Safe Luxury - Would you keep your teen home from school if...?

Would you keep your teen home from school if...?

there were written threats being found in the school? It started about a month ago. Things found on the bathroom wall in the boys room. Then found the same threats on the girls bathroom wall. Yesterday there was a note found. The only info given out is that the threats say 73 kids will die. Handwriting analists determined all the writing was from the same individual. The school went into lockdown yesterday, the kids were dismissed and the school searched. Today the kids were made to enter through 1 door with police and detectives everywhere (kids not searched on entry??). I don't want my daughter to go to school, but how long do you keep them home? You never really know it's safe, but now I am really nervous. We live in a smaller quiet town and you never really think it will happen here...and here we go. I can't hide her out forever, but I can't in good concience send her to school with this going on. I feel paranoid and ridiculous. Thank you everyone for confirming what I believed to be the best action to take. She has 2 1/2 weeks left of school so hopefully they will catch the kid who is doing this. Until then we will take it day by day. She is an honor roll student and will do fine working from home the next few weeks if that is what we need to do. I can't believe this is the way our kids have to live. I can't even imagine living in a school district or town/city where things like this are common. Thank you again. Dee I am sorry I put it under "homeschool" I meant to get it to a parenting /school section. Well she's home...and another "incident" today. We are going to have a meeting but no matter how safe they say things are I am keeping her home. I would say half of the kids are not in school.

