Wow!! Just had a TWO hour conversation with my sister.. She is utterly annoyed with the school district that my Niece is in.. Apparently the school had sent home permission slips to check and clean the kids teeth.. My sister okayed that BUT that they ended up giving my 9 year old niece shots and fillings!!! Nowhere on the paper did they disclose that there would be anything other than a cleaning.. Is this lawful?? How can they do that??? Also, My niece now thinks that my sister does drugs because she smokes.. My niece's writing prompt for her journal started "I will never do drugs because..." And my niece finished it off with "my mom does drugs and sometimes she can't breath.." and then she went on to name other of her relatives that "do drugs"(smoke).. One of which is a detective for the police station! LOL! and the teacher is the Sheriff's wife. Okay that was sorta funny but other writing prompts that she's seeing is "I'm happiest at home when.." and "I'm saddest at home when.." Seems like they are getting a little bit too personal if you ask me... Almost like they are fishing for information so they can get a peek into the kids home lives.. I'm just so glad that we don't have to deal with this.. Mine younger ones are safe at home with me and I know exactly what's going on with them..
I don't know that I would assume negative intent on the writing prompts. I bet the kids have all sort of issues they are facing and those type of prompts help the teachers understand and get to know a class full of 20-25 children from who knows what kind of background. The dental stuff would annoy me to no end. But I would not have given permission for a dentist to look at my kids' mouth without my presence anyway. I would want to be there to talk to him/her about dental issues. However, I am with you on liking having my children at home. I love knowing what they are doing and how their day is going all the time.
I would be angry about the dental work also. What if they were allergic to the Novocaine? My DS has a high tolorence to it and is in severe pain with dental work. I would have been down at that school in a heartbeat. The drug thing sounds like DARE. My DS (still in PS) just graduated from the program. Both of my kids started with the you are doing drugs thing and I just told them that caffine is a drug too and it is in soda, soooo your doing drugs too!:lol: They stopped drinking soda, except root beer and sprite, for the longest time. I did sit them down and had a long talk with them about drugs, legal and illegal but, honestly, if they don't smoke or drink because of DARE, it was worth it. I kinda agree with the fact that it seems like the PS system tries to stick it's nose into family life too much. Their job is to school the children, not police everything about family life. Just my 2 cents. Debbie
Yeah that's normal. Did you hear about the kid they held down & did dental work on? No novicane! Didn't someone post that story here? As for the writing prompts .... idk....I think they were designed as a fishing expedition. Though I don't think all teachers use them that way...some do.
I would be livid about the dental stuff. We do PS however I don't even sign for my dd to do floride treatments. I've done research and it's not worht it to me to tramatize dd for flouride treatments anymore. She did them at school once last year and came home so upset about it that she told me about it and her teacher emailed me to see what was going on because dd was crying at school over it. Found out it's the flavor. I had given permission but after that time(and the teacher told dd when she got upset she didn't have to do it). We also refuse them at the dentist each time. We have tried several flavors and she gags from it and says the "brush" hurts that they use. She won't even use toothpaste that contains flouride because of the taste of it no matter how much it's covered up. She gets basically zero flouride in her but that's fine because she's healthy and happy and with her sensory problems it's not worth it to me for her to get that upset, especially at school in front of her friends. The writing prompts I think are more to help the teacher get to know the kids better and to help the kids figure out what to write. At that age it can be very hard to just be told to write for a certain amount of time without some direction.
I think the writing prompts are like "Fishing" tactics to me. It could really go either way, but when I was in First grade we had an assignment to look in our cupboards and spot poisons. Mom thought it was a crock of crap, but we did it anyway. Mom told me that a woman from the school got in trouble for Social services because her cupboards weren't locked. And this was in a town of MAYBE 1000 people. Mom remembers that story vividly. Here is how I see it, in the perspective of a child: I feel saddest at home when...my mom spanks me/Dad sends me to my room without supper/My brother kicks me/I fall down the stairs etc.... -I sorta see this as an oppertunity for some teachers to say, "Oh dear me, you poor child! I would never do that to you! You're parents are WRONG/Bad to do that to you! Don't worry, that wont happen here."I've seen it happen with preschoolers at the preschool/daycare I work at. One of our little girls in the class said that Dad popped her in the butt for saying the word "crap". The teacher pulled her aside, and told her that her parents behavior was wrong, and that she was in the right for trying to express herself infront of her parents, and really started to explain to her that her parents didn't want to listen to what she said and they only wanted to get her to shut up (this was a collegiate teacher). On the topic of the dentistry thing: I would never consent to anything like that. Never. My parents didn't even want me to take school tylenol and ibuprofen, "If you are sick, I want to be called" my mom would say. I would do the same for my kid too. Just my 2 cents.
I would have been livid about the dental thing BUT I also wouldn't have ever given permission for them to even look at their teeth. I am so picky about dental work that is done to mine or my kids teeth that I am willing to pay extra to go to a dentist that is not covered by insurance. As for the writting prompts, I could see it go either way. If you really know the teacher well, then you should be able to determine what the intent was. When I sent my kids to school last year I made sure I knew their teachers VERY well. Even though my kids all ended up up coming back home during the year I will admit I did really like their teachers. There were other teachers in the school I would not have liked.
I would also be very upset about everything you said. I think it's good the school provides dental work because there are kids whose families can't afford it. However, they need to be much better at getting permission for what is being done. I saw something on the news about this being a scam dentists are doing, because they bill the school for the work or something?? The writing assignment, and the teacher being the sherriff's wife....ya, I would be very suspicious on that! I was talking with some PS friends yesterday who are upset with NC's new Common Core standards, and Michelle Obama's new school lunch standards. On paper it all seems like good ideas. But in practice all the moms are upset. They can't bring cupcakes to school for birthdays anymore, they can't send snacks in lunch boxes that are over 100 calories. In fact, all lunch boxes are checked by teachers to make sure they meet the new guidlines, or the child is forced to buy lunch. Many days their kids come home starving because they either didn't like the lunch, or they didn't get enough to eat. I think perhaps there is an overreach of government in our schools. I'm just glad I'm not part of it! At least, in our area!
