I am beyond disappointed with how this school handled a situation involving my daughter. Her phone was taken during finals week, even after she explained multiple times that it was her ONLY way to get home. Since students were not allowed to bring backpacks during finals, she had no other belongings with her, and her bus pass/payment is on her phone.
When the phone was first taken, my daughter calmly explained to the teacher that she needed it at the end of the day because I was unable to pick her up from school. The teacher originally told her she could get it back later. However, another staff member made an extremely insensitive comment saying, "If you really cared about your phone, you would've put it away." That response completely ignored the actual issue. This was not about "caring about a phone," it was about a child trying to safely get home.
My daughter then went to the dean to explain the situation again. Instead of helping, he told her it "wasn't his problem" and that the phone was marked for parent pickup. She tried calling me and her father from the office, but unfortunately we were both at work and unable to answer at that moment. We had no idea what was happening until she came home and explained everything.
After trying to contact us, she went back to the teacher to once again explain that she literally had no way to pay for the bus without her phone. Instead of listening, the teacher accused her of "arguing in the middle of class," which was not true according to my daughter. Then, when my daughter explained again that she couldn't just "go home" without access to her bus payment, the teacher yelled, "Then go home."
At that point, my daughter became frustrated and admittedly cursed out of anger and panic. While I do not excuse disrespect, I absolutely understand why she felt helpless after being ignored repeatedly by multiple adults who were supposed to care about student safety and well-being. Instead of trying to de-escalate the situation or help her find a safe way home, the school chose to suspend her.
The complete lack of empathy, communication, and concern shown by staff was honestly disgusting. No child should be told that getting home safely "isn't their problem." This situation could have been handled in a much more reasonable and compassionate way. read more