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Hey Netmilsmom! Remember yesterday when I said that we have gotten the letter in the mail from the school re:absences and blah blah blah, and you told your amazement that they wouldn't accept a note from a parent as an excused absence?

My hubby went and met with the (get this) Attendance Officer at the school this a.m. He taped the whole thing, but gave me some highlights:

First they said his tardies were just a few, then 1/2 hour later they were excessive.

They offered to take some of the absences off, my husband said NO, he was absent, it was the policy that was the problem.

They apologized that we are being held to the same standard as "lying" parents. He told them he had no problem being held to the same standard, it was the standard that was the problem.

One more tardy, and 2 more absences without a DR's note this year (4 months to go) and they will issue an arrest warrant for my husband. I'm still trying to figure out the law they will be arresting him under. Oh yeah, the we-know-what's-best-for-your-kids-and-will-force-it-on-you-at-gunpoint law.

Hubby went to the sheriff's dept yesterday (he is good friends with them) and told them if they came and tried to take our son, he was coming out blazing (he was kidding, since he knows them, but they agree at the Sheriff's Office that it is ridiculous, the Sheriff laughed and laughed, and they want out of having to do this with the school. It seems they have more important things to do)

He got all this on tape, which, being a newspaper man, he pops out at the beginning, sits it on the desk, and says "You don't mind if I tape this do you?" Hee hee.

His editorial on the whole issue begins next week. It will focus on how the school will not let parents determine if a child is sick enough to go to school, that their notes from home are not proof enough to the BOE that the child was sick. In otherwords, they DO NOT trust the parents with their own kids.

Anyway, we are closer and closer to homeschooling. Are you happy with how its going?

Whoa!!!
Can you link us to your hubbies article when it's done? Is there a website connected with his paper??
No matter what, keep me informed!

Homeschooling is the best decision we ever made! My daughter was a zoner and would not get the work done during the day (quiet was never demanded in the class). We would get three pages of homework + a four page spelling packet to be completed in a week. I have no problem with homework but at the end of the week, she would bring home 25 completed papers. Figure it out. They wanted to give her detention for not completing the work in class but when I asked the teacher how we could "work together" to keep her "on task" (to use their jargon), she told me, "I don't know". Rrrrrr.
There is a great bunch of homeschoolers here and there is great support. Think about it!

Jeez, based on what you and your husband are going through, I would have been jailed. From middle school on, my son was frequently absent - so much so that he would be teased 'nice to see you' in yearbooks, school functions, etc.

The problem (for the school) was, he was in a gifted and talented program, had taken the SATs as a 12 yr old and scored at a high school level, had perfect scores on the various city-wide and Iowa tests, and had excellent report cards. Obviously, they couldn't say he was missing out on his education by not showing up to class.

He'd stay home reading, writing short stories, etc. and go back to school ahead of his classmates, who were no mental slouches either. I guess I was a bad parent. I didn't see how he could go wrong reading the classics of Western literature, science, and the writings of the Founding Fathers. But that's just me.