Let Me School You in Your Failure!

There are times in life where you may overreact, this is not one of those times. 

Today on social media, an article hit about the school my daughter attends. In summary a 13 year old boy was arrested and booked for threatening the school. The school never addressed the students nor contacted the parents, and as of tonight, the rumor circulating social media is that the boy threatened to bring a gun to school and shoot it up. To add frustration to the pile, in the article that first hit the social media circuit, the Police Chief stated that the boy was "trying to be funny". 

Let me express my outrage!

As of just a few weeks ago, I addressed the Vice Principal at the school because a boy had been endlessly bullying my daughter, in classes in front of teachers, as well as in the halls. And he's not the only boy bullying a girl in that school. This seems to be a standing problem where some girls are even left to their tears in the cafeteria where still no one in the school does anything. The Vice Principal never responded to my concerns. He did speak to the boy and my daughter, to which the boy only made his comments even more rude and vengefully directed at my daughter. The Vice Principal also greatly downplayed the situation to my daughter which did not help her feel like there was a resolution. 

Shortly thereafter that occurred, I asked a teacher to send home a form that didn't make it to my house. In the communication back and forth there was some confusion on my end about conferences so the teacher offered to meet if I needed to. I did not and told her that I was aware of my daughter bringing up all of her grades so I was good. The teacher's response was to call my child "lazy" in her performance. I immediately fired back that as an administrator she should choose better verbiage when addressing a parent about their child, especially one that has worked so hard to bring all of her grades up and currently only has a C as the lowest grade, cumulatively. 

Now let me circle back around to today. Are you kidding me?!? The school has the nerve to sweep a boy's arrest under the rug? With today's "resources", as in social media, this can quickly spin out of control and I have to sincerely wonder if in fact the boy did threaten to bring a gun in and shoot up the school. Since I started writing the blog, I had a fellow parent forward me the boys Instagram page where 6 days ago, date unknown, he posted a picture of the joker with a gun that said, "me if I shot up the school". This is an 8th grader who has posted on social media about shooting up a school and then says it directly in the school today and the Police Chief has the nerve to say he was "trying to be funny". GTFO! 

Today's events should not have been swept under the rug by the school because now the story spins as well as if that boy does one day follow through, no one had any warning of it! So being the vocal person I am, especially when I believe strongly in something, I fired off an email tonight to the Superintendent, the Vice Principal, and the Principal. 

Below is the polite rendition of a letter instead of what I wanted to say which was, "Are you EFFING kidding me!!"

Dear Administrators,

I am greatly concerned about an event that occurred today at Sandwich Middle School where my daughter attends. A news report hit social media saying that a 13 year old boy was arrested and booked for making threats against the school. Myself, as well as many other parents and students, would like to know why this wasn't addressed as either an informative item or as an item of precautionary measure? Even my daughter who is 12 knows that the school and the district should have made them known as to what was going on for their comfort and safety.

Now that the school has not addressed the matter, it is starting to circulate on social media that the boy threatened to bring a gun to school and shoot it up. If this is in fact a true statement, let me express my additional outrage that is already existing. As the years have progressed, school shootings have become all too common and it is not something that anyone should take lightly, especially not the police chief as he stated the boy was "trying to be funny". There is nothing funny when it comes to the safety of my child and all the others that attend District 430.

I hope I speak for many parents and students when I say that not only are we owed an apology for the failed measures taken by the school but we are also owed a full explanation.

 Sincerely,

These Damn Women

Today is International Women's Day - if you didn't know that, just open any social media platform. On that note, I need to address something that I haven't seen a whole lot of but enough that it warranted a blog. 

Any man that needs to question a day reserved for women's rights, especially in 2017 amid everything that is being taken away from us, is no man whatsoever. Not only are you not qualitative as men, but you are a contributing factor of the rights we are losing and fighting for, and it's a direct reflection of how you view woman and most likely treat them. 

Now, in my heart of hearts, I am a very vintage woman and would be perfectly happy being a 1950's housewife. However, that would only take place if men were the men of those days and maintained their proper role in that equation as well. But this isn't the 1950's, this is 2017 where currently we as women are being told that we can't choose what we want to do with our bodies. That is the number one factor, we're being told that we need a man's permission to proceed with our bodies and we're having our resources taken away from us. Down right BS as far as I'm concerned. 

I'm 34 years old and I have a daughter. I do not want anyone telling me what I can or cannot do with my body. I also want my daughter to be a warrior and have resources available to her as she grows up to make the proper and responsible decisions that she will have to make one day. I am not here to wage a war on pro-life or pro-choice because that in itself is a days worth of a talk. I am however here to say that it's not only completely foolish but ignorant on anyone's part to think that a woman's choice to have an abortion is a one point decision. If a woman chooses to have an abortion, it's not at all that she has a disregard for life but the complete opposite. Ask a woman who has had an abortion and I bet her reason would give you pause to judging her and her decision. She has complete regard for life, hers and the conceived. You don't have the first clue how she got in the situation, you don't have a clue what it would do for her to stay in that situation, and you have zero idea what possible destruction adoption would do for her or that baby. You also have no idea the lifelong ramifications she lives with if she has to decide to have an abortion. Abortion isn't a yes or no situation, there is so much that goes into it and NO ONE should be able to make that decision except for the woman who realistically is ultimately left pregnant and caring for said child. 

We could discuss this all day but we won't because it is after all 2017 and for some reason people can't agree to disagree. Instead we feel we must tell people and enforce people to do things against their will. Which brings me to Planned Parenthood. If you for one second stand before me and say the Planned Parenthood is the foundation of abortions, again, you're an idiot. The resources that they provide to women, outside of that are far more important because if used properly by women, hopefully they won't be face with the decision on whether to keep or terminate a pregnancy. And if they are, God forbid women are forced into back alley abortions like so many were prior to Roe vs. Wade; women should be able to go to a Planned Parenthood if needed.

Want to get away from the rights of our bodies? Let's talk about the wage gap. How many times have I been in a position where I have been able to run circles around men in charge. Rhetorical of course. As women, we naturally excel. Children are conceived in our bodies, we carry each of them for 9 months at a time often not with ease, we give birth, we support and raise our children, and we love, support, and stand by our men. We take care of everyone, our careers, our homes, and we try to take care of ourselves as well. We carry the world without batting an eye. We have amazing benefits to add in the workforce, but instead of being praised, given raises, and given the room to excel, we're left to do the work for the men, get walked on, and be underpaid. 

You can't control us by telling us we aren't equal. 

That includes today, International Women's Day. You can't take that away from us because you ultimately feel inferior as a man. Get your balls out and support us because we've got your back too when you need it. I only scraped the surface of the issues in the US today, but look around the world. Look at how poorly women are treated when we are the ones who create it all. Without us, you men wouldn't exist. So stop treating us like we're garbage and treating us like we need to bow down to you. The roles are actually reversed and the strength, power, and endurance for love that we as women have, will carry all of us far beyond the reaches that currently are holding us down. 

Also, International Men's Day is November 19 for the less informed.