I just need to vent.
My son is a junior in high school. He has had straight A’s
for his entire school career, and his high school GPA is 4.21. As of right this
minute, he does not have below a 94% in any of his classes. He is also in band –
marching band, pep band, and jazz band, plus he tutors the band kids at the
junior high two days a week. He is an Eagle Scout and a cadet officer in Civil
Air Patrol. He is a licensed pilot and certified in SCUBA, and frequently does
search and rescue operations utilizing these skills. Needless to say, he is
BUSY, and scheduling activities with him takes some effort.
We took trips this fall to visit the colleges he’s
interested in attending. Going during the summer wasn’t an option due to other
activities my son had planned; he was home for exactly five days over the
summer break. I worked hard to organize these trips to miss as little school as
possible – usually only a Friday or Monday. However, on two of the trips, our
flights were delayed or cancelled due to weather, and he missed an extra day of
school. I promptly contacted the school to clear his absences, he made up the
work, life went on. He then had to miss a portion of three school days leading
up to his pilot’s license oral exam/check ride. I informed the school, and he
worked with his teachers. He has missed all or a portion of 9 days of school this year.
This morning I got a call from the county probation officer
assigned to the school district, informing me my son is a habitual truant and a
hearing will be scheduled with the District Attorney’s office where I can
explain why I shouldn’t be fined $500 for my son’s truancy. I am beyond upset –
I feel like I’ve failed my kid, after all the work he’s put in to school and
other activities, and now he’s been labeled a truant just like some kid
ditching class to smoke pot behind the McDonald’s. And I’m pissed at the school
district – if he had been on the football team, he would have missed the same
number of days of school, but it all would have been excused. Because my son’s
activities are not organized by the school, the absences are “unexcused” – it’s
as if I never called. And I feel like the school MUST have better things to do
than police my child. Trust me, nobody does a better job of that than I do.
Ugh.