http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/04/13/boy-cuts-throat-at-school-officials-don’t-call-911/ This happened near me... This boy was very fortunate he didn't bleed to death.
Sadly, I'm not surprised. My ds was running and tripped at school. He hit his head on the cement. We got a polite phone call from the school nurse- they sent him to class, and if we hadn't insisted we were coming to get him, they would have kept business as usual. Budgets make sense, but I also think (at least in our case) the school doesn't want to take responsibility for anything. It is all about blame- and it's never a problem with the school.
I read a blog written by a teacher... oh.. probably six months ago. In this article the teacher was discussing that part of his job as an educator is to "toughen up the little angels" (his exact words). He went on and on about not allowing kids to visit the nurse for things like head or stomach aches. He said cuts and abrasions need no bandaides, only a good rinsing in the bathroom sink. Parents who keep sick kids home are overprotective. They should be in school where they belong! And on and on he went. Oh, and in case you're curious, he teaches 1st graders. Sadly, this "educator" is not alone. The whole "toughen them up" mentality is rampant in schools. Heck, that's one of the reasons schools blame bully victims: those kids are just too sensitive.
That's deplorable! I really think there's more to it all though. There's a thread through all these news stories: the school can do what they want with YOUR child: invade your privacy, put them at risk, draw a tight line in the sand that excludes parents. They do everything they can to make parents look and feel bad. But when it's their turn, everything is a-ok because they are making the RIGHT decisions for our kids! (hear the sarcasm there).
My oldest son went to PS until 5th grade and he had a teacher who told him he was a cry baby and that he needed to toughen up. She would call him names in class and let the kids call him names. He got to where he didn't want to go to school when before he loved school. I went to a conference with the teacher and she said he was TOO SENSITIVE for a boy and he better toughen up or he wasn't going to make it in the REAL WORLD. I was so upset. We decided then and there to homeschool him from there til he graduated and now I am proud to say my fantastic, caring, Godly son is in college getting straight A's and his employer says he wishes all his employees were as polite and kind as he is. I am so thankful we had the opportunity to withdraw him from PS so he didn't have to endure that for the next 12 years. What that teacher didn't understand was he only had her for one year but he would be with those classmates the remainder of his school years and once a kid is labeled it sticks for years to come. My heart breaks when I think of others that she did this to and the child had to endure teasing from his classmates. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with a boy having a kind sensitive spirit!!!
Disgusting! That cut didn't warrant attention? Seems to me the teacher and principal should be educated on anatomy and first aid. The boy could have suffered severe blood loss, shock, and even death had it nicked closer to his artery. Shame on them!
This is one of the reasons I can NOT imagine taking the most precious people in the entire world to me, dropping them off with perfect strangers, and just taking off for the day. They're just faces to them, they don't know them and they might care some, but never as much as me. It breaks my heart that the school saw no reason to call for help, or call the parents, or anything at all. :cry: Do you remember the story about the little boy who climbed up onto a transformer? His Mom was called but had to watch him up there being electrocuted, lying limp. They had to hold her back for her own safety, she wanted so badly to go to him. He ended up dying, how the heck was no one watching him and he got up there? We watch our kids VERY closely at playgrounds, the beach, the store. It's stories like these that make me afraid to ever let anyone else watch them, even most of our family members! No one else would be as attentive as us, or at least it gets very easy to think so. Edit: I see they called the parents...while the little boy sat alone bleeding. Ugh.
When I was in Middle school we were playing flag football, and the football was being passed to me and another girl came up beside me, elbowed me in the eye, glasses and all. My nose was shoved to teh right, badly broken, my glasses shattered, and a swollen shut black eye. The teacher told her to walk with me to the nurse because she was too busy to, and the girl just laughed at me the whole walk down. Not a sorry was heard. I did go home, but only because they were afraid I got glass in my abrasions under my eye. I told the principal when he came in to see me the whole story, and he told me that she didn't really laugh, and she must have apologized because she's such a nice girl. So my parents demanded an apology and it still wasn't given because there was no way that was true. So they called me a liar right infront of my parents. I can imagine something like this happening. There are alot of things that teachers have to worry about, but some just don't have the kids' best interests at heart.
Yep, I know several public school teachers who have this same attitude. So very sad that they are the ones that are in charge of precious children in place of their parents during the day..
