Needing to Vent

Consider this, why would the principal of a very busy school, who has to take time out of her busy schedule want to go to court and LIE about a child, what gain is that... I think you have to consider something, as a school, if they have low attendance, they may be required by their school district to explain why. Moreover, as a former foster kid, I tend to be VERY suspicious of parents whose child is out a lot. Not because I don't believe the child is sick (afterall, my own son had childhood Asthma) but..... a child with such severe Asthma, seems to me that as a parent, if I couldn't reach the principal, I'd have driven up to the school and made an appointment IN person, this way there is no miscommunication..
Also, you don't know for sure that the principal was unavailable for his parents, that is hearsay. Personally, something doesn't seem right here, kids aren't turned over to the state just like that, the state has to be very careful what it does because it knows it can be sued, as can the school. Somewhere in all this, I wonder IF the child's parents are telling you everything... you'd be surprise what my foster mother/father got away with under the radar.. on the outside, it looked all nice, but at home... ugly and very dark things were taking place..
IF the court felt this child needing protecting, I do think there must be a reason. things aren't always what they seem.
what you can do now is just be supportive to your nephew...

You can vent away.

So what are they going to do to fight this?
IF this has gone down the way you described, I cannot think of one parent that would not fight this with all of their might.

I would be gathering all of my documented communications with the school. All emails, all copies of written notes about absences (They can ask to see all of the copies of the schools records on this boy) , a notarized copy from the Hospital the doctors, etc. with the medical statements about his condition..

I would have other parents write out statements and have them notarized also stating their experiences with this Principal this campus this school.

The staff a the school can make statements.
No one, even the state can just take a child without a LOT of proof.

And FYI, It costs this school district a whole lot more money to go through all of this than they would have made if this child were in class. I do not think this is about federal money.

This is something else going on. And either whoever is sharing this with you is not telling you everything, or maybe did not realize this was such a big deal after all, but I am going to guess, you have not really heard the entire story.

Again. I would never just accept lies, slander and having this end up with
"the state "owns" him so to speak!"

Honestly, if this was your child and this happened, would you just accept this?

So a "standing order" from a hospital was not good enough for the judge?

Was that order ever entered into evidence? If not, why not? Why were only the juvenile officer and the principal allowed to speak? Is that normal? Did the boy's family have NO representation there? If not, why not? There are a lot of strange holes here. As others posting have noted -- this just doesn't sound right on a lot of levels.

He's your nephew -- and you sound like a very positively involved aunt, which is great. But I'm confused; does he live with you? You mention that he lives with his parents but also say that you were trying to contact the school about him--? I'm not clear if you or his parents were the ones trying to deal with this, and if his parents are in the picture, are you sure you have all the facts from his parents?

Did the parents and you document every single contact? Keep and print out every email you sent and received? Made a note of every call made and received, every message left that was not returned? If you did, I'd get a lawyer to fight this. There should have been a lawyer involved the moment the court was involved, frankly.

I find it odd that a child who clearly has a serious medical condition, serious enough that a children's hospital has been involved in his care and issued a written statement for the school, was not treated far better. That's why I wonder if the parents really had only seven unexcused days. And what is the number of unexcused days that triggers a court actually taking custody of a child? That too seems weirdly excessive -- removing legal custody over school absences for a child for whom there is medical evidence of a need to stay home. Was that memo from the hospital ever invoked by the parents? Did they or you get the doctors to contact the school in writing? If not -- why not?

This all sounds frankly fishy. Maybe the principal is in serious trouble otherwise -- maybe her superintendent/boss is after her hide for a lot of excessive absenteeism overall, and she just making an example of your nephew. That's wrong of course; what else do you and the parents plan to do other than asking to homeschool?

The sad thing is that a bright kid who clearly makes good grades and can work on his own is being treated this way, but there are also holes in the overall picture that make it odd. Taking custody is a serious step and not one usually associated with absenteeism where there is a mitigating circumstance -- and we've had cases in our area of parents being taken to court over absentee kids, but it never had this kind of outcome.

This sounds like a terrible situation, and like you have every right to vent! Wow.

As much as I hold people who work in education in high esteem overall, there are some very bad apples out there, and this principal may be one of them.

However, as others have said, I think you'll be more effective in this situation if you double-check some of your assumptions. Schools don't get money for every day when a child walks in the door. Schools CAN be sanctioned (penalized) if they have a serious and documented problem with truancy, but it's unlikely this is a cash grab. That's just not the ways schools are set up. I say this not to question or criticize you -- at all -- but because if you want to help in this situation, you need to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the whole picture. Right now, honestly, your account of the situation doesn't really hold up. But if you direct some of your frustration and concern to really understanding the situation, you can make a huge, huge difference in the lives of many kids.

And? Lawyer. This little boy's parents need one. Yesterday. A lawyer can subpoena the schools' efforts to contact the parents, can provide documentation for where the parents were when the school was supposedly trying reach them -- can really lay the whole thing to rest very swiftly, if it unfolded the way you describe it. But that takes a lawyer. You CAN'T represent yourself in court, any more than you can give yourself open-heart surgery.

You might be right and you might be wrong. You can't say you know the principal didn't try to contact the parents on numerous occasions just because you had a tough time getting an appointment to meet with her. That is like saying my dog is black so all dogs are black.

I'm sorry your nephew is in this position. I hope everything works out for the best.

I don't know. 28 days is an AWFUL lot of days to be absent. The school year isn't even over yet. Two of my children suffer from severe asthma, and I have begrudgingly taken to giving them preventative meds to ensure that allergy season, viruses, and other triggers don't cause their asthma to keep them out of school for too long.

In my children's school, an absence isn't considered unexcused just because the sick child wasn't taken to the doctor.

I'm not saying that the principal didn't lie. She probably did. She sounds incompetent. I'm just saying that it must be difficult for the state to determine whether or not the parents have been negligent in this case. Thank goodness they still have physical custody of your nephew, although the state has stepped in. It sounds like they are trying to do what is in the best interests of your nephew.

This must be so incredibly stressful for your nephew and his parents. I hope they continue to fight this. Who knows what other parents will face this same situation with the principal if it is not addressed correctly now. Good luck to everyone involved.

eeeeeeek!
i'd be venting too!
i sure hope this has a happy ending!
:X
khairete
S.

I'm glad he at least is still home. The state likely won't interfere much on a daily basis. But curious - why 7 unexcused absences?...

Ugh. I'm sorry.
There are misguided people in the world.
There are stupid people on the world.
There are people with no conscience in the world.
And there are malicious, evil, mentally imbalanced people in the world.

Have this child's parents spoken to an attorney?

It happens all the time. They need their job just like everyone else.

We took our kids out of the best school in the area because the principle took a dislike to my daughter. It was the principles first year there. She even called her names and told the other kids to not be friends with her. It was really sad.

This child should have been home-schooled sooner, hindsight of course. I don't like homeschooling per say but I know in this instance kiddo might have done better not being exposed to all the stuff at school, mentally and physically.

I have asthma, thankfully under much better control than when I was a kid. When you are young, your lungs are a lot weaker. With that, I missed like 42 days in one school year, per my old report card.

Personally, if I were the parents, I would look up the laws just to be sure they are doing everything correctly. There are truancy laws for your state. Look them up, read them, and know your rights.

If they are wrong, fight back.