Dear Noah.....indoor recess....

I found out yesterday when the weather is bad and all the kids have to stay inside due to the bad weather...they have them stay in their respective classrooms. Okay..I thought that sounded okay...but I also thought the teacher or a teacher was present monitoring the kids.

NO. Apparently NOT. During recess INDOORS there are NO teachers within each individual classroom monitoring anything. There are TWO patrolling monitors who are responsible for checking on all the kids in the entire school. We are talking a few hundred. MANY classrooms. ALL 3rd and 4th graders. SOME special needs children too.

I could not believe there were no teachers within the classrooms during this period of time. We have already determined you are lacking in the social skills area and need work in that area. This means someone needs to be present at all times with you during social activities such as RECESS to make sure you do the right thing.....if not they can redirect you.....because in order for you to learn appropriate behavior.....it is repetition of the appropriate behaviors.....being drilled into your mind to call upon later and into your routines. I cannot believe the school thinks ANY 3rd graders and 4th graders are okay on their own during this entire time and could settle any issues that might come up.

I personally think this is a time bomb waiting to explode. I voiced my concerns to the principal today via email. I have not yet heard back from her. I imagine they are understaffed or something but crap. We drop our children off to school with the understanding that they will be watching them and monitoring them and keeping them safe during that time. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE when the adults are not even present during indoor recess?

YOU Noah are supposed to be getting social skills training and they could take advantage of these opportunities to work on this during recess.....but are they? Apparently not. It is not possible if a teacher or aide or instructor is not present.

Noah, you can wander off. How do they know you will not do that when an adult is not present? Your parapro is apparently one of the patrolling monitors whose responsibility it is to monitor all the classrooms and children within the entire school.

It takes seconds for a situation to turn into a major meltdown or problem for you sometimes if the right circumstances develop. WHAT will happen with no adult supervision present?

I can understand strengthening the children's independence and responsibility and trust but this is insane.

I am anxious to see how we can all fix this as I think this is a HUGE problem. I doubt many if any other parent is aware that their child is also not being monitored in their classrooms during indoor recess.

Where the crap are the teachers? When I was in school we were NEVER left for an entire indoor recess alone. Our teachers spent that time in the classroom with us.

I hope and pray someone changes some things and BIG TIME. This is NOT acceptable to me.

Today Noah you got out 1 hour early from school so we went to the library and the park. Then back home. You had a great day. Everyone loved your new hair cut.

AND I love you too.

Mommy
XOXOXOX