In the 8th grade I got my first hand-me-down cell phone. I was only supposed to use the phone if I needed to talk to my parents and to play the game snake. As I got to high school I got my first new phone and it became more ok for me to make calls to my friends. I will admit that I have always had unlimited minutes and text messages because I was on my dad’s plan. I never had to worry about getting in a situation where there is an emergency and I was “out of minutes”.
I cant tell you how often we call students parents only to discover they are “out of minutes” for the month. So now we are in a situation where they don’t read their child's planner, because of laziness or they are illiterate, so they don’t see a note from the teacher and they cant be reached on the phone. What are teachers supposed to do when you kid is sick? Or failing first grade? Or got in a fight and is now suspended??
- Miss Hansen
Oh the "no longer in service" home phone, and the "she no longer works here" work phone, and the "out of minutes" cell phone, and the "who?" emergency contact phone - happens more often than people realize.
ReplyDeleteChildren litter the office at 4:30 pm waiting for the bus to arrive at their home & an adult to notice that something is wrong.
It's so hard to explain that kind of hardship and how often it is connected to transiency and homelessness to people who insist that it is appalling that kindergarten children don't know their address and phone number by heart.