Schools will welcome many parents, grandparents and other guests during this year's celebration of American Education Week, Nov. 15-19. This annual spotlight on public education has as its theme "Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility."
This week, every student received a letter about American Education Week and an Approved Visitor Form to bring home outlining new visitor procedures for American Education Week. By Nov. 10, the student’s family must fill out and return to the school office the Approved Visitor Form listing the people who will be allowed to visit the student at school. Space is provided to list approved visitors by name and relationship to student.
For the safety of all students and staff, no one who is not identified in advance as an approved visitor will be allowed to visit classrooms. Visitors may only visit the classroom of the child for whom they are an approved visitor. All visitors must be age 21 or older and must present photo identification when checking in at the school, either in the main office or at a special table. Unless a school has announced that it will have babysitting services available during American Education Week, younger siblings should not be brought for the visit.
Other procedures to ensure a safe and smooth American Education Week include:
-Visiting at the day/time designated for your student’s grade level, if possible. Schools often schedule different days for different grade levels to ensure adequate parking and to minimize classroom and hallway congestion.
-Keeping cell phones on vibrate and not using them during the classroom visit.
-Leaving food and drink in the car.
-Removing hats and outside garments before entering the classroom.
-Checking out at the conclusion of the visit.
Schools, staff and students look forward to seeing many visitors in the classroom for American Education Week Nov. 15-19. For more information about American Education Week, please check with your student's school, and be sure to return the Approved Visitors Form by Nov. 10.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
12 comments:
This is stupid. We've been doing the same thing for years. Why change? IF my spiteful ex had her way when we first split, i would have never been able to see my daughter. I'm lucky as it stands now since we have worked together alot better now.
I am divorced but have joint custody. I didn't get one of these to allow me, my new wife, or her mom to go...
You're right, this has never been needed before. Unfortunately it's been caused by the local wantabe thugs and their low-life families. Time to rid our once safe area of this garbage and hope the new police chief gets it done soon.
This should have been put in place years ago. I think it is a great idea.
if the 'low life thugs' are in school, thats a GOOD thing. by not allowing some people in, are you hurting the encouragement of the child? i would say keep things as is, except maybe send a request out that convicted felons refrain from showing, but not make it mandatory.
Shouldn't need a form in the first place! As a parent, I should be able to come there at any time and check my child progress. They work for us, the tax payers who pay their wages. Its not the other way around! They seem to keep forgetting this! I didn't sign the form, but I will be attending anyway with or without the form!
As a teacher in the Wicomico County Schools, I think the entire idea of having AEW needs to be scrapped. The county has a 'open door' policy right now, and therefor no need for this. What AEW DOES do is present a very dangerous situation for staff and students in that it is IMPOSSIBLE to check everyone coming and going. Last year in my school alone (Parkside) 2 CONVICTED SEX OFFENDERS were on campus. How do I know this? I had to testify against both earlier in the school year (and both were arrested on campus and jailed). How are schools to ensure a safe environment for children when we literally open the doors and invite everyone in? Sure, the Supt. is trying to address this, and it will work to some degree, but just imagine a non custodial parent taking a child out of school during this week (it's easy - they simply sign the child out in a jam packed and confused office at the end of the day) and the child is gone from the state in hours. I hope all of you will join me in abolishing this DANGEROUS practice in favor of more regular visits by parents throughout the school year.
I remember when I was a student in Wicomico County from the early '80's until the mid-'90's, my parents and grandparents didn't need such a thing. They just came into the school and checked in at the office to get my schedule. It is a shame that with the crime and thuggery today that all this is needed. Pretty soon, parents and guardians and relatives will have to be background checked and fingerprinted by the Sheriff's Department before they can visit the school. Tragic, but a real consequence of the rampant crime in the community.
4:31 If you are a custodial parent or have not legal reasons why you can't be in the school, you will not be denied. This form truly is a precaution so "aunt jane" can't come into the school without your permission. I know the form said parents too, but you will not be denied access.
I am a parent who has a 4th grader at Northwestern, and a 9th grader at MMHS, and I have always felt welcome at both schools by the respective staff, However I also feel that AEW is nothing more than a dog and pony show from administration on down. If you are foolish enough to believe that what you are seeing when you visit during AEW passes for the daily expectation, you are sadly mistaken. For example, while it is great that Northwestern is now a nationally recognized school (and the teachers have certainly earned it for the most part), the Principal there (Mr. Bryson) was essentially put out to pasture becasue he screwed up Pinehurst. He is all about looking good, and so when AEW comes along each year, he goes out of his way to act like he all so concerned about the students and parents. If you want a true picture, show up over there after AEW - especially if it is a nice fall day - he'll be out the door to go play golf, and worse yet, he'll tell you that is what he is going to do. Thankfully he has a VP that actually works for a living and IS concerned about every child in the school.
4:31 - For your information, the school district has an 'open door' policy that is publicized with all of those papers sent home to us on those first few days of school, so I don't understand your animosity towards this. Besides, when you show up, they will ID you and know right away you are a parent, so what is the problem? It's people like you that intentionally try to cause a problem that make problems for the rest of us. Why don't you shut up and just follow the rules like the rest of us>=.
12:56, you are exactly right. I made the mistake of having my daughter attend Prince Street last year, and when I went in to visit last year it was like homecoming at the getto! What's even more disturbing is the fact that you never see these parents at any other time of year and then they come in and act like the trash they are. In fact, I saw the Principal tell a parent they had to leave - he was trying to do this quietly, and the parent was all drunk and loud and yelling at him that he was a racist. I pulled my daughter out of there THE NEXT DAY, and now she is qute happy at SCS. American Education week is a farce, just like all of the other crap that goes on -
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