Suspension by Letter.

Walnut Hill Elementary has a new principle, but I see that the school system chose not to find a better qualified person, but again, just moved up another person who is neither qualified for the position nor shows the character and drive it takes to be a principle at a struggling City school.  Though it is only hear-say, I heard the former principle was found to not have the proper degree for the position, and furthermore, was just bad at the job...so surprise there.

So I had personal interactions with this new Principle last year.  You may have read my post about Suspending Kindergartners (http://petersburgschools.blogspot.com/2013/08/suspending-kindergartners.html)...yeah, that was her.  So, besides the Suspension, it was how it was handled that angered me the most.  My son got into some altercation, while not being properly supervised, that they could only categorize as a "Physical Altercation" because that was the only thing that seemed to fit from their preformed list of offenses...really, he just pushed a bully down and defended himself, something I wish I would have done at his age.  The event happened late on a Friday.  Though the teacher promptly wrote up the offense, the (then) assistant principle simply did not have time to handle it right away.  On the following Tuesday, my son brought a letter home, informing me of the suspension.  No one ever called and explained the situation...and here I am, 5 days later, trying to pry what happened out of a 5 year old.  Needless to say, I was very upset.  Part of my appeal process put be right across the desk from her, where I ask some hard questions.

When asked about why she didn't call me or handle the situation promptly, I was told she did not have time and had other obligations.  

When I asked about other forms of punishment, I was told they did not have resources for anything other than suspension...no ISS, no detention, no counseling..."just send them home" seems to be the "go-to" discipline.

She asked me if I "would want to be contacted in the future if there were issues?"  Really, she had to ask that?  YES!  I want to know everything I can about things like this, RIGHT AWAY, so I can make sure to do my job as a parent so that it will never happen again. 

I asked about her if she had spoken with the teacher or either child, she said no. 

With the kindness and calm demeanor of a saint, I had at her for almost 30 minutes, asking tough questions, and every question was poorly answered...and I have proof.

After all that, I still had to sit in front of the Principle to get my appeal...which was ONLY given because of the hours I spent dealing with the situation....TIME THEY should have spent DOING THEIR JOB from the moment this event happened!  This had nothing to do with race, this one was just plain "being bad at your job" and not caring.

So nice to see that our School Board and Superintendent are "Aiming for the Stars" with every principle they put into power....jeez people, at least use common sense.