Embracing My Journey ~ Living with passion & purpose!

Last night my daughter returned home from school with one piece of paper that has now lead me to question the safety and security of her being back in public school.  As I rode up and down the hills on my morning bike ride, I was able to release some of the frustration that had grown overnight, but even with that the burning question of “what are some of these people thinking?”  looms in my mind.

First a little background…several years ago in our previous school district they put in place a system called Raptor which scanned drivers licenses of adults as they entered the office and if there was a “blip” (ie: some type of criminal record related to a sex offense) the police were automatically notified and dispatched to the school.  Great system, right?  The downside was that if a child of a sex offender attended the school and had permission from the court to be near their child (ie: their child was not their victim), then the parent had every right to enter the school, have lunch with their child and be in their childs classroom… of course, the principal or vice principal was to accompany them during the entire visit and this visit was not with their child alone, they were welcome to sit at the kids table in the cafeteria with 30 other kids or in the classroom with the entire class.  I brought this to the attention of the principal at the time and he was very supportive.  The TV news picked up the story and even though the system is still in place, at least those parents who were unaware of the bigger picture became informed and could be more protective of their own child.  How effective was this? I really cannot say as we no longer live in that district, but then again the main elementary school was built on land that sits directly behind the house of a sex offender, giving him a clear view to the playground all day…..

That was then…now, back to the current situation….my daughter brings home this piece of paper and on the paper was something that shows the teacher had good intentions, just, in my opinion, seemed to be lacking focus on the larger picture.  What was on it?  A photograph of the third grade “project” which is a giant checker board with individual photos of the children on each of the squares, along with photos of the teachers and of the kids making funny faces.

I do see the fun in this, as I think it is a very creative and definitely something that would be great to see placed in one of the great glass cabinets that line the walls of the interior of the school displaying the childrens adventures and creations.  This item however was created for one purpose.  That purpose being to generate money by being auctioned off to anyone who attends the fall festival (open to the public) this coming weekend.  Here is where my issue arose.

How is pasting the photographs (close-up head shots, not activity shots from a distance) of eighty 8 and 9 year old boys and girls onto a giant piece of wood, glazed and then placed on display for the general public to bid on a positive thing?  Basically the enticement to bid on this item is that it has the photos on it…after all, who would bid on a plain checkerboard?

This comes after I spent the weekend with friends who had an auction item in their home (they won the auction last year) from their child’s school.  It was a giant bookcase with the kids hand prints in paint and their first names under each print….very cute, very fun, done by the kids and still something that protected their safety.

I do understand the intention this teacher had in creating the checkerboard, but I still have to question the safety of public schools – and not from outsiders or bomb threats but from those who are closest to the kids and not taking the time to see the overall bigger picture.

The vice principal was kind enough to take the time to speak with me about my concerns…”did you not get the flyer that said this was the 3rd grade project?”  she asked.   “No.”  I replied, because if I did I would have said something sooner.

“Did no one look at the form I signed when I enrolled my daughter in the school where I checked off the box that said NO you do not have my permission to use my childs likeness or photograph?”  I asked her.  She had no reply for that question.

The teacher who created the project entered the office and I was assured that my daughter’s photo would be removed from the checkerboard before auction.  Perhaps they will share my concerns with her?  I’ll can only hope….

As I was leaving I heard the secretary kindly call out behind me, asking “do you not want your daughter in the yearbook?”  My initial response was “no, that’s fine.”  However, now I wonder….do they sell the yearbooks to the general public?  Guess I’ll have to check on that one!

Thoughts?  Feedback?  I’d love to hear comments from other parents and educators too!

In gratitude,
Caryn

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 7:04 am and is filed under Caryn's writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.