Its appalling, these stories we hear all the time. I understand that as a teacher, these are not your own children, but isn't it your moral responsibilty to look after your charges AS IF they were your own!? One time, when my oldest was in kinder, when I picked him up, I noticed that he had had an "accident". I was shocked, since he had ben potty trained since he was two, and only had accidents during that month we were training. Turns out, he told the teacher a few times that he needed to go, but she kept telling him "ok, wait, not now". And then she told him, school's almost over, just wait for your mom. My poor kid was crying as he told me this. I asked the teacher about it, and she said "oh? Really? Well, we were just so busy today, you know". On the other hand, can't put all the blame on the teachers, I mean, how can you possibly watch 30 kids at the same time. Budget cuts force schools to overburden the teachers. It's a broken system, that just keeps getting worse!
MomToMusketeers: My son had a similar sitution in 1st grade. He never had potty problems until he went to 1st grade. The teacher only allowed certain times to potty because the children had to be led to the outside restrooms (inside ones were in disrepair). My son could only go at 10am and 2pm. 1st grade!!! He had several accidents as he 'acclimated to the rules', as the teacher put it. She argued with me that my son 'refused' to go when she took the class to restroom, so it was his fault. My son said he didn't have to go then, so didn't even try. I understand that with 30 kids in the class you can't stop for everyone but there had to be something the school could do besides try to get everyone's body on the same potty schedule! Ridiculous! I took him out of school after 6 months. The silly part was that even at home he would 'hold it' and be nervous about asking me if he could go. He'd say "It's not 10 o'clock yet" and stuff like that. Stupid public school.
Exactly. When I worked in a daycare I was "in charge" of 10 kids by myself in a church basement with 2 other teachers who each had 10 kids a piece. Everytime you had one child that had to potty you had to make sure that no one else was down there in the restrooms (we only had one set in the basement and besides us 3 teachers who taught preschool there were 2 other teachers for 3 year olds as well in another room). If someone was you had to yell down to see if she had a full set or if she would allow one more kid, or if we ALL had to wait until she got done. There were really no set times to potty, you just kinda had to work it in and that led to some accidents for kids who had been potty trained for a long time and some testy parents, understandably. We tried to implement rules, but nobody seemed to apt on following them (the more uppidy teachers in our room would bend the rules for "her kids" so it never worked.). It's tough as a teacher, especially when you try to make accomodations in crappy conditions. I think alot of it has to do with budget cuts: teacher desperation because of low payment, school disrepair, and so on.
My son is one of those sensative kids. He's 8. When his classmates told him they would hate him if he didn't give them his lunch, necklace I made him, braclet, ...he was coming home crying almost every day. I went to his school and tore into his teacher. She told me to not send him To school in anything anyone else would want...and That she never saw anyone bothering him so hes probably inventing it for attention because he's an only child! I just signed up my boy for virtual online homeschooling..PS sucks!
Good for you, Amy Lee! I can't imagine one of my boys going through this kind of thing.... they'd have H*ll to pay at the school if they did.
These kinds of stories make me ill. I remember what it was like. I was bullied in PS also. I had a girl teasing me in 11th grade about something that had happened in kindergarten. Get REAL! You can't blame the teachers for all of it. They can't be everywhere at one time. I'm just glad I have the option to homeschool. My girls are both decent about coping with stress, but I have a very sensitive 9 yr old boy. I know he would have been chewed up and spit out by the ps system. It's wonderful that he didn't have to deal with that. Edie
Wow, I just read this. The irony is that, if the parents had done the same thing, someone would have called Child Protective Services. I know - ten years ago I retired from CPS. I'm a non-practicing Juris Doctor (law degree), in addition to being a homeschooling mom. I pray these parents secured proper counsel, and sued the district! (I was, for the most part, the worker who came to the scene of a meth lab raid, and got the kids to the relative who would take over raising the kids while the parents went to prison. I 'dopted a 'county kid.' No, I didn't 'steal' her - HeeHee - I'm a big fan of Alex Jones radio show, and he talks about workers stealing kids - it doesn't happen. My kids' bio-mom dropped her off and was never seen again. Biodad's identity is unknown. I was visited monthly by a social worker during the adoption process. I also worked as a social-worker/interviewer for the parents' attorney; so, I've seen things from many sides. No one appreciates the negatives and positives regarding social workers than a social worker, believe me.) P.S. Social workers learn to LOATHE the public school system more than anyone. I began to believe that public school teachers were the stupidest people on Earth, along with the System being the stupidest one on Earth. Well, I digress - maybe I'll post some of my horror stories some time. HeeHee.
