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Have you called the district and complain about this .usually they have teachers and kitchen helpers in the lunch room the childern will sit there and eat then they get in line and walk to their classroom.even the prinaple is in there.it sounds like that their not doing their job and no communication there.On the first day of school my daughtler fell off the playground and cut her forhead she was ok but still the nurse did call me.The reason why suggest call the distict office because it sound like the princple in on this .
I am not real impressed with a school district that would have a SW visit my home at all. If there isn't a concrete reason like a BRUISE I don't even want a call. They might show up at my house.... I won't be opening the door. In our county, if you are reported the SW ASSUMES you are guilty.
I am a social worker and for many years I worked in Child Protective Services, a state program. CPS receives referrals based on allegedly abuse (sexual or physical) and neglect. They do not do home visits based on attendance issues.
A school social worker on the other hand does not work for CPS, he/she works for the school. Her primary responsibilities are to be a support to all children in that school which include children who have repeat tardies and other attendance issues. School SW may also work with kids with adjustment issues (i.e. divorce, death in the family, etc). When a school SW comes to the home he/she is not investigating an abuse or neglect case he/she is assessing the reason for the attendance issue. All schools should have SW and assess any issues which prevent any child from learning.
IMO, It is only October...If school started late August and she has been tardy 5 times already...that's too many times.If you were late to work five times since late August, I am sure that your boss would "write you up". I am not being judgmental. Sorry if it sounds that way.
by the way,
Yes I am a parent who has made the mistake of running late and made my child late in the process. But, I hate seeing her face of disappointment when she knows that she has to enter class after everyone has started their classwork.
the main problem is the reality gap. from your post you dont seem to think it is such a big deal.
but everybody else sees it different. the gap needs to narrow.
When my daughter was in kindergarten, we were up to 6 tardies. I felt horrible because I'm a teacher. A teacher's child should not be tardy. It just took a while to adjust to the new schedule.
My daughter's school had a very strange tardy policy. If you picked your child up before the end of the school day, it was counted as tardy. In May, the school invited parents to the Award Assembly. It ended at 2:15 (25 minutes before the end of the school day). I planned to take her out 25 minutes early and take her to my school which released at 3:30. I was told that she would get a tardy. I was forced to remain 25 minutes longer to keep from getting a tardy. I was told that getting one more tardy would result in a truancy letter. I inconvenienced a teacher who was giving up her plan to watch my class because my daughter couldn't go home 25 minutes early. She missed no instruction--I know, I was there. We stood around the class until the bell rang. I tried reasoning with an assistant principal that "tardy" is late not leaving early, but it fell on deaf ears.
A school employee wouldn't get past my front door unless she/he was invited by me. She has no authority to enter your home.
BUT, as many have said, your responsibility is to get your child to school on time. You are setting the example for your daughter. When you're lax about being on time for anything, not just school, it sends the message to a young child that promptness isn't such a big deal, so of course she isn't going to move right along in the cafeteria, what's the rush? Being late isn't a big deal.
Imagine how difficult it would be to get a schoolday started with many, many parents thinking the same way?
I live in a state where promptness is not regarded as high priority and it drives me nuts. Everybody runs late, so they drive like maniacs on the roads to get where they're going. Kids don't care if they're late, because parents don't care if they're late.
The social worker must be awful busy going to the homes of those kids who get to eat longer, because they don't at home....or are they exempt from tardies too????
Hey, everyone. The OP posted this back in March. Sometimes I miss that stuff, too. Anyway, just pointing this out. Maybe it'll be of use to others. Just don't expect the OP to participate. Surely, hopefully, she's resolved everything and has moved on. Cheers.
Hey, everyone. The OP posted this back in March. Sometimes I miss that stuff, too. Anyway, just pointing this out. Maybe it'll be of use to others. Just don't expect the OP to participate. Surely, hopefully, she's resolved everything and has moved on. Cheers.
actually I didnt pay any attention to the date intell after reply
Last year my son's school handbook stated that "children arriving to school after 8:45 will be considered tardy"
Therefore, I thought school started at 8:45 or later. Each day I dropped him off to school (I ended his riding on the school bus when I realized that they were picking him up at 7:20 and school didn't start till 8:45. I saw no reason for him to spend an hour on the bus and half hour sitting around before school instead of sleeping later, eating longer, and having longer to get dressed). So anyway, everyday he was dropped off sometime before 8:45. Sometimes 8:30 most often 8:35 but as winter got worse we slipped to 8:40, 8:42, 8:44, etc. on several occasions. He only arrived after 8:45 about 4 or 5 times the whole year, and I know this because if your child arrives after 8:45 they must be walked in.
Point is, the first report card showed 5 tardies. Hmmmm... "wow did I bring him late that many times? don't think so, that is weird". Second report card, shows 7 tardies "what the heck is going on, I KNOW I didn't bring him in 7 times, even including the dentist appt and one dr appointment" but since it wasn't being held against him, it slipped my mind to call the school. Third report card 9 tardies. Now at this point I had caught on and made SURE he NEVER arrived after 8:45 that marking period. So I called the school to see what the hell was going on. The secretary says, "well, they have to be at their desk when attendence is taken at 8:45" I said, whoooooaaaaaaa, back up a minute here. I quoted the school handbook and told here there is a big difference between arriving after 8:45 and being in your SEAT at 8:45. Of course a kid who arrives at 8:43 is not going to make it to his class, take off his coat, change from the boots that are nota llowed in his class to his sneaks, put his folder out for the teacher, get his lunchbox put away and get into his seat in 2 minutes. Not going to happen. Had I known this, he would have been getting to school a lot earlier. I told her the handbook needed to be changed because those were two totally different things, arriving after 8:45 and being in their seat at 8:45. she said that they were going to change that for the next year's handbook.
This year, in second grade, the teacher pretty much requested that any kid being dropped off should be dropped off "as close to 8:30 as possible, since that is when the bus kids arrive, and the child won't inturrupt the class coming in after that."
While I think that is unfair expect kids to be dropped off at school when it doesn't start till 8:45, just because the bus kids are already there (we have a crazy bussing situation here, another story), I appreciated her telling me this, so I can now easily get him there for 8:30 and be done with it.
I expect ZERO tardies this marking period. And if there is even ONE, I will go to bat over it.
Never once did the school call me or write to me about the tardies. (If they had, we would have rectified the situation immediately)
As for the school calling social services over tardies, first off I would have called the prinicpal and insisted that he/she delete the tardies where the kid wasn't escorted out of the cafeteria. those tardies are just plain ridiculous, once you get your kid to school at that age, other than them dawdling in the hallway, it is 100% the school's responsibility to get the kid out of the caf and down to the class on time. they sure as hell don't wait around for the kid to pack up and get out on time at the end of the day. Then I would have made damn sure the kid was never late again, thereby avoiding the visits from the social worker altogether.
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