school quandry

[SewTexas]

honestly what on earth is a second grader going to know about her father and his gun buying habits???? much less if his does it via the internet???

friggin idiots!!!

I'd be so mamma bear on them they wouldn't know what'd hit 'em!
(the doctors at BAMC call me a bulldozer, I'll plow through whatever I have to get the right care for my in-laws....so now my friends when they need heal will say "it's time to unleash the Bulldozer" mamma bears/bulldozers whatever, we can get the job done)

[jmra]

My son was asked, as best I can determine, if we had guns - how many - and did he know where they were.

The other child in question was asked very specifically about her dad buying and selling on FB.

I think I would have a meeting with whoever did the asking and tell them if they want to know something all they have to do is ask me. Then every time they asked me a question about guns I would answer with a very offensive question such as "So, exactly how long have you found 3rd graders attractive?"
I think they will get the message pretty quickly.

If I were the father of the girl I would be asking about what other questions/pictures/actions have you exposed my daughter to that she was told not to tell her parents about. Sounds like the actions of a pedophile to me.

[stevie_d_64]

And we pay for this intrusiveness with the tax dollars they generate???

Anything short of suspected or physical evidence of physical or sexual abuse outside the school is borderline, at best, their good samaritan duty to report it to credible investigators and let them take it from there...It is not their job to violate your 4th amendment rights to illegal, much less unsubstanciated need to inquire to the environment at home of your kids, by asking your kids about guns in the home, or other factors which are arbitrarily determined by these nervous ninnies to be dangerous to them, much less the school...If they fear a parent getting angry about something, then they have the means to keep most parents happy if they actually do the job they are supposed to do...

Anyone want to take a stab at what that may actually be???

I mean, we certainly do no have kids in the system, but I know a lot of folks here do...I would make it very clear to the adminstration at your kids schools that "when", not "if", (we know they'll try it) there is a push to delve into the "none of their business" agenda these school districts like to make glancing blows at these days...I would very clearly state, and back it up in writing that no inquiries to the home life of your children will be tolerated!!! A constituency Zero-Tolerance policy...

If that doesn't work...A very simple message can be delivered to the local school board to make you demands heard loud and clear...

If you want your schools back...This is a perfect opportunity...

There is NO excuse for them to do this...

Just my opinion...

[OldGrumpy]

Are you saying the kids were interrogated about access to firearms in your home and shown pics of your FB page? Then were told not to say anything to their parents about the interrogation?
If so, time to open up a can, brother.

A BIG CAN. IMHO they just broke the law by interrogating your child without you or a lawyer present, then wanted to cover it up by telling them not to say anything to the parents.

it's debatable....the school will claim...ohhh what's the term...parentis locum???....something like that....they will also claim they were trying to determine if the kids were in danger.

DO NOT misunderstand me...the school was WRONG!!!! I'm saying what the school will say....y'al know how I feel about government schools...

I'm interested to see what happens here...I wouldn't have expected this in Abilene.

Unfortunately, the teachers in Abilene are trained at the same Liberal drinking fountain as the teachers in all of the other cities in this State. I doubt that you can find one higher education institution anywhere that specializes in teacher training that doesn't have a huge Liberal slant.[/quote

I have to disagree with you on that one. I don't post the name of my workplace but I do work for a university where conservative Christian values are taught to our Education majors.

[MotherBear]

However, you might want to ask yourself, why the idea of people knowing about your activities on facebook worry you because that is coloring your perspective.

Maybe because it's none of their business? And none of the OP's child's business? I don't post anything on my Facebook page that I'm not comfortable with, but not all of it is stuff I would expose my children to at this time. For example, I recently shared an article about the Gosnell trial. It was graphic and disturbing because of the nature of the subject matter. I don't tell my kids (all under 5) about that kind of thing yet, and I would be mad as all heck if someone I entrusted with the care of my children pulled that up and started asking them about Mommy's opinions on abortion. If they want they can come talk to me about what I post, but leave my kids out of it.

