As an education reporter, I write a lot of stories about kids in schools.
Duh.
Well, I'm still constantly amazed at the parents out there who act as immature as their offspring. At the paper we get calls all the time from parents who want to complain about things that their children SAY have happened at school but the parents themselves never actually call the schools to check it out themselves. Instead, they call the newspaper to do the work for them — Drives me crazy.
Case in point: I've had to call two different principals at separate schools during the past year to check out a complaint from the same parent that the schools have run out of food in the cafeteria and her little darling went without a meal. (
"Please, sir, may I have some more?" - Reminds me of "Oliver.") The truth was (and this was the same circumstance at both the middle school and high school) that the schools have 4-5 lunch lines of offerings for students, much different that the choices I had at PLHS back in the day (hot lunch drowning in gravy, salad bar or hard butter slathered between two slices of white bread. Who serves kids this kind of crap?).
Well, since the lunch ladies can't guess what meals students will be most hungry for that day (hamburger and fries or pizza or spaghetti or a sub sandwich, for example) then sometimes one line runs out before the others...but the point is, THERE IS ALWAYS FOOD TO BE EATEN THERE, it just might not be the chicken nuggets you've been craving all morning.
I had to argue with this parent on the phone, telling her what the high school principal told me. She swore her daughter "always" tells the truth and does not lie about things like this.
Another parent called my editor a couple of weeks ago to report that a bunch of students at a local high school were going to stage a walkout during a math class at a specific time to protest the unfair treatment and mental abuse of the teacher.
Puh-lease.But yes, I had to waste my time tracking down this potential story, which didn't happen.
Another parent last fall during Homecoming called to tell me how her daughter called her during lunch and told her she had to go home and change her blue-and-white clothing and wash the school colors off her face, as did her friends, because school administrators weren't allowing them to show any school spirit during Homecoming Week.
After the principal stopped laughing at me, he said that it absolutely was not true.
So I guess my point is, there are probably many parents out there who do take an active role in their children's education and would call their teachers or principals immediately if they had any concerns they were being starved or mentally abused at school.
But why does it seem the irrational ones have the newspaper phone numbers on speed dial?
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