Breathe in Breathe out. Repeat.
Last night I received a call from the school district with "an important message from the principal". Turns out the toilets at the school had some issues and only half of the bathrooms were available for use yesterday afternoon. No worries though, the toilets have been fixed and all is well for Tuesday.
Whew. Close call. I am so glad the school sees the importance in letting me know how many toilets are working at school.
Today, Gabriel came home and told me that the principal came to his class and told the kids that his teacher's baby died and his teacher will not be back for a long time.
Wait, I'm so confused.
The school has an automated calling system to tell me about PTA meetings, Yearbook Sales, Fire Drills, peanut allergies and broken toilets, but they can't use the same system to tell me that they plan to tell my child that his teacher will be out for "a long time" due to the death of her baby?
This was the exact reason why I pulled Gabriel out of school the other day and broke the news to him myself. Because I feared that the school would handle this poorly.
When the similar situation occurred last year, our school guidance counselor or the school psychologist called each parent and let them know what happened and that they would be talking to students at school the following day.
So, I'm a wee bit disappointed today.
This is the second time in just a few months that the school has overstepped their bounds when it comes to handling tragedy.
Back in December as the eyes of the Nation were on Sandy Hook, I had 2 hours from the time I heard the story until the time I picked the kids up from school to decide how I wanted to talk to the kids about the shooting.
I picked up the boys and 3 minutes after they got in the car Eli said "did you know there was a man who came in to a school in Newtown and killed a whole bunch of people?".
Wow.
How does a 5th grader with no access to TV, internet, newspapers or iPhone news updates get such information while at school?
It turns out his teacher felt the need to share some info with the students.
I was shocked back then but I overlooked what I saw as a misstep by the teacher and proceeded to talk to my kids about the situation.
Now, I find myself unable to keep quiet again.
I'm not suggesting that Sandy Hook or Mrs. M's loss would never be discussed at school, I just feel that it is the parents' role first to explain and console their children.
As I was ranting to my sister today, she shed a positive light on the whole situation "I'm so very thankful that God already had Gabe in mind and that he was protected from this".
She is right. I should be thankful for the provision God had for Gabriel and not so angry about the way the school handled the situation.
*Update* We did get a call tonight from the principal, a recorded message giving us the "this is what happened today" chat. I'm just so baffled by the idea of tell kids first, parents later.
A letter will happen. A nice one. My child was not adversely affected by the way the school announced the loss, so I really shouldn't be mad at all. I do however, want to do my part to prevent future incidences from going down this way.
Whew. Close call. I am so glad the school sees the importance in letting me know how many toilets are working at school.
Today, Gabriel came home and told me that the principal came to his class and told the kids that his teacher's baby died and his teacher will not be back for a long time.
Wait, I'm so confused.
The school has an automated calling system to tell me about PTA meetings, Yearbook Sales, Fire Drills, peanut allergies and broken toilets, but they can't use the same system to tell me that they plan to tell my child that his teacher will be out for "a long time" due to the death of her baby?
This was the exact reason why I pulled Gabriel out of school the other day and broke the news to him myself. Because I feared that the school would handle this poorly.
When the similar situation occurred last year, our school guidance counselor or the school psychologist called each parent and let them know what happened and that they would be talking to students at school the following day.
So, I'm a wee bit disappointed today.
This is the second time in just a few months that the school has overstepped their bounds when it comes to handling tragedy.
Back in December as the eyes of the Nation were on Sandy Hook, I had 2 hours from the time I heard the story until the time I picked the kids up from school to decide how I wanted to talk to the kids about the shooting.
I picked up the boys and 3 minutes after they got in the car Eli said "did you know there was a man who came in to a school in Newtown and killed a whole bunch of people?".
Wow.
How does a 5th grader with no access to TV, internet, newspapers or iPhone news updates get such information while at school?
It turns out his teacher felt the need to share some info with the students.
I was shocked back then but I overlooked what I saw as a misstep by the teacher and proceeded to talk to my kids about the situation.
Now, I find myself unable to keep quiet again.
I'm not suggesting that Sandy Hook or Mrs. M's loss would never be discussed at school, I just feel that it is the parents' role first to explain and console their children.
As I was ranting to my sister today, she shed a positive light on the whole situation "I'm so very thankful that God already had Gabe in mind and that he was protected from this".
She is right. I should be thankful for the provision God had for Gabriel and not so angry about the way the school handled the situation.
*Update* We did get a call tonight from the principal, a recorded message giving us the "this is what happened today" chat. I'm just so baffled by the idea of tell kids first, parents later.
A letter will happen. A nice one. My child was not adversely affected by the way the school announced the loss, so I really shouldn't be mad at all. I do however, want to do my part to prevent future incidences from going down this way.
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