I know of this family, they are respectable people and wonderful parents. They are not the irresponsible, finger pointing, fly off the handle type.
First and second grade children need supervision on the playground and they need something AUDIBLE to tell them when it's their turn, I'm sure by class, when to come in and go to the cafeteria.
This new "attendance center" concept does not allow older students to help patrol and corral the first and second graders back into the building when it's their time to eat. There are no patrols to help the little ones (and yes I think a six year old is still considered a little one) if they have any problem out on the playground either.
Detention? That word alone probably terrified this kid. I'm sure he had no idea what it meant, but knew it wasn't good. My idea of a detention worthy infraction at this grade level would be hitting on the playground or in class, something along those lines. Bullying, kicking...but not because he didn't see a sign.
I do not agree with the principal holding a six year old to a higher standard than the person responsible for getting the kids back into the building. Did the principals, staff or bus drivers (who apparently couldn't read a manifest) get detention when they could not account for missing kids who rode buses at the beginning of the year? And these are adults.
I get it about teaching your kids responsibility and accountability, but really, doesn't everyone remember being that age, engrossed in play and maybe forgetting something like stopping and looking to see if your sign is being held up?
How about a whistle? Teach them when they hear the whistle to look and see if it's their sign being held up to know if they should go back in the building.
And to ban this kid's father from ALL GRANITE CITY DISTRICT 9 buildings, functions, even the Board of Education? Over this? Someone needs to rethink that garbage. Yes, he went directly to the classroom to remove his child after the disagreement with the principal, and he admitted he should not have done that. But to call the police???? Oh come on!
At least GCPD maintained cool heads and realized it wasn't necessary to arrest this man in spite of the principal wanting him hauled off for disturbing the peace and trespassing.
Back in the day when Clabbie Briggs was principal at Maryville, she would have insisted to find out why so many kids were missing lunch, and she wouldn't have punished the kids for it...she would have marched in the cafeteria to talk to the cooks and then to whoever was on the playground to find out what was going on and she would have fixed it. She was a woman with common sense and the kids adored her. She would NOT have put up with this "watch for the sign" nonsense, not for first and second graders.
OK, end of my rant. I hope all this works out well, which includes the principal rethinking his own actions and the superintendent resolving the issue instead of just trying to silence this father.
on September 28, 2016, 4:24 am, in reply to "