Are parents losing their minds in your district?

Leaving phones in lockers would be a bad idea at my kids schools. It was too easy to break into the lockers. Leaving books in the lockers would also be a logistical nightmare at their jr high and high school...campuses are too large and the 5 minute break between classes doesn't give the kids time to go from one class to their locker to the next class. My dd's junior high also didn't have lockers, you had to carry everything in your backpack.

I do think the consequences for being on your phone in class needs to be more uniformly enforced. Some of my kids teachers didn't seem to care at all. Same with things like the dress code. School rules said fingertip length for skirts/shorts but you could walk past the vice principal in short shorts and nothing was said. Personally, I'm not a fan of most dress code rules, but if you are going to have the rules, enforce them.

Are purses allowed? My dd always had a purse with her feminine products inside. Who wants to take their entire backpack to the restroom while in class?

I don't see the safety aspect of leaving bags in a locker. Kids can still stash illegal items in said bag and grab it between classes. Seems like a false sense of security. 🤷‍♀️ I mean unless they all go through metal detectors...

As far as phone, my husband has good control of usage during class. I can see it being beneficial if stupid videos are taken or privacy is at risk.

BUT if there is an emergency, kids should have access to their devices to contact parents.

At my kids' MS, the asst principal told the kids that phones have to stay in lockers. The principal told them he didn't care if they carried them, he just didn't want to see them. So mixed messages from the top don't help.

My kids will keep their phones on them. Given the school shootings that are all too common, I think they really should have them for emergencies.

They're also not allowed to carry backpacks throughout the day.

I've never seen a school that had free period stuff for girls. My dd keeps hers in a pouch in her binder. It basically looks like a pencil bag.

We had a 7 hr school board meeting last night.

The board banned the use of “preferred pronouns,” everyone will be called by the pronouns assigned at birth.

Banned CRT.

Eliminated the Scholastic Book Fair (too many woke books).

Made strict rules about which bathrooms people can use because girls will get raped if trans people can choose which bathroom to use.

Eliminated GT classes.

The room was filled with people wearing tshirts that said “Patriot Mob” and more than one speaker used the word “woketards.”

So, yes, they’ve lost their minds.

This is sadly true.

My state (Utah) has made it mandatory in all k-12 schools, effective a couple of months ago.

Frankly, it should be available in every public bathroom, just like toilet paper.

I work for an elementary district and thankfully, the grand majority of people are quite reasonable. I have heard that it's pretty bad over at my local high school, where my own children attended. The BOE meetings are full of the patriot types and they have an issue with everything. 

About not being able to walk your child to class on the first day.... I've worked in the schools for 30 years. That's never been a thing, ever. If there are complaints, I haven't heard them. The students have the chance to do a brief 'meet the teacher' before the first day of school where they can come in with their parents and drop off their school supplies and say hello. On the first day, it's staff only. I can't imagine the chaos of parents walking the halls, other students getting dropped off, and trying to get students off the buses and to the correct classrooms. It's just not safe. We need to be accountable for every one of the students. 

For years, parents were allowed to attend the classroom Halloween parties. It was horrible. There were rooms you couldn't even walk in, there were so many people. At that point there was no way to run organized activities and it was no longer about the students. It was a bunch of parents standing around talking in every available space. Now, we do Halloween first thing in the day, so the students don't have to wait all day for the festivities. There's an outdoor parade that parents can come to watch on our fields. Then, students head inside for a party with their classes, facilitated by room parents and assisted by teachers. By 10:15, it's pretty much over and we go about the regular school day. Students and staff may keep their costumes on all day if they wish, and many do. It is so much better this way, and I believe parents have gotten used to it and for the most part stopped grumbling. 

Our schools don't have lockers. The middle school was built without them, and the high school tore them out...

I have an issue with the school not letting parents in to walk their kids to class on the first day, mostly because when we were new to the school my kids (1st and 3rd grade) had no idea where they were supposed to go. I eventually managed to flag down someone that looked kind of like a teacher out on the playground...


My 3rd grader this year has not been in his school building since kindergarten, and will be in a different 'pod.' I'm a little uneasy about just leaving him at the door next Tuesday...

Since COVID the parents in my district have lost their minds. The school board meetings have been insane...

Generally not available here, but one of the service clubs at my kids' former high school collects donations of feminine products and makes sure they are available in the bathrooms at their own high school as well as several surrounding ones. And being the "woketards" that they are (JFC, what a term), they put products in some of the boys' bathrooms as well.

Eliminated GT classes? Why?

Do you have any sense of whether the 'patriot mob' folks were actual district parents or just a bunch of political activists?

Fortunately, not yet. It’s worth pointing out that many of our schools don’t even have a library with books in it. We have trouble keeping bathrooms functioning and in good repair in many schools. I suppose most parents here think we have bigger things to worry about than made-up scare mongering about transgender kids and “woke” literature.

That seems uncharacteristically progressive for Utah.

Clay County is North Texas, along the Oklahoma border