I'm not saying that gun-related activities are inappropriate for school-aged children (we talk to our kids about guns a lot for safety reasons), but I would object to the assumption by the school personnel that something a parent posted on Facebook is necessarily something that should be brought up to the kids without first clearing it with the parent. Besides, exactly how is it relevant to anything they're supposed to be doing at school?

What would really, REALLY infuriate me, though, is telling the kids not to tell their parents. I already tell my kids that if an adult or a big kid ever tells them to keep something a secret from their daddy or me (and it's not something like a surprise party), they need to tell me right away because good grown-ups don't ever ask kids to keep secrets from their parents. This is something I tell them to protect them against predators, and I don't want some idiot of a teacher to be undermining that.

As has already been said, I'm glad we're homeschooling. If it were me in this situation, I would be talking to the person who talked to my kids, their boss, their boss's boss, and everyone in line all the way up to the superintendent and school board until I got some satisfactory answers -- and if I didn't get them, there would be heck to pay. I'd look into the laws about questioning children away from their parents, and if there was anything actionable I think I would very seriously consider pursuing it. In fact, you might even talk to a group like the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and see if they can point you to any good legal resources. I know you don't homeschool, but they're very active in parental rights issues and they deal a lot with social workers trying to interview kids without parents' consent, etc.

[chasfm11]

Unfortunately, the teachers in Abilene are trained at the same Liberal drinking fountain as the teachers in all of the other cities in this State. I doubt that you can find one higher education institution anywhere that specializes in teacher training that doesn't have a huge Liberal slant.

I have to disagree with you on that one. I don't post the name of my workplace but I do work for a university where conservative Christian values are taught to our Education majors.

I'm glad that there is at least one such place. Perhaps there is another or even a couple of more. But the preponderance of education oriented schools do NOT represent Christian values in my experience I don't know how many education majors your school graduates but it would need to be 10% or more of the total across the country to have any effect. I graduated from a PA State university and it concentrated on training teachers. It and all of the others like it in that system are run by flaming Liberals. I haven't seen much difference in the public universities here in Texas.

A good friend of mine got his doctorate in music and wanted to teach in a university. He is an excellent musician and a wonderful teacher. Unfortunately, he was also a Conservative. He finally got hired by deferring on answers to any questions about his political beliefs. He will never be able to come out of the Conservative closet as long as he has that position. And he is teaching in a non-Blue State. At least for me, there is little difference between Hollywood and US higher education. The Conservatives who are open are persecuted.

[MamaK]

My son was asked, as best I can determine, if we had guns - how many - and did he know where they were.

The other child in question was asked very specifically about her dad buying and selling on FB.

you should consider training him to say "In the basement, with the lotion."

[Lucky]

Maybe the parents should ask the school board why the teacher is looking at gun websites at school.

[rotor]

Why don't you let us know what the situation is after you talk to the teachers and find out what they really asked. Be aware that this type of questioning is becoming standard in medicine too. Almost every electronic health record has questions about firearms in the house. And these records will all be peeked at by the feds in their control of every aspect of our lives. Tell your doc to just put NA in each spot. And finally, why does anyone want to parade their life on facebook?

[MamaK]

I'm glad that there is at least one such place. Perhaps there is another or even a couple of more. But the preponderance of education oriented schools do NOT represent Christian values in my experience I don't know how many education majors your school graduates but it would need to be 10% or more of the total across the country to have any effect. I graduated from a PA State university and it concentrated on training teachers. It and all of the others like it in that system are run by flaming Liberals. I haven't seen much difference in the public universities here in Texas.

I always say that I left PA because I was sick of shoveling snow but it was something else. My public TX university was branded as being Christian terrorists because of one disgruntled (also unqualified) former adjunct. I have to say that while I attended it was a warm, nurturing environment - our President held National Prayer Day (she's still an amazing lady.). I see the results of being too liberal in future generations. Somehow the path traveled towards freeing our minds, like an opened Pandora's box, also released our social manners. (I am equally guilty of this loss..)

