Is This School Hateful And Should I Call In The State?
This year we’ve been extra cautious about attendance, only missing two days for the flu which was excused, and dental appointments. But yesterday I recieved a summons to court for attendence.
After getting to the bottom of things, apparently my kid stopped going to her last period class and instead was in another class as a teachers aid.
All along, absences were piling up from the other class, but nobody from the school informed me, even when they had the chance to when I would call attendance to report we were sick with flu or that I was picking up my kid for orthodontics and dental appointments.
This had been going on for 12 straight school days with nobody seemingly being concerned enough until it was time to turn it over to the law to so much as call me.
Now I’ve learned that it wasn’t my kid’s idea but a friend of hers to go work as a teachers aid in another class. This friend did not recieve any discipline because she was best friends with a girl who is one of the vice principal’s daughters.
I feel strongly that my daughter’s teacher purposefully allowed the build up of absences.
I also feel that the teacher who was using my daughter as a teacher’s aid also disregarded her responsibilty to at least know who her aids were, and if they were permitted to do this.
Also the assistant principle’s pulling of strings for the one girl to “get her off the hook” is inappropriate.
All in all, I’ve become leary of these people now. After my daughter faces the judge and recieves probation, it will only take one of these people to make one mark and we’ll be hauled back into court for the fine and other possible actions.
Should I call in the state board of education at this point?
I second TexasRiverRat. Your daughter should be held accountable; but not hung out to dry. Your “court” date is inevitable; the ruling is not. Get a written statement from the teacher whom your daughter worked for attesting to the fact that your daughter was in attendance and that she was supervised. You are better off not telling the teacher, whom your daughter worked for, all the details as he/she may be reluctant to formalize such a shady deal. And yes, it is shady to have a student in your class that was not approved by staff/principals; the teacher has no explanation for not counting your daughter’s attendance so she/he’ll be less likely to commit to that infraction.
Keep in mind, the teacher for the class that your daughter skipped cannot be held accountable for knowing where your daughter is. S/he is only responsible for reporting that the student is or is not in class.
For your benefit: no one wants to hear that there’s a conspiracy going on, especially since it is likely that the vice principal will be there for the hearing. Can you imagine how many parents go to truancy hearings and lay the blame on someone other than the child? Far too many is how many. And, if you play the blame game, you will likely be lumped in with that unfavorable crowd. Your best bet is to emphasize that your daughter was on campus, was working in a classroom no less, and that this was simply a misunderstanding on the teachers and your daughter’s part.
Also, the fee is usually remarkably small ($25.00 typically). Have your daughter clean your car to work it off. If she’s in school, getting decent grades, and has no disciplinary issues, she’ll be fine. Truancy results in more people making sure she’s doing well; it’s not a dramatic punishment (unless she has broken a criminal law, then the consequences become more punitive). Granted, that is the case for Washington State. I do not know the Truancy Laws in your state.
If you really want to take it as far as a trail, then you will want to consult with a lawyer.
Edited to Add:
If you file a complaint with the school board and/or accuse the vice principal of favoritism, you’ll more than likely be asked (by the magistrate and/or the vice principal) to withdraw from the truancy process. This means that you will automatically be assigned a trial date and, therefore, you will most certainly need a lawyer to represent you. The school board can be merciless as its intention is to prevent precedence; i.e., they really don’t want you to win the case and establish a legal basis for overturning truancy rulings and/or forcing a vice principal to be fired or reprimanded.
You should do an internet search about your state’s school board and see how many court cases they have won or lost to get a better idea of what you may be going up against.
I have witnessed a mother go up against the Washington State School Board for claims of discrimination against her daughter. The mother is an atheist who made her views overly clear at PTSA meetings, the principal is devoutly religious and took her anger towards the mother out on the daughter; the mother lost the case and her daughter’s experience in high school was hell. In fact, the principal is so vindictive she’s still raining down on the second daughter, who is now in the 11th grade.
I would def. fight the school on it. Fact is she was on campus and the teacher whose class she was in this whole time should be the one in trouble for not letting anyone one know. Chances are once you start to fight back the school will drop it they can’t afford to take people to court. GL!
How old is she? If she’s in her teens, this is her responsibility not yours. Though I think it’s odd that they’d call you into court rather than like, talking to you/her.
Before you call the state, make an appointment with the teacher whose class your daughter was in. Maybe she can stay over a little in the afternoon, so you don’t miss much work. Speak to her about your concerns. Don’t accuse anyone! Don’t blame anyone! Just ask her if there’s something she might do to support your daughter in this. Admit your daughter was wrong in this, and let her know that you’ve made sure she won’t make the same mistake again.
I do think your daughter was irresponsible in not clearing everything through the right channels, and I think you should point this out to her. Your daughter can’t blame this on her friend who talked her into doing it. This isn’t the best time for her to learn this lesson, but here it is, staring her in the face. You need to make sure she takes it to heart.
The real reason (probably) that the other girls didn’t get into trouble is because they did clear things through the proper channels. Don’t pursue this thing about the vice principal. It leads nowhere and your girl has to finish school there.
Hopefully these steps will help and you can rest easy that your daughter isn’t in the limelight again.
Best of luck.
Have you been to court yet? This seems extreme to me. I do not understand why the school or that teacher would not call to let you know that your child was not in class. You need to make sure that the judge understands the entire situation. How is your daughter supposed to know that what she did was not acceptable, when two teachers were seemingly allowing her to do this? I would definitely have a conversation with the principal, vice principal, and both of those teachers. Get them in a meeting all together and explain that you want to know where the miscommunication occurred and what can be done to ensure that nothing like this happens again. If they try to palm the blame off on your daughter then I would ask how the teacher who allowed your daughter into her classroom is not also to blame. She allowed the situation to continue for 12 days and never questioned it. Also, why is one student allowed to do this and another is not? These are all very good reason why your daughter would naturally assume she was doing nothing wrong. I would have the meeting first and then if you do not feel satisfied, I would all the board of education. If things are still not going well for you, call the office for civil rights. They can help you mediate with the school.
Good Luck!
You must hold your daughter accountable for this. It is not a teacher’s job to determine whether or not a TA is available during a certain period or not. Your daughter was skipping class. She obviously did not discuss the fact that she had a class with the teacher she was helping out, nor did she get permission from her 7th period teacher or the school administrator. Fully her bad. If she’s old enough to be a teacher’s assistant, she’s old enough to know that she needs permission to not be in class.
Depending on how the school handles informing parents of absences, there’s a very good chance that they tried to and you just didn’t get the messages. Many schools use pre-recorded messages that say, “This is a message to tell you that your child, (Her Name), was absent from (period/s) today.” Students these days know that all they need to do to keep their parents from finding out is answer the phone all evening and check the answering machine first. A simple delete and you’re none the wiser.
You can’t expect the school to have a little file open with your daughter’s attendance problem so they can report it every time you call. Even if they did, if they were assuming that you’d been getting the messages, it’s reasonable to not mention it.
Go to court with your daughter to support her, but understand that she’s the one who was skipping school. It is her responsibility to be in class. It is not the school’s responsibility to keep tabs on her. She’s not in elementary school anymore, right?
I would argue for putting her on probation. She clearly has been missing a lot of school. If she’s been with the other teacher as a T.A., he’ll vouch for her, but that still doesn’t cover the fact that she was MIA from the class she was supposed to be in. Your daughter is probably going to be in trouble, but pointing out how other instances of truancy were overlooked could certainly help keep her out of major trouble.
I wish you luck, and be sure to tell your daughter that she’s on her own next time!