Damn... School Systems Today

My ten-year-old recently informed me that she refuses to miss another day of school. She's missed one this year and I had to fight her to stay home that day -- fever of 100.8 and she was fighting me every step of the way.

Anyway, a situation came up this week where it would have been beneficial to me to have both kids take the day off from school on Friday so that we could travel to the other side of the state, only my daughter burst into tears at the thought of missing school. It took me three days to get her to explain why -- especially when she announced that she wish it would snow so that she could have a snowday. (Vermont has been virtually snowfree all season.)

Last night, she finally told us why she doesn't want to miss school. Now, the school and I have battled on things before. I don't blame the teachers fully, I know a lot of today's problems lie with "No Child Left Behind." However, until school systems put their feet down and tell the government to get real, nothing is going to change. I'd love to not pay my taxes, but one person is not enough - the entire country needs to revolt and demand changes!

As it turns out, if a child here misses a day/days of school, they are not allowed to have recess until they have caught up on all their work. They are sent to another teacher's room (like detention from my day) where they have to catch up on all they missed before they can return to recess with their class. So in my daughter's case, she would typically miss her math chapter for the day, spelling work, short story writing, and whatever history/science they did while she was out. When I made her stay home in the fall, she wound up missing recess for three recesses (days).

This leads me to question:

1. why are we punishing kids for staying home sick???
2. Why not send the work home as homework?
3. Why are we send a message to kids that NO SICK days are allowed without punishment?

I don't know about everyone, but my friends, family, and husband are all given at least three sick days per year paid. Teachers that I have questioned admit that they get 10 sick days per year and those can be accumulated.

So if teachers are allowed to be sick without punishment, why are we sending the kids a strong message that if they skip school, they will be punished. It's wrong!

The state of the school system is depressing. I wish something would change and soon!