problem with 4 year old daughters school-sorry kind of long......

Hoping that this is the right place to post this and to get some input from other parents please... My daughter is 4 and in junior kindergarden, she rides the bus to and from school. Last thursday we waited for the bus and when it showed up she was not on. ( the bus driver was really upset that she didnt have our daughter and realized the screw up, which btw was not her fault the bus office oked this). We are lucky enough to have my mil as the manager at the bus office so we called to find out what had happened and where our daughter was. When we called they said that someone had oked our daughter to go on other bus with her cousin, so we picked her up. That was all sorted out and we were ok at this pont with them it is the school that I am concerned with. I decided not to call or the next day to see if they had noticed the mess up, which they did not which scares me that they didnt realize they lost my 4 year old. In the morning teachers, principal and vp are all out waiting for the kids but it seems in the afternoon they are not paying attention. It does not stop there. Yesterday my daughter was sick I called the bus to let them know and the school I spoke with the vp and told him. I thought ok the school knows she wouldn't be there well around 10:30 her dad received a call asking where she was!?! UMMM hello I already called and spoke to someone its not like I just left a message on a machine or something. I cant believe it took a full hour to notice..... and back in the fall she fell and was soaked and skinned her chin. The school did not send home the wet clothes or send a note i finally picked them up and as for her chin no note either. I called the school and had spoke with the vp then and he said the school should have sent a note letting me know especially when she had a mark. So at this point I dont know what to do i feel like I am not being heard and worry about sending her to school. I think I am going to book a meeting with the school and see what happens..... her teacher is a whole other story! Thanks for any input anyone might have :)

What did the cousin say? Did they want to play together so she/he said she could come on the bus? Cousin's parents? Mil? The bus office should not have allowed that to happen with written consent though. Big mistake and very scary for you.

The teacher might not have received the message from the VP about her being sick. I wouldn't say it took them an hour to 'notice'. Maybe they thought she would just be late? Hopefully your meeting will clear that up.

I do agree that they definitely should have sent a note home explaining what happened when she fell.

the cousin is also the same age, I think they just both got on the bus. neither my sil or mil had said anything my daughter saw a note in her agenda and apparently the teacher oked it even though the note was for something else. The thing is someone mentioned my daughter was going to daycare with my niece when she has not ever gone ( I only work weekends so I can be home for her). Usually I just call the bus office and a new girl was there so I blame her but its the school also without a note which I always send if something is going on which has only been twice . The reason I thought it may have taken an hour to be honest with this teacher wouldnt surprise me I say this because I have sent many notes and spoke with her and she mixes things up and doesnt notice all the time( I have spoke with other parents). And the fall scared me so much because I didnt know if she hit her head or teeth and I then i had the thought of them being sent out alone or something all these crazy thoughts lol I am a worry wart I think when it comes to her. Thank you Slayer_glade that makes me feel better that someone else thinks they should have called :)

Mistakes happen, good thing in your case it ended up alright. The school should take it seriously that a child was left unaccounted. That said, I think this is a good opportunity for you to teach your four year old what is expected of her when she goes to school and back. I don't think she is too young to learn about issues involving personal safety and responsibility.

I am glad it turned out ok and she is usually really good with these type of things. I just always remember from when I was in public school even in grade 7 and 8 we had a bus monitor that checked the kids name off and made sure they were on the right bus. I am just wondering if every school has stopped doing this because it seemed to work great for us we always ended up where we needed to be and in high school still if we wanted to go on a different bus we had to have it oked with the principal.

I work in a school that is fully bused. Mistakes happen, because it is busy at the end of the day. On the other hand, those mistakes are not frequent and when realized, calls are made immediately. I would worry and advocate for your child. I would make an appointment to speak with the school to see what protocols are in place to prevent this from happening again. Students are not allow on different buses without a note and 4 and 5 year olds have grade 7 and 8 buddies at our school. Our kindergarten teacher sees that each student leaves with the older buddy from his/her bus. Schools are extremely busy places as teachers have teaching responsibilities throughout the day and then little administration time. The short of it is don't wait for them to notice and call. The good staff members will call, but unfortunately, not all teachers work for the kids.

thank you kw01ai! I am happy someone that works at a school replied. I am planning on making an appointment with the school just to see what sort of system they have for end of the day. I do give most of teachers and staff a lot of credit as most do an excellent job and I have volunteered with some and run into the others often it just seems that as you said they are becoming so busy things sometimes are missed. We live in the country and yes all kids are bussed. Last time I called things were cleared up pretty fast which was good, I am a worrier she is my only child and at 4 I still have hawk eyes on her, she could be 25 and I would still be worrying lol. Thank you again and tomorrow I will call the school

Make an appointment with the school. This is NOT how a child in JK or SK should be being looked after.

When my oldest started school, I had several issues with him and the bus and outside supervision. I went to the school and lost it on them. They once put him on the bus when they were not suppose to, once they did not put him on the bus when they were suppose to, once the driver yelled at him because he would not sit because no one would let him sit and the final straw was when all of the kids went inside after the starting bell and he was upset because someone yelled at him, he hid under a bench (which was in plain sight) and no one double checked to make sure that all of the kids were off of the playground.

The school now has policies and procedures that they follow to make sure that these situations do not happen again.

Mistakes can happen, but if there is adequate supervision and organization, they should not happen at such a big frequency.

Homeschool.


Not trying to be flippant here. How about a cell phone?