@Lucky
Yes! Thats just a wonky line of questioning for a teacher to ask (along the same lines of asking what kind of nightgown mommy wears....etc)

[JP171]

Are you saying the kids were interrogated about access to firearms in your home and shown pics of your FB page? Then were told not to say anything to their parents about the interrogation?
If so, time to open up a can, brother.

A BIG CAN. IMHO they just broke the law by interrogating your child without you or a lawyer present, then wanted to cover it up by telling them not to say anything to the parents.

it's debatable....the school will claim...ohhh what's the term...parentis locum???....something like that....they will also claim they were trying to determine if the kids were in danger.

DO NOT misunderstand me...the school was WRONG!!!! I'm saying what the school will say....y'al know how I feel about government schools...

I'm interested to see what happens here...I wouldn't have expected this in Abilene.

how about in loco parentis, meaning in the stead(absence) of the parents, but that isn't grounds for telling the children not to tell mommy and daddy and cannot be used as a basis for defense of violation of the law.

[SewTexas]

A BIG CAN. IMHO they just broke the law by interrogating your child without you or a lawyer present, then wanted to cover it up by telling them not to say anything to the parents.

it's debatable....the school will claim...ohhh what's the term...parentis locum???....something like that....they will also claim they were trying to determine if the kids were in danger.

DO NOT misunderstand me...the school was WRONG!!!! I'm saying what the school will say....y'al know how I feel about government schools...

I'm interested to see what happens here...I wouldn't have expected this in Abilene.

how about in loco parentis, meaning in the stead(absence) of the parents, but that isn't grounds for telling the children not to tell mommy and daddy and cannot be used as a basis for defense of violation of the law.

that's the term I was looking for, thanks.
I was only referring to RP saying that the school had broken the law by talking to the kids without the parents.

[SewTexas]

SRO....

I asked my teens how the school would have known to talk with your kids in the first place....basically what they said was:
you have probably "liked or friended" the school and a gun page or three. Then someone from the school had to have spent some time browsing EVERY person/parent/student who had "liked" their page and looked at their likes/friends/groups because of the changes FB made recently those can't be closed anymore. They say that is the only way.


Now....I have a problem with MY tax dollars paying for someone to spent how much time on FACEBOOK???? spying on parents????? I think you need to contact your Texas rep and Senator! as well as a lawyer! maybe the newpaper and tv? chances are you aren't the only families involved in this, just the only ones you know of, I bet there are a couple of families out there scared to death feeling alone.

[MotherBear]

Now....I have a problem with MY tax dollars paying for someone to spent how much time on FACEBOOK???? spying on parents????? I think you need to contact your Texas rep and Senator! as well as a lawyer! maybe the newpaper and tv? chances are you aren't the only families involved in this, just the only ones you know of, I bet there are a couple of families out there scared to death feeling alone.

Don't skip the school board and superintendent. They're an important step in this. And here's the deal -- how many people voted in the last school board election in your district? Odds are good, your vote carries a LOT of weight. Your representative and senator may care too, but the school board guys know that if they tick you off and you start talking and you get people mad enough to vote, their odds of reelection start to get pretty slim. Show up at their next meeting and bring up the issue. Bring some friends if you have other folks who will support you on the issue. You can make a pretty big impression, because those meetings are usually dull and poorly attended unless they're redrawing the school boundaries or something. I used to work for a small town newspaper and I can tell you that actually showing up at those meetings is a great way to make your point. They know you care if you go in person on a weekday evening when you have plenty of better things to do. Also, if your paper covers school board meetings, you may get some media attention because odds are good you're more interesting than the update on the carpet budget for the new middle school. And you have a lot more legitimacy if a reporter sees you at the meeting and approaches you after you've shared your concerns than if you call the paper and demand they run a story.