A Total Lack of Common Sense
More parents are being alienated on our campus by our new "safety first" principal. There's a guy who's been a fixture on campus, not in PTA, but as a classroom volunteer. He's on campus all of the time, because he works nights, and he's well known and liked.
However, this year, his daughter is in a class taught by a long term sub who doesn't want his presence. My suspicion is that she's insecure about her teaching abilities and therefore doesn't want parents around her.
So this parent, who in his many hours of volunteering at the school, is very familiar and affectionate with the kids. They run up to him for hugs and he knows all of the pat-a-cake rhymes, which he plays with them.
Do you see where this is going?
Yesterday, our new principal told him that giving hugs and playing pat-a-cake is considered "inappropriate touching," and he is to cease immediately any physical contact with the kids.
In the hysteria over child molestation, even these innocuous forms of contact are considered suspect. They have a blanket rule against touching children that rules out common sense and judgment. It's sick and ridiculous. In my view, this guys is being subjected to gender discrimination.
I sympathize with the guy. After all of the hours he has given to the school as a volunteer, for all his involvement in his child's education, he has to be subjected to the demeaning and insulting insinuation that he is some sort of child molester. Of course he is disgusted and frustrated by all of this, as am I, but it is so typical of the way we parents are treated at the hands of the school.
However, this year, his daughter is in a class taught by a long term sub who doesn't want his presence. My suspicion is that she's insecure about her teaching abilities and therefore doesn't want parents around her.
So this parent, who in his many hours of volunteering at the school, is very familiar and affectionate with the kids. They run up to him for hugs and he knows all of the pat-a-cake rhymes, which he plays with them.
Do you see where this is going?
Yesterday, our new principal told him that giving hugs and playing pat-a-cake is considered "inappropriate touching," and he is to cease immediately any physical contact with the kids.
In the hysteria over child molestation, even these innocuous forms of contact are considered suspect. They have a blanket rule against touching children that rules out common sense and judgment. It's sick and ridiculous. In my view, this guys is being subjected to gender discrimination.
I sympathize with the guy. After all of the hours he has given to the school as a volunteer, for all his involvement in his child's education, he has to be subjected to the demeaning and insulting insinuation that he is some sort of child molester. Of course he is disgusted and frustrated by all of this, as am I, but it is so typical of the way we parents are treated at the hands of the school.