Quote From: krisceroneExcellent topic and long over due. I have said for years that if you drop your child off at school and think your child is safe you are sadly mistaken. My daughter is now 35. When she was 10, that was twenty-five years ago, I made a trip to her school, showed them my custody and visitation papers and told the office staff that her father would probably try to take her and to say no to him. About a month later he stole her from the play ground and then called the school and told them he had her. They did not call me "because he sounded so nice." Moving ahead to when her own daughter was in the 2nd grade, about 10-years ago, I went to the school to pick my granddaughter up. The neighborhood was swarming with police. As I sat in front of the school I counted 30 police cards pass. Soon my granddaughter was released and walked to my car. I got her into the car and we got out of the area. When we got home I called the school and asked why it was not locked down? The woman answering said no one had the authority to lock down the school. Several months later I arrived to bring my granddaughter her lunch she forgot. It was a rainy day and the children were eating in the classroom. I found her with her classmates in the classroom unattended. I was shocked. When I finally found an attendant who was walking back and forth looking into classrooms she told me that teachers were "entitled" to a lunch break. It only takes a little effort to protect a child.
When I worked in daycare we had rules to follow for releasing a child to someone other than a parent. First of all the parent needed to telll us in person or call and to speak to their child's teachers to inform them. They would even describe the person. That person was to show us a license with their name and had to sign a form.
My children attended Catholic school and I was a lunch mother. To give the teachers their lunch breaks, parents volunteer to be in the classroom during that time peroid. The children were never left unattended.
The kids ate their lunches in the classroom and then we supervised the playground for recess. Of course this was over 30 years ago and now more parents work during the day. but school should look for parentsor grandparents to volunteers.
