Monday, October 23, 2006

Interrupted in the middle of ...

The High School here called us about Chella's recent absences. They were not going to be excused because she has already used her THREE parent excuses for this year. THREE !!! That's it ? She is allowed only three parent notes in one year.

We called the school, and the school board, and the state office. The Asst. Principal at the HS wasn't available, and everything seemed to point to him as the person with which to begin.

So, I began composing a great email to him about this whole situation .. Here is what I got:

Mr. XXXXXX,

I am Chelsea XXXXXX's step-father. We were called by the school and informed that her absences on Thursday and Friday will not be excused and she will not be allowed to make up the work, because she has used her three parent note excuses for the year.

Chelsea has asthma and severe allergies. She is very prone to upper respiratory infections, such as colds, flu, bronchitis, pneumonia, and a host of other respiratory ailments. We do not take her to the doctor for every sniffle or fever. My wife has dealt with this situation with Chelsea for nearly 16 years, and is best qualified to determine when a DR visit is warranted. Your own policy, which does not allow her to be at the school when running a fever over 99°, means she will miss school at times that she does not need to go to the DR.

We need to resolve this issue. Chelsea is an extremely bright student, but will fail no matter how hard she tries if she is not allowed to make up her work.

It is in her medical file at school about her asthma. It is a established fact. We can get a note from her DR stating what infections she is likely to get, and that everyone of them does not require medical attention.

I realize that each district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky has the right to set their own polices concerning absences and what will or will not be accepted as excused. However, these policies should have some semblance of rationality. A normal child will contract more than 3 colds a year.

I got this far into my brilliant email, and he called us back .. dang it .. and I was on a roll .......

Oh yeah, my DR appt is at 1:40 pm.

1 comment:

Retro Girl said...

Hope the school folks will come to their senses and listen to reason. That kinda stuff is ridiculous - they need to be more understanding!

Hope all is well with your tummy. Hope it's nothing serious!!

We luv ya!

redtro