Posted on 01/20/2005 4:49:01 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
SYRACUSE NY--When Lynnee Westbrook thinks about what her son went through her eyes well up. She says her two children take the school bus everyday, so she can't understand why the vice principal at McKinley Brighton told her 5-year-old son to walk home.
Under school policy, students must live more than a mile and a half to be bused. School spokesperson Neil Driscoll says Kevin is listed as a walker and lives on Newell Street, a block away from the school. Westbrook says they actually live on West Brighton Avenue and she doesn't know how the school got that information. She says her son walked several blocks to his daycare, where he gets dropped off after school.
"My baby who is 5-years-old who never walked anywhere a day in his life has to cross over major intersections to get to school to daycare. I felt that was very unacceptable," Westbrook said.
Westbrook says when she contacted the school, the vice principal had no knowledge of her child and said her son may have gotten confused with another conversation she was having with an older student.
"What's the need for him to walk? Why wasn't I informed? If he if missed his bus or whatever, you know that was my point. Nobody contacted me or they didn't contact emergency contact," Westbrook said.
"It was cold and my stuff was falling down, and I had to put my gloves in my book bag. I put my hands in my pocket," said Kevin Jennings, 5-year-old forced to walk home.
Kevin's mom says she wants to get to the bottom of what went wrong. Westbrook says she plans to get to the bottom of this during a meeting with the vice principal of the school Thursday.
Great, what a relief. / sarcasm
Here's an idea. Stop hurling insults at parents who choose not to play the statistics game with their children.
No :) Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not seeing perverts behind every bush, though I know they're out there. I was also thinking about MVAs. I wouldn't let a 5 year old cross a street unaccompanied, either.
Exactly.
Let me -- the parent -- make the decision. You just stick to teaching. When you get that part right, then, maybe...just maybe, I might think about letting you compare notes with me.
Oops. Hit send instead of return. I had more to my point.
I can see your point that you wouldn't let him walk home alone. I can't really disagree.
However, there is also a question of an appropriate reaction once it happened.
Here, the mother might be justified to complain to the school, but instead she is parading her child around and acting in a manner that, basically, tells the child "oooh, you poor little thing, your almost died, make sure you stay upset."
She sent a message to the child to whine. She should have been brave in front of her kid and, if need be, ripped the teacher a new one in private.
Wow...a coal mine AND snow in Southern California. And they call it the "good ole' days!" :)
Here's an idea. Stop hurling insults at parents who choose not to play the statistics game with their children
*needed repeating and exactly right*
Here's another idea, round up the parents of kidnapped and murdered children and tell them it's ok, it's just a small statistic that your kid got killed.
I drove my kids to school all the way through highschool, or I walked with them.
I completely understand where this lady is coming from since I've been there
One day, my 5 year old kindergartener, somehow was let out of class one hour early. I drove by the school headin to the market. I saw him sitting in the park on a bench with no supervision. School was still in session. They school was clueless, and anyone could have kidnapped him.
Scared the hell out of me.
We live on a main street in my neighborhood. My kids don't play in the front yard without supervision. It's just too easy for a sicko to grab one of them and be gone in seconds.
When I was coming up (I escaped high school in '86), no one inside two miles of the school got a bus ride.
With all due respect, you DO play the statistics game with your child. Every parent does.
For example: Every time you get the behind the wheel of your car with your child in it, there is a possiblity that an accident will occur and your child will die or be injured.
But you still drive.
Why? Because you consider the liklihood of that happening too remote.
Similarly, children die or get injured playing in sports every year. But your probably still let your child play sports.
Why? Again, you consider the likelihood of it happening too remote.
And the list goes on and on.
So, like it or not, you are playing the statistics game with your child everytime you let him or her out the front door.
Oh, on the train tracks of course. Once I slipped and a trian chopped off the toes on my right foot. I crawled over to a fire some Hobos had and cauterized the wound and then hobbled on to school. When I got home I sat in front of the fire in our log cabin and carved myself some new toes out of an Oak knot. Oak knots make very good toes you know.
My daughter is 17 and very short and cute. We drive her everywhere and she does not walk around town by herself.
And yes, we are overprotective. All it takes is one nutcase.
My nomination for quote of the day..... !
Well, if she ripped the teacher a new one in public it might accomplish more. I care less about how the mother acted than how that child was treated by the school.
"Why would anyone put a 5 year-old on a bus?"
No doubt. We have a five year old and I could not imagine letting him be shuttled around town without our supervision.
I think, the problem with most parents and "statistics" is that a broken leg in a football game is quite a bit different than a sodomized and murdered child.
Just because the statistics are low for a child to be kidnapped and murdered, does that mean we shouldn't minimize the risk whenever possible?
Your judgment of other parents is irrelevant, it's what you do with your own children that matters.
I don't think it's parenting so much as it's fear. This whole thread demonstrates that there is a LOT of fear in our society. People talking about minimizing risks, predators, and all that. GEEZ.... the risk is low that I'll die in a carwreck... but maybe I should stay home tomorrow to minimize the risk. Keep my wife and kids at home. We'll just board ourselves up in the house and be safe. Probably turn off the electricity because that can start fires.
I'm not sure hauling our kids all over creation in the back of a SUV while they watch DVD's of spongebobsquarepants or something is really effective parenting. Maybe it is...
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