do schools have the right

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2009
do schools have the right
1050
Sun, 09-20-2009 - 3:52pm

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2006
Tue, 10-06-2009 - 7:28pm

i suppose.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2009
Tue, 10-06-2009 - 7:37pm

You have not acknowledged that sometimes cell batteries die, the cell phone is forgotten or misplaced and in some areas and spots there is no cell reception.

So yes those are 3 numbers that you can be reached at but if you are not home you are not getting the message. If your cell phone has any of the above problems, you are not being reached. I don't know what the 3rd number is, your workplace or place for volunteering? But if you are not there you are not reached.

So the scenario numerous people have brought up that is totally plausible is what if you are out & about (at a store, driving whatever) and have your cell phone, but it has one of the above problems and you do not get the call. Your dh is unavailable at work for some reason (out at a meeting, not available because of a meeting, whatever).

In that case, you would rather your school not do anything for your bleeding child and wait to get instructions from you as to what hospital to take he/she to and get medical permission to examine him/her until whenever it is that you do get the message?

"It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them." Caron de Beaumarchais

In the frequently relevant (to so many debates on Ivillage) words of Inigio Montoya from The Princess Bride "You keep using that

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2009
Tue, 10-06-2009 - 7:47pm

I think that there are too many variable to make an in general statement.

It still all comes down to who has more constant access to a phone.


"what i have taken to debate is the notion that a parent is unavailable for multiple hours. that's never been a situation IME and of many SAHMS i know."

I have no doubt that statement is true about you and the people you know but the debate is not only about you and the people you know.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Tue, 10-06-2009 - 8:23pm

"IME if i'm volunteering and a true emergency happened with another child,i know i could leave as have others i know!"

Just like a wohp is able leave his/her job.

But if you are volunteering an hour or two away from the school- a neighbor or woh spouse could get there faster!

One of my sah friends is on a state political committee- she frequently is hours away from school during the day to attend one meeting or another. Some volunteer positions are not so easy to get away from as a wohp's job is. If you are a volunteer fire fighter and you are putting out a fire- you can't just drop the hose to go to the school. If you are a ER nurse- you can't leave your post to pick up your child from school. If you work in an office down the street from the school, you probably can drop everything and get to the school in 5 minutes.

My point is that sah/woh status doesn't really indicate a person's availability. Sometimes a job or volunteer activity (or just plain old shopping trip to the outlet mall an hour and a half away) impedes a person's ability to go to the school fast- and sometimes a person's job or volunteer activity does not.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2009
Tue, 10-06-2009 - 9:15pm

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I doubt the school personnel would drive to my office and drag me out of a meeting ... the people on my contact list would do that if needed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Tue, 10-06-2009 - 10:05pm

Maybe *you* being a SAHM makes you more available, but it doesn't make all SAHMs available. I routinely exercise an hour/hour and a half at the gym w/o access to my cell phone. There are also times when I've accidentally left my cell phone at home. I've also been in places where I had no reception. My mother tried to call me once while babysitting for me when I was getting my haircut but I never got the call due to poor reception. For two hours, I was unreachable and didn't even know it. There have been several times people have called me and I had my phone on me but didn't hear it ring. For some reason, my phone doesn't always indicate that I have a voicemail or missed call so I don't even realize it.

In fact, dh is typically more available than me via cellphone b/c of the nature of his job. He practically sleeps with his phone.

In fact, I can think of at least two occasions where the school called me for non-emergency things but I didn't get the calls right away. For one of them, I was on a field trip and had my phone turned off b/c it was required. I didn't get the message until we got on the bus home several hours later. Another time, I had my phone, but never heard it ring. The school nurse called to tell me my son got hit in the head with a door and had a bruise but he was fine. I didn't get the call until an hour later when I happened to pick up my phone to make a call and saw that I had a missed call/message.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2009
Wed, 10-07-2009 - 12:39am

I'm on the emergency contact list for my ex's younger two kids. I (and my son) have a limited power of attorney to make emergency medical decisions for the kids; we've had that POA for close to 8 years now. Ex and his wife invoked it when they were going away for a week and John and I were going to watch the kids while they were gone, and there's never been any reason to revoke it, since it's a good precautionary document should there ever be a daytime emergency at the schools.

Since, after all, I'm much more available to go to the school during the day and address such an emergency than they are. Especially since 9/11. We've blended our emergency evacuation plans--in the event of a similar emergency to 9/11 where the DC area had to evacuate, I'm to load up my cats, stack the supplies for me and the cats in the front hall, and head to the schools to pick up the ex's kids (and the ex's pick up truck, transfer all of us into that) and then head west immediately.

John will stop by my house and his to pick up our supplies and then he heads west. Ex and his wife will either find a place to meet if possible and if not, they'll head west immediately.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2009
Wed, 10-07-2009 - 5:25am

when my friend and I were at a science teacher convention in Atlanta (2004) we were having lunch and she got a call on her cell that one of her aunts (i believe) was taken really, really ill -- and she HAD to get home. However, she had to wait until the next morning to get a flight out of the airport -- and then the travel time home.


When ex and I were at a concert one night (no cell service IN the building) we came out to find that, in fact, there were FOUR missed calls.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2009
Wed, 10-07-2009 - 5:33am

there is no need to be sorry. the school nurse is a professional and there to do her job. I WANT her to do her job -- whether a kid has fallen off the monkey bars or a child has a sudden drop of oxygen level -- call 9-1-1 and THEN call the parents/emergency contact person.


I'd be highly upset and suspicious of any health professional who called me BEFORE assessing the situation and the medical care needed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Wed, 10-07-2009 - 9:31am

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Yep, the same is true in my son's school, very different policies between elementary and middle/high school.

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PumpkinAngel

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