A few months ago I was certain I wanted to uproot my little family and permanently relocate to Hawaii. I was legitimately figuring out the who/what/where of how to make that plan fall in to place. Obviously I faltered a bit and was blinded by this thing I call loyalty to my home town, Duluth. However, after this ridiculous start to winter, and receiving two parking tickets on the same day I am once again rethinking my current situation. I’m not being a total baby, I will admit I was aided in my fight to not pay those parking tickets and I can’t do anything about the weather, but there are other reasons to want to get out of this city and primarily it centers around my kids.
I love the Edison school system. I feel completely secure in my decisions to have my kids attend there and not have any part in ISD #709. I have explained before I am a product of 709 and I never felt that did anything for me. Edison is enriching and the students are guided rather than passed along. My kids know so much and I give Edison the credit for that. The problem lies in the fact that Edison does not at this particular point go past the 8th grade in Duluth which leaves me with quite a quandary about where to send my kids for the pivotal high school years. Bottom line I won’t have them be a part of the Duluth School system, which would mean I would have to move away ( I’m just not a home school mama) I have written about this before. What I haven’t said though is that beyond the fact I won’t send my kids because of what I find to be too low of an educational value, I have personal reasons for steering clear of other Duluth schools.
I have a step-sister whom I absolutely adore. She’s a little younger than me and I have loved watching her grow up into the woman that she is today. She started out as a young single mm who literally did everything in her power to support herself and her son. She worked numerous jobs and put herself through school. She never relied on county welfare or other means of “help” to raise her son as she always saw him as her responsibility and not the responsibility of those around her. She is now married and provides my nephew with a stable happy life. This year my nephew started kindergarten (he was so excited) and because of where my sister lives he attends a small (sort of country school) that is part of ISD #709, and the nightmare has begun. Admittedly the little guy is a little hyper and extremely energetic which at first caused him to get into a little trouble, however nothing which would warrant the sort of actions recently taken. His crime? He kissed a little girl on the playground.
Have we really become a society that believes if a sweet little person dispenses a small kiss to another little person, that truly sexual harassment has taken place? Are you kidding me? My son has been kissing and hugging people for as long as I can remember and thank god I haven’t ran into any jacked up fruit loops who think that because of that, there is something wrong with him. But again, I don’t use the Duluth school system. The actions transpired stemming from this kiss are nothing short of criminal on behalf of school management. Starting from this kiss, my nephew has been repeatedly cornered by the school principal and interrogated as to his home life. To a five year old, this is probably not only scary but very confusing. Stories have been literally made up in the mind of school officials that are false on every level and social services have twice now been called by the school’s principal and made to pay visits to my sisters house. These visits have led even the people sent by the county to agree with us, this is ridiculous and my nephew has a great, safe, secure home life.
When my sister tells me whats happening to her and to her son and the fact she doesn’t even feel safe putting him on the bus every morning, my reaction is she has to fight this. I have encouraged her to reach out to the Duluth School board and the superintendent, and she has, with even worse results. Basically she has been told that the teachers and principals are just doing everything “by the book” and must do “what’s best for the child.” Bill Gronseth told her himself, he supports the calls made by the principal and basically case closed.These are the times I would like to be transported into my sisters body so I could speak for her. Since I cannot, I will do it here. You have got to be joking me. I will support “old school by the book” and “in the best interests of the child” when the child actually has a problem. Kissing and being a little hyper, are not problems. It does not mean the child is being abused and it does not mean there is a problem at home. How dare an adult take a child into a room and question them without parental consent and supervision? If this were my kid and someone pulled something like this, you better believe there would be hell to pay. How dare a school ever contact county officials without being damn sure they have a legit reason to do so? What a waste of time and money and energy. Not to mention how cruel it is to put a new little family who works their asses off and pay their taxes and support Duluth’s economy through such undue anxiety and stress! I see little kids all the time who actually appear neglected, hungry, not taken care of and my nephew is not one of them. Yet, do these other kids get looked into and their parents investigated as much as a little boy who wears his heart on his sleeve? Is this because my sister shows up in scrubs to pick him up and not a business suit? If she were a older, would the principal have dared to pick on her? I bet not. I think this is a stereotypical sham and how sad it’s supported by the officials elected by the taxpayers. Stop worrying about kissing kindergarteners and start worrying about how to fix your budget.
The lack of response or useful support by the Duluth School board to stop these allegations and harassment being done to my sister and her family only strengthened my resolve to never utilize ISD #709 for my own kids, and I guess they should be lucky I feel that way as I said I dare someone to ever treat my children that way. Hurry up Edison and build a high school so I don’t have to move away to get my kids a healthy, nurturing education, which I obviously won’t find in Duluth without you.