Mommy and We

So we’ve been discussing school over on the Mommy and We Facebook page and how *I* feel school flubbed up with my daughter yesterday. Lots of you agree with me, and several think I’m just being a whiny bitch trying to draw attention to myself. (which is completely NOT the case–I seldom bring my personal issues to my blog page. Just thought I could get some advice from fellow mommas)

Anyway, I know there are several policies I don’t agree with, though I DO see their reasoning behind some of them…What’re some of your issues with your child’s school? One of my biggest is morning snack…They won’t allow them to have, say, a Pop-Tart, but they like us to send them pretzels. Isn’t the salt on the pretzels just as bad for them as any possible sugar in the Pop-Tart? I KNOW you’ve read my rant on the whole “healthy” school lunch issue so I won’t start with that…Another issue I have is our kids aren’t allowed to have more than two class parties a year. One being Christmas. When I was in school, we had one for Valentine’s, one for Christmas, one for Halloween and hell, I don’t remember what else!…Yes..Maybe ALL those were overkill, but they were our “break” from the school year and none of them really interfered with our daily lessons. They’d use one class period in the day, which was no longer than 40 minutes.

They’re also not allowed to bring “home made” snacks for said parties to share with the class. Anything brought must be store-bought. So, yes, you can bring cupcakes but you’d best buy them from your local grocery store where you have NO idea what kind of ingredients or preservatives they’ve had put in them. So that’s obviously not a “too much sugar or fat” kind of issue.

Then there’s the whole “can’t give them medication” issue. Our school isn’t allowed without a doctor’s prescription AND the original bottle to even give a child Tylenol. If my kid needs Tylenol and I haven’t taken them to the doc, I have to take the medicine and give it to them during school. I can’t send a note FROM ME and tell them when and how to give it. Now, I think that’s ridiculous. My son wasn’t even allowed to carry his inhaler without a doctor’s express written instructions. Yes, like I said I DO understand some of their reasons behind their precautions. Just not all of them.

I’ve told you what I don’t like, so I should tell you some good points about our school, I suppose. I love that we’re such a small school. The principal (who was our Vice-Principal until a few weeks ago) is amazing. She’s always eager to help with any issues and she knows EVERY kid in the school by name. She even knows every parent by name, I think. Granted, as I mentioned we are a small school (with only a little more than 100 kids K-12) but I think it goes a long way for her to take a personal interest in all of us and the kids. She doesn’t live in our county and in fact lives across the state line but she even has her kids go here.

Another awesome thing about our school is most of the teachers. They take the time to actually spend with the kids who may be struggling. If it hadn’t been for my son’s 3rd grade teacher, he’d have never been put into his gifted class. I had pushed since Kindergarten to have him tested.

With our school being so small and one of two in the county, we generally get the shit end of the stick, though. If we get a grant, it goes to the bigger school. I love our little school, despite it’s faults and KNOW the “issues” I have aren’t with it, but with the county and state-levels. I wouldn’t send my kids anywhere else…though I’m not saying I haven’t considered homeschooling.

So weigh in, I want to know I’m not the only one who has school issues!
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