More Tales from Florida Public Schools

Yesterday was Read Across America Day. I celebrated this great event by participating as a guest reader in my son's first grade classroom. It was while I was at the school participating in this great event that my eldest son (who attends the same school) fell ill. The school was unable to reach me by phone to inform me that BB was sick. It also apparently went unnoticed that I was ALREADY on school grounds. So, my son sat in the clinic for three hours. I read to my son's first grade class, I talked to his teacher, I tried to keep H from reducing the school to a pile of rubble and slalomed with the double stroller through the halls to avoid adorable germ infested children breathing on TLL. All of this transpired while BB was camped out in the clinic.

Shortly before the end of the school day, I headed to the main office to sign myself and the children out. I decided that after having my 6 year old pick out the one and only Dr. Seuss book I had never seen before for me to read to his class, I deserved some ice cream, and I was going to take the kids home with me (they usually ride the bus) and stop at our favorite gelato place on the way. The SAME woman who checked me in, informed me that my oldest son had spent the entire day in the clinic and had been picked up moments before by his uncle. WHAT????

This woman then proceeded to actually chastise me because they did not have a current number on file for me. I was rather politely incredulous because the clinic calls me ALL THE TIME to pick up my hypochondriac daughter. When I pointed this out, they were good enough to look at the contact information cards, which had been updated for my daughter, but not for my sons. Why not for the boys? I guess someone at the office dropped the ball. This woman even told me that she had called EVERYONE on the contact list several times and left many messages. Not true. NOT TRUE. I have listed ten people that can and will pick up my children in the event of an emergency. They called the first two, and then waited for a return phone call. For THREE hours!

The clinic/office didn't check his brother or sister's cards. They didn't ask my son's teacher for my number. They didn't ask LB or JB if they knew my number. They didn't call everyone on the call list. If they had, they would have found that my Grandparents were home, my aunt was at home, my stepson was home, etc. Any of those people could have given them my new cell number, even though it wouldn't have done any good because it doesn't work inside the school. All of those people knew that I was going to be at the school yesterday and they could have suggested that they try the loudspeaker. I know that the school never tried any of these people because I called them and asked. I asked them to please check their messages and their caller id's. They all reported back that no the school hadn't called, yes they were home all day, yes they checked their messages, and yes they checked their caller id...no school.

What was the kicker? When I asked which uncle picked him up...they couldn't tell me. They misplaced the card and so they couldn't have the uncle sign him out. In fact, they had no way of knowing if he was even authorized to pick my son up. I mean really? Really?

I simply cannot wait for the principal to get around to returning my phone call this morning.