I need to vent about DD's school!!!

My oldest DD is in the 5th grade and she brought a note home the other day stating the 5th grade would be taking a trip to Gettysburg on May 7th and cost was $20 bucks...due by April 7th. The last paragraph said "Detailed information will be sent home at a later date".

Now I'll admit I'm a freak about my kids safety and "letting go" of them. I just always fear the worst (I know not health but we all have our little flaws).

So I told DD to ask her teacher if we would get the "detailed information" before the April 7th due date. I'm not one to commit my DD, myself or my money to something I don't know SOMETHING about. I mean we live 3.5 hours away from Gettysburg.....that's a long way to commit sending your child to with out knowing ANYTHING!!!

So DD came home and said "No we would not get the other information before April 7th", so I told her then there was no way I am send you on this trip...that to me in UNREASONABLE!!! This trip is taken every year, EVERY YEAR...you're telling me her teacher can't give me an "informal" schedule...not even a leave time or a getting home time!?!?! :thumbdown:

Well she must have said something to her teacher this morning (I was planning on calling today and she knew this) or was telling one of her friends and he over heard because I got this email at 9:15AM this morning

Good morning!

I'll try to fill in the blanks on the Gettysburg trip.

We leave EP at 5:15 A.M. and travel by coach bus to Gettysburg. The day is filled with a tour of the battlefield with Park Service Staff. We will spend time at the new visitor's center (movie and a tour). We've arranged for a sit-down buffet dinner with time to shop. We will be taking 2 chaperones per room, the principal, and the school nurse. We are planning to return to Indiana between 9:30 and 10:15 P.M.

I hope this alleviates your concerns. Of course, the choice for Sydney's attendance is your choice. Other accommodations can be made for her here at school if she doesn't attend.

If you have any further questions or concerns, just reply to this email.

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I bolded the part that pisses me off!!! How dare he speak to me like I'm asking for the country's deepest darkest national secrets!!! All I wanted was a little bit of a time line from the people that want to drag my child 3.5 hours away from me for like 16 hours!!! I mean I do have a life and others to take care of and I want to make sure that I'm going to be able to drop my kid off and pick them up!! :cursing:

Hubby of course says I'm reading to much into this...but this is also the guy that when DD mentioned we were having another baby made the statement to my 10 year old that "aren't you all busy enough with the kids you have"!!!!!!!!!! :cursing: BTW...I just c/ped his email...think I should write back that he spelled chaperons wrong!?!?!

OK I feel better since I vented...if you actually read this....you deserve a cookie...maybe even one of the Ranger ones I posted in my other thread!!!

totally lame that they didnt' give out ANY details before hand :/ what parent would blindly send in money for a trip they knew nothing about.

ITA, if nothing else, why would you blindly spend your money? I know it sounds horrible but $20 is quite a few gallons of milk in this day and age... even if I felt totally safe with the people my kids were going to be supervised by, I'd like to know what my money goes towards.

As a side note though, Chaperon and Chaperone are both accepted spellings so I wouldn't mention that LOL

But yeah, lame and the condescending little bolded part is so immature on his part. WTH?

I think it's lame too they didn't give detailed info..my son has an out of state field trip to an aquarium (HELLO--we are in ATLANTA with the biggest aquarium in the US here...state of the art teaching facility and they are taking them to Tennessee's..lame-O) anyways it's $60!! Better believe we had thorough info before we paid for that one. That said...I think maybe you overreacted a tad about the teacher's reply in bold...Teacher was just stating that there would be an alternative should your child not be attending the field trip.

We usually get the info about what the kids will be doing, with the letter asking for money, but I don't think we get the actual departure time, etc. We get that afterwards, when they know how many are going.

I probably would have just paid it anyway, I like for the kids to go on field trips. I agree with Meg on the bolded part, it just sounds like what they tell us...that there would be options available for her at school if you chose not to send her. I didn't read anything else into it.

I should clarify... I wouldn't have read anything into the bolded part if the only part that was bolded was the last sentence, bolding the other two is what makes it sound condescending to me. It likely wasn't intended to come off that way but still...

they should give out the info before hand. but i still laugh at you, in a loving way of course.

I think its ridiculous that they didn't give any information prior to the trip. ESPECIALLY since its a VERY long and far-away field trip. Unacceptable, imo.

BUT... I don't see any reason why the bolded part is offensive. I think he was just being diplomatic in saying basically "here's the info so you can decide for yourself if you want your child to attend the field trip and if you don't want her to go, there will be something here for her to do at school".

But thats just me. I'm not easily offended. I"m dead inside.

Lilcameronsmommy said:

I'm dead inside.

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AnnieBananie said:

I should clarify... I wouldn't have read anything into the bolded part if the only part that was bolded was the last sentence, bolding the other two is what makes it sound condescending to me. It likely wasn't intended to come off that way but still...

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Eliz bolded it...not the teacher though

ITA with you that it's ridiculous to not give you the info beforehand! That is soooo far! I would want all the info beforehand too!

I don't blame you for wanting info before paying.. but I wouldn't have been offended. JMO.

I agree information should be provided to parents ahead of time so a decision/plan can be made. I am curious why the information isn't made available earlier.. perhaps calling the teacher directly and asking would help clarify why the information wasn't sent sooner.

As far as the bolded portion of the email.. as an educator & parent, I didn't find the bolded part to be condescending. I think this is what is difficult when parents/teachers only communicate through email or written notes.. words/true meanings can be skewed by ones emotions and taken differently then intended.. this happens more then it should (IMO). I prefer to call my parents and vice versa, so they understand the tone and feeling behind what I am saying. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth

I wouldn't be offended, I'm a teacher though. THe teacher probably had a limited amount of time to actually compose and send the email. Most likely she was just saying, "hey, it's your choice."

My daughter was always bugging me to spend the night out. I never really liked to let her do that but I did with someone I trusted completely and something bad happened to her while she was with them. It took a long time to let my kids do stuff after that but I realized that by protecting them so much from the bad stuff I was also keeping them from all the good stuff and that was unfair to them. Also impossible for me to protect from every bad thing that happens. I just have to have faith that they will be ok and do my best to protect from the things I can and they can deal with on their own what I cant

I do think they should have given you info before hand. That's just common sense. I don't think the bold part is offensive though, as a former teacher. it just sounds like he's explaining that she's not required to go and they can make other arrangements for her at school.

How can they even ask for money when the information hasn't been given??

Do you guys do parent council? I would be bringing that up with the principal!

I wouldn't care at all. I would thrilled my kid got to go to Gettysburg, and it would never even occur to me to ask for more details. But if you want me to be ticked off, for you, I will.