Furious!

[kmac87]

I need advice...
My son's school bus was 2 hours late this morning and after waiting for an hour this afternoon for drop off, I called the school of which very rudely she told me she already had 3 phone calls and is trying to get help over there. Understandable, but how are parents to know that. Some of us have jobs or small babies or other people picking our kids up for us at the bus stop...a courtesy call would be nice after 30 mins of no show...2 hours is just unacceptable! So anyways, my younger son and i started walking back to the house and when we get there, a car pulls up and out pops my son. These people we DO NOT let around our kids and they have stalked us for several years. They even follow my kid's bus every morning. I've called the police dept and they told me there was nothing they could do about the stalking as its on public property, so they still do it. My question is, what can i do about thethis school issue. My husband and I triedare furious that the school would allow him to go with someone we don't approve of. I thought that was the reason we fill out the form at the beginning of the year designating who can pick them up. So this means they will release him to anyone. I tried calling the school and the board, no answer and being that it's Friday, I probably wont get through until Monday which sucks. Anyone work in this field or law field that can offer advice, thanks. He's in kinder btw.

 

[alicecooper]

omg I'd be livid. I don't know how things work over there, but here, only the parents or adults stated as approved by the parents are allowed to pick up children. I'd be so so mad.

 

[BabyGirl999]

That is shocking! Sorry I have no advice but that is a massive safety issue!

 

[jrob]

I'm sorry I don't have much in the way of advice for you. We have some serious issues with my step-son's school as well. I had posted a novel about the different things that have gone on. One of which was that last year, when he was in kindergarten, we were late to the bus stop one day. Protocol is that if a parent or approved adult is not there to pick your child up, he/she is to stay on the bus and be driven back to the school. The parents are then called to come get their child, and are asked to pay a small fee towards the child having to be in the after-school program. Which is fair, because other parents pay for their children to be a part of that program. However, on this day, we saw the bus turn the corner and just before we turned the car around to head to the school, we saw our little one walking home alone. We live on a main road. It's very busy. Imagine our horror seeing our 6 year old walking home without supervision. We were furious. We called the board office first, because we knew nothing would come of calling the principal. She never answers our phone calls. And the board office told us to call the bus company. So we did that. It didn't happen again.

But back to your problem, I can empathize with you, but do not have much advice unfortunately. All I can suggest is that you call to speak with the school principal. And bring this issue up with the teacher if you have a parent-teacher night coming up. Or schedule a meeting to discuss the issue with the principal if he/she is not available to speak on the phone. Ask for it to be put in writing, as you would want documentation that you asked for this issue to be addressed. And be firm that your child is to NEVER go home with anyone other than you or the specific people you have given permission. That is outrageous that they would send your little one home with a random person! It's incredible scary. I would be furious as well. If all that doesn't work, I would definitely call the board office again and let them know about your problem. In a good district, even the office staff can be helpful without going directly to the superintendent. They may be able to crack down on all of the schools to ensure they follow dismissal protocols correctly. I am sorry this happened and hope that it gets remedied soon.

A side note, I went to school for teaching, I never did my student teaching though. It was too expensive and I couldn't afford not to work during the day. And student teaching is basically an unpaid full time job. So I decided to go with what my ultimate plan was anyway and am getting my MA in counseling now. I like the field much better. Anyway, that is beside the point. While I was having the problems with our district I spoke with my professors about it. One piece of advice I was given was to always try to work things out with the principal first before going to the board. We went to the board that time because of our history with the principal not calling us or not helping us out. If you go over the principal's head without first bringing up your concerns to her it could cause some bad tensions between you, and you definitely don't want that. If she won't listen, obviously then it doesn't matter if you go above her because... well the tension is already there from her not addressing this serious safety issue.

Let me know if anything works out for you! Good luck!!