Wednesday, July 2, 2008

WARNING

I was not going to do this, but on further thought, it seems important.

My youngest was taking a reading course this summer. It is not exactly summer school. In summer school, I assume there is a goal. In summer reading camp, we all stay the same and don't get dumber. Sorry, I am a little unhappy with summer reading camp.

This morning, was the last day of "Summer Reading Camp." I was folding laundry and putting away dishes while I waited for the boy to walk home. The school is right across the street from our home. I can see the front door from my back deck.

We have a German shepherd dog. You may know Abby. If not, don't get in our yard or she will eat you. I hear her go crazy at about 11:45 am and go to check it out.

We have a solar blocking flim on some of our windows. The windows outside my kitchen are treated this way. During the day, we can see out, but you cannot see in.

As I look outside, with the door closed, I see an young white male. He is clean cut, wearing slacks and a white shirt. Next to him is my nine-year-old son. I have never seen this man in my life. I will the German shepherd to jump over the fence and eat the stranger. The dog does not do her job because the boy is friendly to the stanger.

It turns out this is a teacher at our school. When I opened the door he did not introduce himself. He said something to the effect of, "teacherschoolrainbarrel." Apparently, he talked my youngest son into showing him our new rain barrel.

We live in a little town. DO NOT EVER LET YOUR GAURD DOWN. I don't know this man and he crossed the line. Why didn't he knock on the door. Why didn't he introduce himself. What the hell was he doing on my deck. My kids are overprotected and need to have a lesson in stranger danger.

PAY ATTENTION. I ALMOST DIDN'T

8 comments:

  1. GRRRRRRR!!!! What a shocking thing to have happen! Thank God you saw it so you could give Baby Monkey--and the others, since the opportunity presented itself--a good lesson. A call to the school/group leader might be in order, too.

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  2. Well, if I were the "camp" leader and wanted to make a visit to your house to see the rain barrel I certainly would have placed a phone call first. Weird. I suppose he didn't knock since the actual intention wasn't really to meet you, but it sure would have been the polite thing to do!

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  3. HI ofb and cinj, going to call the school this morning. Don't know the exact policy, but pretty sure uninvited teacher in yard is not okay.

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  4. Oh hon, you cannot be too worried about these things! I don't know if you know this, but I wrote many investigative articles years ago about such dangers. And these people take jobs just to be around children. I mean, where do we think they choose to work? A graveyard? No, they work where they can have the most exposure to children. He may be perfectly harmless, but this was not a good thing, my friend. And your poor son thinks because he knows him, it is all right. I don't even know how to explain such matters to kids today. Glad mine are grown!
    Hugs, Brenda

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  5. Thanks Brenda, A few people have told me I am over reacting. I don't care if I am because if anything happened to my child or a neighbor I would never forgive myself for not saying something.

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  6. I'm not sure you can over react ... Yes, he may have been in good faith, but there remains the possibility that he wasn't.

    Two things occur - not sure what happens in the States but in some countries you have to be police checked before you can work with kids. If that's true there, I'd check with the organisers that it's been done. Secondly, in any case, anyone working with kids should have had training in what is and isn't acceptable behaviour - apart from anything else for their own protection so that if they are in good faith they don't get misinterpreted. If this guy had a genuine interest in your rain barrel (maybe he wanted to buy one) the obvious thing to do would have been to say to your son "Ask your Mum if I can come and see it tomorrow" That way, no misinterpretation, no worries for you, and no problems for him.

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  7. Hi Sue, Here in Texas we have to have a background check to work with children, even as volunteers. I have mine checked yearly both by the Texas Master Gardeners Association and our local school district. I am assuming the same is true for teachers. We have talked to his principle regarding the incident. She is handling it and assures me they are taking the matter seriously. Hopefully, this was just a judgement error and not a real problem. Unfortunately, in the past, this school district actually hired a serial killer. I am not kidding.

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  8. You know, at first I thought you were slightly overreacting, but I agree that you can't EVER be too careful. I mean, the BTK killer was a "respected" member of his church congregation! Frankly, the fact that the school is "just across the street" is absolutely NO comfort! I'm glad they're taking it seriously, because you just never know.

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