school attendance
hmmmm. weird. yesterday I posted a blog entry at about 12:15 pm from school. less than 24 hours later I’m at school again and the website is now blocked. that’s annoying and kind of surprising. but I’ve got to get this down so I’ll write it here. I’m supposed to be grading….that’s why I am at school on a Saturday morning.
yesterday one of my black female students wasn’t in school all day. her family is homeless—in the past, they’ve lived in a shelter and now they’re moving around between friends’ houses—which has caused her to miss school in the past. she’s bright and can focus when she comes to school, but it’s not good when she misses school.
her interpretation of why she didn’t come to school is that our assistant principal told her that she had to get her hair done (braids or curls or something) before she could come back to school. apparently what he told her is that if she came to school wearing a hat again (which I guess she had worn the day before but it hadn’t registered with me) he would send her home. so she interpreted it as ‘stay home for a whole entire day and get your hair done before you come back to school.’ it’s certainly not the first time a kid has stayed home from school to get their hair done, but the fact that the message, in whatever form, came from an administrator (who happens to also be black) is really disturbing. I want my kids in school. yes, they need to follow the dress code and keep their heads uncovered in class. but the biggest reason for that is so I can see their eyes—and know they’re paying attention—and so I can see their ears to know they aren’t listening to headphones. apparently her hat didn’t phase me because I could see her eyes and ears without any problem. baseball hats and hoods are really the thing that I notice.
I’m thinking of emailing my principal about this because it just really rubbed me the wrong way. an administrator, especially a black administrator with women in his life, should know well enough that a black girl who won’t come to school without a hat on a day that her hair isn’t done isn’t going to come back til her hair is done. middle school girls are self conscious and she’s especially a beauty queen. plus, add the fact that she’s homeless to the mix and you’ll find that she doesn’t want any reason to be teased. duh! she’s gonna stay home til her hair gets done, which is a big production.
grrrr. and you wonder what’s wrong with urban education.
yesterday one of my black female students wasn’t in school all day. her family is homeless—in the past, they’ve lived in a shelter and now they’re moving around between friends’ houses—which has caused her to miss school in the past. she’s bright and can focus when she comes to school, but it’s not good when she misses school.
her interpretation of why she didn’t come to school is that our assistant principal told her that she had to get her hair done (braids or curls or something) before she could come back to school. apparently what he told her is that if she came to school wearing a hat again (which I guess she had worn the day before but it hadn’t registered with me) he would send her home. so she interpreted it as ‘stay home for a whole entire day and get your hair done before you come back to school.’ it’s certainly not the first time a kid has stayed home from school to get their hair done, but the fact that the message, in whatever form, came from an administrator (who happens to also be black) is really disturbing. I want my kids in school. yes, they need to follow the dress code and keep their heads uncovered in class. but the biggest reason for that is so I can see their eyes—and know they’re paying attention—and so I can see their ears to know they aren’t listening to headphones. apparently her hat didn’t phase me because I could see her eyes and ears without any problem. baseball hats and hoods are really the thing that I notice.
I’m thinking of emailing my principal about this because it just really rubbed me the wrong way. an administrator, especially a black administrator with women in his life, should know well enough that a black girl who won’t come to school without a hat on a day that her hair isn’t done isn’t going to come back til her hair is done. middle school girls are self conscious and she’s especially a beauty queen. plus, add the fact that she’s homeless to the mix and you’ll find that she doesn’t want any reason to be teased. duh! she’s gonna stay home til her hair gets done, which is a big production.
grrrr. and you wonder what’s wrong with urban education.
posted by Allyson B. at
2:34 PM
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