Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy DS MUST go on field trip

Ours has locked entrances with video cameras, wait to be identified and buzzed in, proceed straight to the office to sign in. No ID scans, though. I believe that's pretty standard around here, sadly. Parents volunteer daily at dropoff, lunch, and library but are rarely allowed into the classroom.

Sooooo lucky in NZ to have kids not stress about being safe, can't imagine not being able to walk wee one to her class when she starts

I would instantly turn into my mother for that one. I have to have a driver's license to enter a school that my taxes pay for, to see my child's classroom? What if I don't have a driver's license? No, how I got here is none of your business. Driver's licenses are for driving, not for visiting school classrooms, not for renting videos (that's the one my mother went ballistic about, many years ago). And I'll be darned if you're going to keep me out of my kid's classroom for not showing you a driver's license.

/rant off

Try not to figure it out. For our brains, it will only give you angst. I literally grit my teeth, remember what I had to get through. Then, imagine your child finally at a worthwhile university with respected programs with noise-guards on ears actually studying in a library and learning something.

It is like an obstacle course, waiting for all of the non-intellectuals to leave and then you are left with the people who have brains like yours.

It is painful having to relive it as a gifted parent raising a gifted child. The schools have no idea.

It is possible that someone with an average IQ just cannot understand higher IQ people. I now understand why I keep hearing about Google's interview / screening test. Good for them.

The really high sensitivity, highly intelligent parents are shocked at what passes for education. Would not believe it if we had not experienced it ourselves.

Run to another school. This one will be more of the same and it is just not worth speaking about because they are not listening.

The thing that really got on my nerves about the driver's license was that they asked parents to get it out even though they know full well who you are, if you have had kids in the school for a while. They make you get it out and they don't even look at it, because it's already obvious who you are. It's ridiculous, like showing your next door neighbor identification. They don't scan it, they are just supposed to be verifying that the name on the ID matches up with the name on the sign-in sheet, but no one looks at the sign-in sheet anyway. I'm really not sure what the point even is.
The school loses kids regularly so all of the locked doors to keep people out don't actually keep the kids safe. I've heard of 3 kindergarten-first grade kids just in the last year who left the building at some point after they were dropped off, and were wandering around school grounds or walked home when they were supposed to be at school. If a little kid is outside in 0 degree temps and all of the school doors are locked so they can't get in, that poses a greater threat than worrying about someone abducting them from the school, or a school shooter IMO.

Reminds me of a scene a few years ago at the polling place in my tiny little town. Old couple, lady with the contents of her purse scattered on the table, searching for some form of ID so she could vote, man helping her and suggesting they should go home and get something to bring back -- and the election judge says, "Ethel, if you could even find a utility bill with your name on it, we could use that for your ID."

People who don't drive can get free state-issued ID. It's not absurd to ask adults entering a school to show ID. Video stores may have found that adults who are responsible enough to maintain a driver's license are more likely to return videos or at least be more easily tracked if they don't.

Free?

HA. I hardly think so. And there may be other barriers, as well.

It is actually just as challenging (monetarily, and in terms of provided documents) to obtain an official state-issued ID around here as it is to obtain a learner's permit from the DMV. And the DMV is the only source for this ID.

It took us four trips and sending for out-of-state documents ($$$!! and five weeks of waiting!) for my DD11 to obtain such identification. It took ME nearly that long to obtain what I needed in order to get a renewal of my license post-Patriot Act.

I agree with everything you said. I understand it can be frustrating but this is 2014 not 1984. Child molesters pay taxes too so do they get the right to see the classroom. Apparently not everyone would rather be safe than sorry.

OK, I see it's not free in MA either -- the cost is $25.