Conference time.
Your child is being punished because... the school didn't supervise him.
Nice. Really nice. Sheesh.
Well, anyway-- let that one go for the purposes of this conference.
1. You'll want to meet BEFORE your child is to serve this detention, because you have questions. (And how, actually!)
2. At what point was your child instructed that this was an infraction of "the rules?"
3. WAS this an infraction of "the rules?"
4. Should the CHILD here have reasonably expected to be "in trouble" as a result of his choice? That is, did he KNOW that he was breaking the rules?
6. If not, then what purpose does the detention serve?
7. If so, then what purpose does the detention serve?
I'd pull him out of school before I'd have him punished, assuming that the narrative you've stated here is complete and accurate-- no WAY do I agree that it is the student's responsibility to make sure that s/he is properly supervised and engaged. That is flatly crazy, and it isn't meeting the clear duty of care for the students. I'm guessing that your state's board of education would find it interesting in the extreme, too. Just noting that.
Now, if the infraction previous was a "warning" and your DS left class TODAY, and was therefore given this punishment TODAY because of leaving without telling the teacher, well-- that is a less clear situation.
On the other hand, how is this enforced with other students, hmmm? Or is this because they aren't actually differentiating IN the classroom for your DS in particular? That is, is this a structural problem that they've created for him, and one which other peers are not having to face?
That is, are all of the other children being supervised and told where to go and when? Or do they treat all of them so irresponsibly?
I'm pretty sure that this is adding up to a no-win situation for your DS. Clearly, he was told that he "should have known" where his class was, and should have sought them at the assembly. Yes?
Well, he has obviously gotten the message loud and clear that the teacher isn't responsible for him-- HE is. So why would he tell the teacher where he was going? HE knew.
Besides, if it isn't the teacher's job to keep track of students, then why on earth are they punishing your son for not facilitating that kind of awareness on the part of the teacher?
ETA: finally-- why, oh WHY is your child still in this setting with these people? (It's an honest question. You don't have to answer, but my goodness, this is certainly toxic.)
