Reckoning

Today I got the call. The "Your-kid-misses-too-much-school-so-you must-be-neglecting-her" call. Way to kill my happy mom morning Mrs. Principal.

So here is my little rant off into cyber space, because the principal didn't really want to hear it.

She has missed 12 days so far this year. After 10 you get in trouble. I totally understand that part- esp if she was staying home to watch tv or because I didn't feel like driving her over. However, here are my excuses:

7 of them are medical excused- the allergist, a sprained elbow, four days with the swine flu, and one day that I didn't take her to the doctor but kept her home when her back was covered with an itchy rash. And I think you should get reverse credit when you miss after the nurse calls to tell you to come get your sick kid and not to bring her back until she is fever-free for a whole day. Instead you get a tardy and an absence.

The other five she was in Orlando. Although technically three of those were sick days as well that she spent throwing up in a hotel room. And two of them were supposed to be vacation days that they took off the school calendar at the last minute, after we had reserved and paid for everything.

The principal pointed out that she also misses once a week to go to the gifted program so add all those together and she has missed too much. And my response for that is that it is the district's lame policy that the only way they can educate the gifted kids is by busing them off-site once a week to have "enrichment" lessons, instead of moving them up a grade, ability grouping, giving them harder work or IEP's, or hiring someone to teach them on-site. So that really shouldn't count against her.

And if she is in the gifted program, obviously the missed instructional hours aren't really a problem. Did she even look at the report card with all 99%s, the perfect scores on the CRCTs, or the top of the curve placement test scores before she decided my kid was missing too much class? Or that I have to send her to school with toys in her pocket, so that all the time she spends being bored and looking out the window, she can spend fidgeting with the toy instead of chewing her fingernails until they bleed or reading a book or working ahead (too distracting for the other kids who have to pay attention) or talking to her friends.

I am all for enforcing the rules, but they should really take a look at the whole picture, not just the tally marks in their record books. Go after the kid who shows up for school every day without doing his work, who is falling behind, who never eats breakfast, or goes home to an empty house for hours after school. They are the ones who need intervention.

OK. That's my rant.

I'm off to clean the living room just in case they decide today is a good day to drop by. Wish me luck, and does anyone know of a good, free, homeschooling curriculum? I'm not sure if we will make it until May without missing another day...