours", every so often our platoon leader would call that number to make sure it was still valid.  The schools should do the same, that way they can verify the number and ensure that the person listed is still available.  Should the parents notify the school of changes?..yes they should.  But the school should still verify it thus making the system as fail safe as possible.

[Diane Amberg]

Varmit. The police just change shifts unless they are held over for some reason.
This is turning into a tempest in a teapot. I'm sure there are occasional problems on both sides, but not often. That's why it's news! Varmit, I think you should volunteer to come to our school and call all 600 or more ICE numbers to verify that they are still correct.    As far as kids being told by the schools to trust the authorities and not their parents....?? I just can't agree with that. In individual problem situations where there are at risk kids, maybe. Kids need a safe harbor somewhere. But the general population? Sorry, I don't believe it. One should not take the very real and terrible problems in some of the hard core low class areas of big cities and by extension, apply them to every middle class town or community in our country. I'm sure if you try, you could find an example every day of some stupid thing happening. But given the number of kids, the number of schools, the number of police and the number of people in general, the % is still very low. It is true that we seem to be a more violent country than we were many years ago. But have we changed or has our ability to know about every incident the moment it happens changed? I wonder.

[Sarah]

Varmit. The police just change shifts unless they are held over for some reason.
This is turning into a tempest in a teapot. I'm sure there are occasional problems on both sides, but not often. That's why it's news! Varmit, I think you should volunteer to come to our school and call all 600 or more ICE numbers to verify that they are still correct.    As far as kids being told by the schools to trust the authorities and not their parents....?? I just can't agree with that. In individual problem situations where there are at risk kids, maybe. Kids need a safe harbor somewhere. But the general population? Sorry, I don't believe it. One should not take the very real and terrible problems in some of the hard core low class areas of big cities and by extension, apply them to every middle class town or community in our country. I'm sure if you try, you could find an example every day of some stupid thing happening. But given the number of kids, the number of schools, the number of police and the number of people in general, the % is still very low. It is true that we seem to be a more violent country than we were many years ago. But have we changed or has our ability to know about every incident the moment it happens changed? I wonder.

There is a woman that I talk to out here on occasion whose kids go to a neighboring school that told me that her son came home one day and said that the teacher told them that they weren't to listen to their parents on whatever subject she was teaching.  That they were to listen to their teacher.  Now, I don't know the teachers side of that story.  Perhaps she had a child who was disrupting the class and disagreeing with something their parents said and that's why she said it, but whatever the reason, it seemed to make an impact on the whole class and I've talked to other parents who have run into the same problem.  I suppose part of it could be that the teacher has to set themselves up as an authority figure to maintain control, but it's still not something I agree with. 

I went to private schools all my life, to which I am extremely thankful to my parents as I never faced the things that public school kids face and I know for a fact some of the things they did face as I had a lot of friends in public school.  I don't know if the danger came as much from teachers though, as their own peers.  Nowadays though, if some of the stories are true, kids seem to face danger from both sides, those in authority and their own peers. 

[Diane Amberg]

I agree, I'd have to hear what the teacher really said and the context of it, but I hope it's not true as a general statement. If the teacher wanted the kids to solve a math problem in a particular way because it was leading up to another step, maybe. But as a general statement I would strongly disagree, but I'd be skeptical too. ( I knew a kid many years ago who swore he kept a live penguin as a pet in his basement.) Since the incident is local I'd love to know if the parents followed up on it; they should! I cancould think of about a dozen ways something the teacher said was misunderstood, but if it had happened in my own class I'd want to know so I could fix it! I used to say "My classroom, my rules" but it was hardly controversial nor did it criticize parents. I did have one incident  about 1968 when one little girl came in telling me her mother said I'd have to change the seating arrangement in the class so she wasn't sitting next to XX because the mothers were mad at each other. The kids weren't involved. I declined to follow my "orders." I told the child the parents didn't have anything to do with the seating, I did.

[Sarah]

I agree.  I don't doubt there's some stuff that goes on out there, but we do have to be fair and know the teachers side of stories too.  I hear a lot of things and always wonder what the other side is. 

[Varmit]

Diane, did the parents call you about the seating?

[Diane Amberg]

Nope, sent a "message" by way of the one girl.

[Diane Amberg]

I ran across this recently and, although it isn't quite what the original subject was, it includes children having to be occasionally placed with police for lack of knowing what else to do to do with them.
A woman had taken 6 or 7 kids with her to a big mall. Only two of them were hers. A couple of them were pretty little. After a time she shoplifts an item but was seen. They all wander out the door with security shadowing her. When she was told to stop, she ran to her car and took off, leaving the kids standing there. Eventually the police were called to take the kids to the police station to sort them all out and start trying to get hold of the other parents to come pick up their kids. She was later arrested.