School "Cleaning Detention" without issuing protective gloves

[TracyMazz]

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and comments. As a grandmother and guardian, I did not want to overreact. and for the record, my granddaughter was fine with her detention/service.

 

[Just Blue]

I came on here to get feedback (good bad or indifferent) before talking to anyone at the school. As I said previously I do not take issue with her cleaning...
I do take issue with the school not giving her gloves. We live in Philadelphia. Public schools have a tendency to be somewhat dirty. and as for Dangerous - 11 year old children have a tendency to be a little clumsy despite how much I teach my granddaughters to clean.

I sign a waiver every year that would protect the school should she get injured on school grounds during the school day and or during athletics. So if she slipped and fell during a detention while cleaning the school (which by the way is not a course of action in the handbook) if would cost me out of pocket for medical, and that is just not something i have

Was your GD harmed in anyway by her chore? Did she slip down the stairs? Ingest cleaning product? Get it in her eyes? Or are you just upset that the school had your GD cleaning the filth of Philly off the stairway in her school?



BTW: Every school, in every city, town and village in the United States has gross dirt on the floor/stairs.

 

[LdiJ]

If this were MY child (or ward), then I would make it clear to the child that violating the rules leads to consequences. To avoid consequences, don't violate the rules.

I think that we all understand that. I am not sure however what that has to do with having children scrub stairs by hand with a bucket and rags, without protective gloves.

 

[Just Blue]

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and comments. As a grandmother and guardian, I did not want to overreact. and for the record, my granddaughter was fine with her detention/service.

I, for one, think you are overreacting ... cleaning the floor is just not a big deal...unless you are the tween cleaning it.


For the record I raised 2 girls in Massachusetts public schools.

 

[Zigner]

I think that we all understand that. I am not sure however what that has to do with having children scrub stairs by hand with a bucket and rags, without protective gloves.

There are consequences to actions. I'm not sure how you could not see the connection.

 

[LdiJ]

There are consequences to actions. I'm not sure how you could not see the connection.

The consequence to actions in this case is the cleaning detention itself. The issue of no protective gloves is a separate is a separate issue.

 

[cbg]

When and if the GD shows evidence of some kind of harm that can be directly traced to her having to scrub the steps, that will be quite enough time to address those issues. Until such time, I'm not sure any action is warranted.

 

[LdiJ]

When and if the GD shows evidence of some kind of harm that can be directly traced to her having to scrub the steps, that will be quite enough time to address those issues. Until such time, I'm not sure any action is warranted.

Again, if it were me, I would very calmly donate protective gloves to the school based on the premise that of course the school would not make the children do cleaning detention without them without a budget problem.

Seriously, school administrators can come up with all kinds of creative discipline projects but miss potential downfalls. If this is a case of the school administrators missing a potential downfall in an otherwise good idea, then my suggestion embarrasses them a little while allowing them to fix it while saving face.

 

[LdiJ]

I will give you an example of a school policy that I found to be ridiculous. I was the PTA president of my daughter's elementary school many years ago. At the time, there was what I considered to be a ridiculous rule about how much copy paper a teacher could use. It wasn't a school district rule, it was a rule imposed by the principal of the individual school. Back then, I had more income than I knew what to do with so I donated a case of copy paper to each classroom, and since I was personally acquainted with the dean for elementary education for the school district I casually let it known that I had done so.

I did not accuse the principal of doing anything wrong or made it an "issue". I simply did it and casually mentioned it to a higher up.

My actions resulted in a district wide policy. Not because I made a big stink about it but because I did not.

 

[quincy]

Oh, good! RJR found your post, LdiJ. I thought for a minute there that he might miss liking one.

 

[TracyMazz]

I, for one, think you are overreacting ... cleaning the floor is just not a big deal...unless you are the tween cleaning it.


For the record I raised 2 girls in Massachusetts public schools.

the entire reason I came on here to ask the question was to make sure I was not overreacting. And for the record - the TWEEN did not complain about it at all.

 

[Just Blue]

the entire reason I came on here to ask the question was to make sure I was not overreacting. And for the record - the TWEEN did not complain about it at all.

Good for her!!

 

[TracyMazz]

I will give you an example of a school policy that I found to be ridiculous. I was the PTA president of my daughter's elementary school many years ago. At the time, there was what I considered to be a ridiculous rule about how much copy paper a teacher could use. It wasn't a school district rule, it was a rule imposed by the principal of the individual school. Back then, I had more income than I knew what to do with so I donated a case of copy paper to each classroom, and since I was personally acquainted with the dean for elementary education for the school district I casually let it known that I had done so.

I did not accuse the principal of doing anything wrong or made it an "issue". I simply did it and casually mentioned it to a higher up.

My actions resulted in a district wide policy. Not because I made a big stink about it but because I did not.

I never intended to make a big stink about anything. And did not accuse the principal or any other admin of anything. I never bothered to call. But thank you all for your opinions. It can't hurt to get raw opinions from strangers when in doubt.

 

[TracyMazz]

Oh, good! RJR found your post, LdiJ. I thought for a minute there that he might miss liking one.

I'm glad you found this grandma amusing!

 

[Zigner]

I'm glad you found this grandma amusing!

What That wasn't directed at you. There is a poster who was going from thread-to-thread and "liking" any post he could find from LdiJ.