I don't want to start an entire uproar, but is anyone else bothered by how things were handled Friday night at CMS? I've drafted an email to the principal, but I haven't hit send yet because I don't want to be "that parent".
I am bothered by it and I didn't have a child there. I would hit send. I haven't read it but I trust your wording. Everyone could be saying they don't want to be that parent then there won't be anyone that speaks about it.
Cleveland Middle not Clayton Middle....Jen, what happened, my bf's kids were at the dance Friday night.
The Reader's Digest version of the story is that the kids never even made it into the gym, they were kept in the hallway for 3 hours, sometimes in a crouching position, because of severe weather. No one was turned away at the door, when their parents could have just taken them back home. They weren't allowed to use their cell phones to call their parents to come get them, and the school didn't use the media to let parents know that the dance had in essence been cancelled because of weather. My kid and the friends she went with were scared out of their minds because teachers told them to get down and be quiet, tornado's were everywhere. I just think it was handled poorly.
How awful for those kids. My daughter would have been absolutely petrified in that situation without me or her father. I think you are perfectly justified in sending a note and I am certain that it is well written.
I agree with you. I'd be PO'd about that. A DAMN principle/teacher should have been standing outside telling parents as they tried to drop kids off OR all the children one at a time should have been escorted to the office to call their parents to come get them.
I felt the same initially... But when I thought about it.... They were safer there than in many homes... If they knew from the get go - yes there should have been someone outside notifying parents so an informed decision, by the parent, could be made..... But realistically - the school could have felt that it was better to leave the children where they were, then to try and track down all these parents and potentially put the parents in harms way trying to come and retrieve their children. Did I have a child at the dance? Yes...
I know that I dont have kids, but if I had been in that situation I would of marched my self in there and got my child. However I do think the school should of told parents as they were dropping their kids off that they were going to cancel it, but then again I am sure that they didnt think it was going to be that bad.
FWIW Y'all are angered at the school for protecting the children after their parents decided to ignore tornado warnings and drop the kids off for a dance. Where's the anger at the idiot parents who put their kids at risk by driving to the school during a severe thunderstorm?
Clif, when I dropped off the girls, there were no tornado warnings, so And I'm not angry that they tried to protect the kids, I'm angry at the way it was handled.
I know for a fact, I was watching the news and they didn't come out until after the dance had started and it was not storming at the start of the dance. My kids didn't go, because they do not attend that school, but my neighbors boys went and dropped by my house after dropping the boys off and that's when they found out about the warnings. They tried calling the school to find out if the dance was going to be cut short, etc. but no one answered.
I agree that I personally would of turned my car around as soon as I heard the word tornado and picked up my little one.... Was the dance for sure cancelled when they did the drop off for the kids? Or did they decide this a little bit later? Also I would of been upset if they did not make the kids take cover or use precaution during the storm. Now the part of no cell phone to call mom or dad would of upset me! So I can see both points/sides!
But there was severe weather, as you stated. Did you just drop off "the girls", did you escort them to the door, or did you just drop them off at the curb and high-tail it out of there? And I'm angry at parents who think that the weather around here never amounts to more than a few spring showers. Which is contrary to JenniferS's statement (above) that the kids never made it in to the gym. If you are both correct, I applaud the school for knowing before hand that there would be severe weather when no one else knew it. I'm curious as to why you think that the safety of the kids only falls on the school, and then when I bring up the idiot parents who were dropping them off during the storm, I get a comment like that.
I'm curious as to why you think that the safety of the kids only falls on the school, and then when I bring up the idiot parents who were dropping them off during the storm, I get a comment like that.[/quote] Since we are playing the "quote" game, where specifically did I say I did think the safety fall only on the school? I don't believe I did. I don't have an opinion since I wasn't there. I was just responding to your needlessly harsh response.
Clif, you exasperate me sometimes. Honestly, I think if you had children, you'd be more apt to understand the way a parent thinks, but I digress. When I left my house, I picked up two other children. It was getting dark and looked like it was going to storm, but there were no warnings, or at least they did not interupt regular radio programming to report it. In middle school, you do not escort your children to the door. I pulled up, watched as the girls got out, and walked into the door, where there were plenty of folks just "hanging out", and once I knew they were inside the building, left. When I say there were people hanging out, I mean students and teachers, just standing around. I could hear them laughing and talking from my car. My daughter and her friends tell me that they walked down the hallway, towards the gym, and were never allowed to enter the gym. If there was an emergency that warranted having all those kids crouching in the hallway, then it should have warranted the use of their cellphones. I heard from other parents that their children were "caught" in the bathroom trying to call thier parents and were immediatley told to hang up their phones. That's just nuts. At any rate, I've sent the email, which wasn't accusatory or nasty, but simply concerned. I'll let you know if I get a response.
