'We're not a daycare': Elementary school principal humbled by small-town mom after forcing students to walk 5 miles home from school

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    "What are you going to do about it?" H 4
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    "What are you going to do about it? Call the cops?"
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    I was explaining to my mom what Malicious Compliance was and she reminded me of this story. I was a senior in high school when all the sudden I got sick at school and had to be sent home. Because
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    my car was in the shop, Mom had to come get me. It's about 9:30 AM when this happened. As we're driving up a (very) busy street, we see two 7-8 year old kids (we'll call them Frank and Zelda) trying to cross. Worried, Mom pulls
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    over to see what's going on. The conversation went roughly as follows. Mom: Kids, are you guys okay? What are you two doing here? Frank: Dr. Id ot said we couldn't come to school early so he sent us home.
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    Now Mom is very familiar with Dr. Id ot. He was the principal at the elementary school my younger brother was attending at the time. My brother, Mark, was going through some behavioral issues at the time and Mom was commonly called to the office....to the point they were on a first name basis.
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    Not that he allowed her to use his first name because "I have a Doctorate in Education! So it's Doctor Id ot!" So in other words he was an Entitled Id ot. There was a gas station ten feet away so Mom tells Frank and Zelda
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    to meet us there. We pulled in, got some water for the kids as it was a hot day and Mom calls Dr. Id ot's cell phone. Again, the conversation went roughly as follows. Id ot: This is Dr. Id ot Mom: Hi, this is Mark's Mom. I have
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    two kids here named Frank and Zelda and they say they were sent home early? Id ot: Yes, their parents dropped them off at 6 AM because they had to work. Something about mandatory overtime. Of course
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    we're not a daycare so I just told the kids to go home and wait for the bus. Mom: Are you KIDDING me?! We're 5 miles away from the school! They walked all that way! It's a wonder they weren't hit by a car or k pped!
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    Idiot: What are you going to do about it? Call the cops? (Click) Mom was absolutely floored but she decided to give Dr. Id ot a nice dose of reality. At the time, we lived in a small town. How small? So small that sometimes the Chief of Police
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    would have to walk the beat. And that day, he happened to be a block or so away from the gas station. When he got the call, he arrived, got the whole story from not only Frank and Zelda but from Mom and me. And, being a father of 2 elementary aged kids himself, he was P SED.
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    He looked at Mom and said Chief of Police: It's time I had some words with Dr. Id ot. The Chief of Police drove Frank and Zelda to the school in the squad car (which they were super excited about), personally escorted them
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    to their class and then marched to Dr. Id ot's office and proceed to tear him a new , telling Dr. Id ot that he'd help the parents press charges on him for child endangerment...among other things. From that day on, Dr. Id ot allowed
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    Frank and Zelda to be at the school early on the days their parents had mandatory overtime. Update: So I got some details from Mom about why Frank and Zelda were just dropped off at school. Their Aunt works at the elementary
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    school and had agreed to watch them until school started a couple of hours later (she wasn't on the clock). Frank and Zelda didn't live in a good part of town and their parents (understandably) didn't feel their kids would be safe if they were alone. If Doctor Id ot had
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    driven them home to wait for the bus, it wouldn't have gotten on the Chief of Police's nerves. Update 2: As for why the Aunt didn't see the kids? The parents dropped the kids off 10 minutes before the Aunt arrived and Dr. Id ot assured them that he'd watch
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    the kids for the 10 minutes. Once they were gone, he told the kids to scram. When the Aunt got there (she came in a different direction so she didn't see them), he told her that the kids hadn't been dropped off. Since they were at work (workplace was very about cell
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    phone usage), she had no way to reach them to confirm that. She had no freaking clue what really happened until the Chief of Police turned up with the kids in tow. And yes, I have no idea how Dr. Id ot kept his job.
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    preciousbodyparts . 12 days ago. edited 12 days ago Beautiful MC. It's always funny to me when someone does something sty and casually suggests that the other party call the
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    cops. It's like they think that surely, nobody would ever dare to do such a thing! Edit: A word
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    HouseNumb3rs · 12 days ago My kid's principal in Texas school was a piece of work also... Won't let the kids stay in study hall until the end of the day so they can bus home but kick them out in the
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    cold. Not their problem it would appear. Write up absentism even when the bus was late, not the kid's fault. Putting "special kids" in all the classes so nothing gets taught. Lots of
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    screaming and yelling going on all day. Don't get me started on the teachers...
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    Beatrix-the-floof. 10 days ago I'd be at EVERY school board meeting. I'm sorry for what your kids are going through.
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    denelian1 10 days ago So, aunt was running late, parents explain to principle, Dr Id ot agrees to watch the kids - then tells them to walk FIVE MILES home to catch a bus to come back - then LIES to the aunt.
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    WHY?!?!?!?! This isn't me questioning the story - it's me questioning his sanity! 1. Look, an 8 year old is NOT PHYSICALLY CAPABLE of walking 5 miles in an hour. And note, over the hours later, they were still trying to
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    get home. 2.5 miles thru traffic during rush hour?! (European people giving grief about an EIGHT YEAR OLD walking FIVE FREAKING MILES, fine. But I think you CANNOT comprehend our
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    comprehend our traffic density, at ALL) 3. He's lied to people who WILL find out. Even if there's nothing actionable (except, as a mandatory reporter, there IS - I don't know what
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    they're called most states, but "Hansel and Gretel" laws exist, and WOW was this a flagrant breach of them - by Dr Id ot. You DO NOT send children off in potentially dangerous trips like
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    that...) they'll KNOW, and he might be able to not be sued, but he CAN be reported. To CPS and the school board, if nothing else.
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    MomOfMoe 11 days ago Your mom seriously rocks.
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    New Masterpiece3587. 12 days ago 6am? There were lucky to have the head teacher there to begin with. It's Frank and Zelda's parents in the wrong here.

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