Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Pointing Out The Pointless Points

I am amazed at some of the things I hear each day. For instance,
I asked a kid if he got the work I sent to ISS yesterday.

No. I didn't go to ISS.
I saw you were marked absent in ISS, but I saw you in the hall
here, and you didn't come to my class. I thought they drove you
over to that building.
No. I didn't have to go.

(He had been saying for a couple days that he wasn't going, that
his dad said it wasn't right, and he didn't have to. "MmmHmmm,"
I thought. "Another case of the rules apply to everybody but me,
because my dad will come up here and make a scene." I didn't
have the heart to tell him that he would soon find out that IT IS
NOT ALL ABOUT HIM. And we know why, don't we? Because
IT IS ALL ABOUT MRS. HILLBILLY MOM.)

I found the conversation a bit puzzling.
Then why weren't you in my class?
Oh, Mr.Principal said I could go home.
What? I've never heard of that. I need to sign your admit slip.
I don't have one.
Then you need to go get one. All teachers have to sign it. They
are very strict about that in this building.
Can I go get one?
You have to go get one.

He came back and handed it to me.
Ohh...you had OSS instead of ISS.
I didn't have OSS!
That's what it says here on the admit slip.
No it doesn't. Mr. Principal said if I didn't like it, I could go home.
Yeah. On OSS.
No. He just said I could go home.
Well, it doesn't say 'excused', and it doesn't say 'medical', and it
doesn't say 'unexcused', or 'funeral'. It says 'discipline'. That's
what it says for OSS.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I've been signing them for 9 years now. It always means OSS.
Young Mr. Fighter over there brought in his for last week, and
his said 'discipline'. Hey, Young Mr. Fighter, did Mr. Principal
tell you that you could just go home for those 5 days?
NO! I was kicked out!
Well, that's not what he told me. He said I could go home.
You can believe what you want, but that goes down as a disciplinary
absence, and you can't make up that work. So forget about what I
sent to ISS. Where you didn't go.
Hey, I'm a good kid. I haven't been in any trouble all year.

Except the OSS. Ahhhhhhh...sometimes it just isn't worth it to
make your point.

5 comments:

LanternLight said...

OSS? ISS? I'm rather like Pooh Bear, where I have very little brain.

It used to be great fun telling teachers we had "Free's" when we had study sessions.

Now that I'm grown up(?), I wouldn't do that again.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Lantern,
Let me shine a little light on this subject for you. ISS is In-School Suspension. The kids are isolated. They can't go to the lunchroom for lunch, they have to eat at their desks in the ISS room. They all walk in a line to the bathroom, like little kids. Work is sent to them. Sometimes all the work they've been missing for a few weeks is sent, because if they don't get finished, they have to stay another day in ISS. It's the teachers' way of getting revenge. Kind of like Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but we don't have to go to the student's home, by cracky, because that would just be OH SO WRONG.

OSS is Out-of-School Suspension. The student is 'kicked out' for a day or two or three or ten, depending on what he did. One of the reasons is a refusal to go to ISS. Usually it is given for fighting. OSS students can not make up any work missed on those days. They must receive ZERO on all assignments. They can not attend after-school activities like games or dances on those days.

Now you must explain: What are FREEs? Is it like telling the substitute that you have a free day, with no work to be done?

Queen Of Cheese said...

I completely agree with OSS and not being able to make up your work. A local school district (maybe ours, maybe not) says it's punishing a child twice so they send the work home with them. Does that not equal FREE VACATION FROM SCHOOL??????? Do the teachers qualify for OSS? With pay?? NO THEY DO NOT!!!!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Mrs.,
Wow! You've really got the hang of this PEOPLE PISS ME OFF stuff, don't you? I'm OH SO PROUD of you!

Queen Of Cheese said...

I try!