Sunday, June 5, 2011

My son and I verse the school and over bearing parents. Round 1

**Update - So we are going on two days with no official word from the school. I explained my views to the principle Monday morning and he said I would have an immediate follow up.

I have had a pretty full weekend as usual. Not only do I have the normal chores but there is always something the children have to do or need to get. The task wasn’t too bad this weekend with some shopping and putting together an impromptu graduation/Boston Bruins hockey party. All went off without a hitch and life is good as far as that goes. The major issue this weekend in the family is concerning the school where my son goes and the upcoming field trip.

On Friday there was an incident at the school that caused my son to get into trouble. In case you missed a previous post, let me give you a quick background on my boy. He is 11 years old and has been struggling with ADHD and other sensory and mood issues since he was in preschool. We have been able to get most of his issue somewhat in a range of acceptable behavior but he still has his moments where he gets too wound up and has a hard time bringing himself down. The incident was him and another boy wrestling around and he went a little too far on the rough play. There were no serious injuries and according to my son, he apologized. He said that he and the other student are friends still and there were no bad feelings.

Now this is where the problem begins. The parent of the child that my son had the run in with is a very pretentious person. She feels that she is above everyone and that her children do no wrong. She is also the type of person that likes to try and dictate how the school handles things. The school my son goes to is a bit on the political side and depending on who you are, is how things get resolved. I am not going to paint my son as a saint because he is not. He is also not the worse kid around. He just has his condition that tends to make him stand out. So he gets in trouble and has to do some detention next week. I speak with the principle on Friday afternoon at the playground after school and he tells me what happened. I have pretty good rapport with the principle so we go over the situation. The principle states it is my son being a little over the top but not acting in anyway mean or malicious. It was just him going overboard on the roughness. We leave the school and go on with the start of the weekend. I no sooner am home when I get an email from my son’s teacher.

The email goes on to tell me how he was hitting another student and injured him. The email continues with how his behavior is cause for concern and now if he is to go on the year end field trip, one of his parents would need to accompany him. The email is written in a way where it encompasses the overall opinion of the school. I just got through talking with the principle and would have thought he would have had that discussion with me, right? As I ask my son what on earth happened at recess, he informs me of what happened and the child he had the issue with was the child of one of those parents I was talking about earlier. It had been implied by others that she had gone into the school and raised some issues and now my son has to pay the penalty and humiliation of having one of his parent accompany him on a field trip? Pretty harsh don’t you think?

Needless to say this is going to be addressed tomorrow at the school. My son has been on numerous field trips this year and has had zero issues. I just find it a problem that our educational system can be influenced by parents with holier than thou standards. I question the level on concern on the school as well due to past incidents. This is the same school where there was a run of broken arms and wrists on the playground, of which both my son and daughter had. Now they have concerns with him on a field trip? I will have my time there tomorrow and we will see how this turns out. Under no instance will I be trying to impress my will on them, but point out the facts and history of my son with them. Of course we will also discuss parent’s intervention on issues regarding school policy.

I will be posting the outcome tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

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