Our experience with the school was unpleasant to say the least. There were multiple incidents of…read moreour 2 year old daughter going hungry, and the answer we were given is because it is 'policy'.
Once our daughter's name on her lunchbox had one letter fade away. The result was that she was not fed because it's against school policy to feed lunch in such situations. The interesting thing to note is that no one on her classroom had a name even remotely close to hers, leave alone being a letter away, and it was very clear who the lunchbox belonged to.
Another time, my wife had been to ER due to complications from flu the previous day, and the school knew it because we had called them to release our daughter to my brother in law. The next morning, mom was pretty much out of business and I was trying my best to get the kids to school. I was 15 mins past the class' snack time. I did not realize it while dropping but 5 mins later called them from my home explaining the circumstances and the medical issue and asking them to make a one time exception to feed her outside of schedule. My request was denied with the reason that it's against school policy and no exception can be made.I then lost my patience, yelled at the person on the phone , picked up my kid back and vowed never to send her to this school again.
When I entered her class to pick her up, I was visibly upset but was trying not to talk because there were kids present. However, I was greeted with this remark from the teacher in her class - 'had you brought her early, we would have fed her'. I told her that I do not want to get into an argument in front of the kids. The next day, while discussing this situation with Mr. Noel, I brought this point up and asked him why was I being instigated into an argument by the teacher in front of the kids. I did not get an answer.
My sense is that the school is being run more like an organization riddled with policies, rather than a place geared towards the welfare of the child. They do a lot of lip service to their vision and goals - however when asked questions like 'would you be happy had your kid had to go through the same suffering' the answer was always 'no but it's policy and we can't make an exception to the policy'.
In my discussion with Mr. Noel the next day, in the space of 10 mins , he let me know that the school was much more fun years ago than it is now but also that they have pride in the school. The only thing I let him know is that you, as the owner of the school, agree with me that the school policies caused my child to go hungry but you cannot and have not done anything about it. You are powerless to make an exception under genuine circumstances. I think your pride is misplaced. And the fact that you were ready to let a child go hungry, especially knowing that the family is under stress due to a medical emergency, should make you rethink what your school has become, and who are the policies designed for - certainly not the children.
And let me say this, we have never had to have a discussion like this with the school that our older son goes to (3 years now)
Teachers should be empathetic, caring and affectionate towards the child. I hope that as fellow human beings, they (and the school staff) are cognizant of when parents are under duress, and make a good faith effort to help. We all face such situations at one point of time or other, and as working adults sometimes we look for help. We entrust our kids to the school at a tender age, with the hope that they understand that the well being of the child should be a priority. However, when the child suffers because of the school 'a policy, I am not ready to continue to send my daughter to this school. .
I hope the staff and teachers realize that there's much more to being a teacher than being able to read policies over the phone. The kids spend more time with you then with us. And in 5 months, if you were not able to develop a little affection and caring for the child to at least ensure that she is well fed while the dad is running hairy, I am not sure what to say.
I know my review comes across as rather tedious and especially scathing, but I've tried to cover the facts, as well the overall sense that I have of how the school functions. I have already discussed all of this with Mr Noel, providing him a calm but honest feedback. It is up to him what he makes of it.