Public Comments

Keep your kids home tomorrow. Better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully, by then end of the long weekend, the issue will be resolved.
I would keep her out of school and have homework sent to your house or you could go pick it up until the situation is investigated...you have every right to feel paranoid...I would feel the same way....God protect you and your daughter, Kimmie
its perfectly normal to feel nervous but did the threat say that they were gonna get killed in school. you said you lived in a small town, im guessing that if this individule was going to do something it could as easily be off campus. try not to live in fear we never know when our time is up just gotta live each day to its fullest
you cant take anything for granted now a days. threats are more likely to happen now a days,yet you cant deprive your child from learning but isint school out on june 1st?
u should send her to school... the detectives didnt come because they were afraid something would happen.. they only came to comfort the kids... i know its hard but u cant face a problem with leaving it
get a zone variance slip, and now what it is, is basically permission from the school district for your daughter to go to a school she is not zoned for, despite her zoning area keep her out of school for the time being it should take maybe a week or two to get the zone variance slip i will pray for your daughter's school and the students in it hope all turns out well and not disastrous
I think you have some definite concerns and your daughter's safety is more important in a case like this. Think of it in these terms: Ten years from now, will it matter if she didn't go to school and it turned out to be a false alarm? Ten years from now, will it matter if she did go to school and got hurt? If this happened in my daughter's high school, I'd keep her home as well.
skool threats happen every where. some bigger than other...and when there bad...you use ur own judgement and decide for her.
You are not paranoid, keep them home until you can talk to the school officials about how they are handling it and when feel it is safe in your own gut, good luck!
Well I'm not a parent, so i can't identify fully with how you are feeling, but I am a student and I can tell you what I would want my mom to do in that situation. I wouldn't want my mom to tell me not to go to school or tell me that I had to go, I would want to go only if I felt comfortable. I can also tell you, coming from a pretty large highschool with several bomb threats a year, that they have all been duds. That's not to say that this one isn't, but if you look at most school shootings, the attackers do not usually warn the school. I think to school officials are taking care of the situation really well, so try not to be to paranoid if you can! But if you really want her to stay home, just talk to her to make sure that she is feeling the same way. hope that helps!
I think it is a personal decision. I, however, would hate to live with the "what-ifs" if I sent my children to school when avid threats were being made, and something happened. I mean, no, you obviously can't protect them forever, but while you can do what you can. Once it is determined who initiated the threats and the school is again unthreatened, I think I would feel safer. Then again, what is safe? This is a hard question, I will be praying for you and your child, and her school. May they find the person(s) responsible soon.
I don't think you're being paranoid and ridiculous at all. Twenty years ago, I would have thought, 'ah, well another kid playing a prank.' Not anymore. It's too scary out there. I would do everything I could to keep her home until the perpetrator is found and the issue is resolved. That's what I would do.
It is better to feel paranoid and ridiculous than it is to feel the senseless loss of a child. The school year is almost over anyway, go ahead and keep her home until the threat has been uncovered. If the school is not actively pursuing the author of these threats than perhaps you should talk to other parents who feel as you do and meet with the school board to discuss the matter.
I would not want to send my child to school either the way things are looking there. But your right you cant keep her home forever. With all the mass shootings happinging at schools I wouldn't take a chance. Keep her home as long as you can. Tell the teachers or counselor how you feel and ask if they can send her assignments home or you can come pick them up. Maybe you might want to look into home schooling. I went to home schooling for my last two years of high school. Its also called independant studies. I had a teacher that I would visit every week. She would go over my assignments with me. I would take tests every week on all the chapters and subjects that I was supposed to complete the week before and they required you take one group class to have some interaction with the other students. The only thing that was a bummer was that had no sports teams to join and they didn't have a prom but they did have a graduation ceremony. I really enjoyed it.
I have a teen daughter, and I would keep her home. Don't feel paranoid and ridiculous. You are a mom who loves her child. I think it is a natural feeling. I would be scared, too. Go with your heart and keep her home.
You are not being ridiculous, you are being a Mom. I live in a small and quiet town also, and some of the things that have gone on here within the past few years are frightening. I think that you should keep this as an open discussion with your daughter. You do not want her to get too far behind on her schoolwork, but you want to keep her safe. If she is an older teenager, she should be able to discuss this with you in an adult manner. If she is younger, you should keep her out of school until the perpetrator of this horrible mess is caught. I can thankfully say that when I was in school, the scariest thing would be for someone to call you names and take your lunch money. May God help us all, there is too much threatening and terror in the world today. I wish you and your daughter the best.
i would keep my child home as well. although, it's probably safe while the school is on high alert. u just never know. i have thought about home schooling my kids because safety is a concern. my daughter was threatened by another student. i just don't feel that schools are a safe place anymore.
Wow this is something that you have a right to feel paranoid about so dont feel ridiculous. I suggest moving to another school. This should not be happening how is this person getting to the girls And boys bathrooms and writting things without being cought and how come the letters are being put in anonimousely this is very stressfull on you're part this is no place for you're daughter i feel for you and the kids at this school it is much better to be safe than sorry.
" u should send her to school... the detectives didnt come because they were afraid something would happen.. they only came to comfort the kids... i know its hard but u cant face a problem with leaving " You have got to be kidding! You are not being paranoid! Call the school and have them give you her work. The detectives are there because something is wrong and obviously wouldn't be there if it was safe! She is your child and if you are not comfortable with a situation then there is definately a reason for it. Use your built in "mom instinct" and you will know when it's safe. If it were my child and I had the ability to send them to another school, safer one, then I would definately do that. Homeschooling is also an option. "I can't hide her out forever, but I can't in good concience send her to school with this going on." BUT you can keep her safe until it blows over.
Don't feel paranoid and ridiculous, she's your child and just like any parent that loves and wants to protect their child you are concerned for her safety in the face of a valid threat. However, I am confused why this is in the section titled "home school"? Unless what you want to hear is take her out of school and home school her. That's the only way to be certain she won't become a victim at any school. That is one of the reasons that many choose to home school. Regardless what anyone says, is this the type of 'socialization' our children need, the stress of living in fear as they go to a place where there have been threats and never can be assured something like that won't happen? What would be going through my mind is what happens the day after I sent my child back and the threatened plan was carried out. I would ask her how she feels, will she ever feel safe there (or in any public school) again and let her help make any decision. Good luck.
If you are willing to do more than just protect her from what might happen--that is, if you are willing to make sure she got a great education and did not have her social life cut off--then by all means, homeschool. I would ask her about it first, though: a teen forced into homeschooling can carry around anger about it forever and while the homeschooling may keep her physically safe, it could change her negatively otherwise.
The first priority of public schools is the safety of students. Since there is a safety issue, I would keep her home. Are there other parents who feel the same; then, organize a study group for any of them staying home. Have teachers e-mail assignments. Don't just keep her home, speak with the principal. Regarding your remark about "We live in a smaller quiet town and you never really think it will happen here...", it happens in smaller and urban towns. Search "a timeline of school shootings" for a list.
When the Columbine shootings happened, the media was all over homeschoolers. They came to our homeschool convention, and wanted to interview folks...it was sad. Such a tragedy. Even today, you hear that students and officals know or have heard something is going on, but they just don't think it can happen to them. Well, it can. If it was me, I'd pull my kids out until the district had some concrete information. It's sad to live in fear...but I think it would be worse to ignore warnings like that. And I'd say, if they didn't think anything was possible, they wouldn't have detectives at the doors...they'd have them come to an assembly, classroom visits, etc, not controlling access with police.
I have a son, who's three months, If he were in a school with threats , I would pull him out and just have him home school. I would be like you and be so nervous with him going to school.
I'm going to said take it one day at a time and guest like her fished out the the weeks she has.