TRUANT

tru·ant : one who shirks duty; especially : one who stays out of school without permission

Today when I arrived home there was a sealed manila envelope on the table. It was addressed to us from the school. Curious, I opened the envelope and found the following:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. R:

Many studies have shown that regular attendance is essential for a pupil to gain the most from his/her educational opportunity. On the other hand truancy has the potential of diminishing a student's chances of meeting their goals and graduating.

It is my responsibility to inform you that, according to our attendance records, Tyler is a truant from school......

etc etc etc

etc etc and so on and so on

A copy of this letter is being sent to the district's Child Welfare and Attendance Liason as a notice of this serious problem.

Sincerely,

Principal _____


WHAT ?????????

Did I mention our son is in the 4th Grade???? Did I mention we take him to school every day? Did I mention that he goes to school except when he has thrown up or has a fever? Did I mention he reports to extracuricular homework club every day after school. Or how about the fact...here is the kicker folks, I was in a meeting with the principal, his teacher, the district psychologist, the resource specialist and my husband on Feb. 14 2008 and NOOOO mention was ever made of this little issue? Tyler was recently diagnosed as having ADD (another extrememly long post as it's been an ongoing battle with the school)and we had a meeting last week where the school finally acknowledged that he should qualify for special services. THE EXACT same day that the principal then signed and mailes us this very letter. SAY WHAT???!!!!

Upon further investigation it appears that my son is a truant because in October he missed three days of school for an extended weekend trip to Houston to visit his elderly Great Grandparents and all extended family. While in Houston we visited the Museum of Natural History, The Butterfly Gardens and several bookstores. He saw the dinosaur exhibit, a mummy exhibit and an IMAX film about ancient Egypt. He saw an insect exhibit and learned about Lucy's Legacy and the History of Ethiopia. Probably far more educational than what he picks up on a day to day basis. Apparantly this trip which we notified the school about and his teacher (that no one ever made mention of as being a problem), got my son labeled as a truant.

Can you tell I am a little mad? I will be at the school bright and early tomorrow. My friend was kind enough to investigate this for me with her friend who is a Vice Principal at another public school in our district. Apparently this is protocol for our state now (don't you love CA, the most expensive state to live in and some of the worst schools in the country). They have to send these letters out if a child has more than three non-medical absences. This still makes me livid and I think the principal might have mentioned it in one of our many recent meetings. I am hoping Tyler never catches wind of any of this as I don't like the idea of labeling a child for something they had no control over.

Unfortunately after coming home to this we then caught Tyler in a whopper of a lie and needless to say he is going to be grounded for quite awhile, then my husband and I managed to take the whole thing out on each other and got in a whopper of an argument. So...my day SUCKED!

Thanks for listening.
D