[grav_def]

I subbed in 1st grade today. In the middle of spelling time, my phone rings. It's the secretary: There's a mom on the phone and she needs to speak to her son. Mom apparently spoke just enough English to convey that, but not enough to explain what she needed. So I called the boy to the phone, and he talked to mom for a good 5 minutes (in the middle of spelling!).

I asked him later what his mom had wanted. And guess what? She was in Walgreen's, and they'd gotten new Halloween costumes in, and she had to know which one to buy for him. And that certainly couldn't have waited until 2:15, could it?

Honestly, more than anything else, I'm just flabbergasted. Where would a parent get the idea that it's OK to call a kid at school for something like that? This is the mom who, in 5 years, is going to be fighting for her kid's right to keep his cell phone on during class in case she needs to talk to him, isn't she?

[ashleigh_60]

That is such a shame but not surprising at all. I'm sure she told the secretaries that it was very important so they would put her through. It frustrates me so much when people think that school is just a glorified baby sitting service with a few learning things here and there. You are right, she will be that parent one day.

[BigwigRabbit]

To me, the astounding thing is that the office put the call through. What's up with that?

[luv2chat]

I guess I should be grateful we don't have phones in our classrooms. If parents call the secretary takes a message and at the end of the day the students get called to the office if they have a message.

[kas327]

Some parents never seize to amaze me.

[Carrie Sue]

It is amazing isn't it! I had a grandfather call once and wanted his grandson to call him. The office let me know this and I know this man. So I called and asked was there an emergency? He said no, he just wanted to wish him a happy birthday. I told him we didn't let kids use the phones unless it was an emergency. He acted like he had never heard of such a thing. His kids went to my school and I am sure they never used the phone for something like that because at that time we only had one phone in the office and that was it for the whole school. I really think with cell phones that people think they should be able to talk to anyone right away at anytime.

[grav_def]

To me, the astounding thing is that the office put the call through. What's up with that?

What the secretary told me was that the mom didn't speak enough English to explain why she needed to talk to her son. I suppose the secretary assumed she wouldn't be calling unless it was important, ha ha.