Has Your Child Had Anything Stolen At School?

[marcyinPA]

Those graphing calculators are a hot commodity, especially for the kids who can't afford to buy their own and borrow one from a teacher during class. How appealing to take someone else's from a backpack...

Unfortunately, the kids need them in school, so they have to take them to school. A $100 item that they need to guard with their life or it will be lifted. You can leave an iPhone at home, I guess- but the calculator you need for math class, not so much.

 

[dogluva]

When other people's decisions regarding their kids start impacting me, I think it is reasonable for me to object. No different than anything else in a free society, your rights are only limited by the point at which they start impacted other people's rights.

Still don't understand how my kids having a cell phone at 14 or 2 if I choose, is impacting on your rights.

 

[Minnie]

DS had a sports team jacket stolen.
Sorry, still have trouble accepting a 14 year old with a cell phone let along an iphone. My kids got cell phones when they were 16 and driving, but they had to stay in the glove box (school rule, not mine).

Things left laying around on the bus or at school are not 'stolen', they are lost. Do not take something to school you can not afford to lose. It's simple really. Expensive, material possessions are just blinking lights saying 'steal me.' IMHO

Still don't understand how my kids having a cell phone at 14 or 2 if I choose, is impacting on your rights.

Completely agree! This reeks of blame the victim - and yes anyone that has something stolen be it out of car, desk or locker at work - or even out of a book bag or locker at school is a victim of theft. Why in the world should it matter if you choose to allow your child a cell phone at school? That has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that an item was stolen... If this was your wallet, purse, or even a phone out of your desk or car at work I'd bet you'd believe it was a theft...

Anyone that takes something that does not belong to them flat out is a thief!

 

[Teacher03]

I teach kindergarten....I have had a bag of smarties stolen off of my desk, a student's watch, 3 calculators, a couple of things off of my science table, some items from the treasure box, and my MR. POTATO HEAD PARTS from Disney! It has been about 3 different boys stealing, and only one parent seemed shocked and handled the situation at home. The rest offered no apologies, no explanation, no sense of responsibility. The boys themselves shrugged it off and wondered why they had a consequence at school. Sad, isn't it?

 

[luvmy3]

When other people's decisions regarding their kids start impacting me, I think it is reasonable for me to object. No different than anything else in a free society, your rights are only limited by the point at which they start impacted other people's rights.

Oh, I get it. A parent letting their 14 year old have a cell phone impacts your life. However, if they wait until their child is 16 it wont.
Wait, I still don't get it

 

[Allison]

Still don't understand how my kids having a cell phone at 14 or 2 if I choose, is impacting on your rights.

It's not.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I don't understand how my child having a phone at 14 impacts your life, and yet you seem OK with allowing a 16 year old to drive.

Seems like a child who wasn't responsible enough to have a phone last month has no place behind the wheel. It also seems like people with cars impact my life way more than having to sign a piece of paper or hearing a ringing phone once in a while. After all, I need to deal with the pollution they cause, pay taxes for parking spaces at the local public school, and risk my life because of teen drivers on the road.

 

[luvmy3]

I don't understand how my child having a phone at 14 impacts your life, and yet you seem OK with allowing a 16 year old to drive.

Seems like a child who wasn't responsible enough to have a phone last month has no place behind the wheel. It also seems like people with cars impact my life way more than having to sign a piece of paper or hearing a ringing phone once in a while. After all, I need to deal with the pollution they cause, pay taxes for parking spaces at the local public school, and risk my life because of teen drivers on the road.

And don't forget the risk of teen drivers is greater when they own a cell phone at 16 too.

 

[MrsPete]

Those graphing calculators are a hot commodity, especially for the kids who can't afford to buy their own and borrow one from a teacher during class. How appealing to take someone else's from a backpack...

Actually, I don't hear of these being stolen. In fact, we have a bunch of them in the lost-and-found that students don't even bother to pick up. As a parent, I'd be furious if my student just couldn't be bothered to search for an expensive calculator I'd purchased for her!

When it comes to electronics, what kids steal is phones. Especially the nicer phones. Kids pretty much don't bring iPads to school, even though quite a few mention having them at home.

 

[MrsPete]

Completely agree! This reeks of blame the victim - and yes anyone that has something stolen be it out of car, desk or locker at work - or even out of a book bag or locker at school is a victim of theft. Why in the world should it matter if you choose to allow your child a cell phone at school? That has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that an item was stolen... If this was your wallet, purse, or even a phone out of your desk or car at work I'd bet you'd believe it was a theft...

Anyone that takes something that does not belong to them flat out is a thief!

Of course theft is wrong . . . but we should also teach our children not to make themselves easy targets. Given that theft is a part of our world, they need to learn to protect themselves. They will face the possibility of theft in the workplace (my husband's had things stolen from his office and his lab), out in society, and even at home. That's not blaming the victim: It's teaching the child to minimize his chances of being a victim in the future.

 

[tvguy]

Oh, I get it. A parent letting their 14 year old have a cell phone impacts your life. However, if they wait until their child is 16 it wont.
Wait, I still don't get it

. Guess we both best move on then.

 

[KiminChicago]

Just prior to Winter Break, my DS was held up at gunpoint in the parking lot of his high school. He was playing in the pep band for the girls varsity basketball game and somehow got the time wrong. Since he was really early, he decided to head back to his car and drive over to the Taco Bell to get some dinner. On the way back to the car, two kids walked up to him, showed him a gun and told him they wanted his smartphone.

After he handed the phone to them, they started to walk away and he put his clarinet in the back seat of the car. He was getting into the drivers seat to get out of there when they walked back and told him they decided they wanted the car too. Fortunately he was thinking quickly and told them that he'd give them the car key, but he wasn't going to give them the house key so they'd have to wait until he could get the house key off his keyring. While he was doing that, other cars started pulling into the parking lot so the two thieves ran.

Although the phone was a tough blow, we really would have had more trouble replacing his clarinet and the car. The police were really great and arrested the two punks a week later. One was 14, the other was 17 and out on parole from a prior conviction for a gang fight (he turned 18 just last month in prison). Both young men were charged with a class X felony -- the 14 year old just plead guilty and was sentenced to community service....

 

[clarkshel]

When other people's decisions regarding their kids start impacting me, I think it is reasonable for me to object. No different than anything else in a free society, your rights are only limited by the point at which they start impacted other people's rights.

Give it a rest. You make no sense.

 

[dogluva]

. Guess we both best move on then.

Right-that is what is said when you can't back up your point.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Right-that is what is said when you can't back up your point.

Pretty much

 

[marcyinPA]

Actually, I don't hear of these being stolen. In fact, we have a bunch of them in the lost-and-found that students don't even bother to pick up. As a parent, I'd be furious if my student just couldn't be bothered to search for an expensive calculator I'd purchased for her!

When it comes to electronics, what kids steal is phones. Especially the nicer phones. Kids pretty much don't bring iPads to school, even though quite a few mention having them at home.

I should have included "in my son's high school". In fact, my son's pre-calc teacher threatened to ban calculators from the final exam until all of HIS borrowed calculators were returned. That's a case of just keeping something and not stealing it- but I do know kids who have had all of their expensive stuff stolen from their backpack (gym class) at one time. Phone, iPod, calculator, cash- all gone. (eta that I was originally responding to the pp who wrote that kids should leave all expensive items at home. You can't leave these $100 items at home if you need it for class.)

 

[Pigeon]

My dd had a Northface jacket stolen. Unfortunately, in the pocket of the jacket was dh's cell phone and an mp3 player. She had left the jacket backstage at a concert the night before and one of her friends picked it up and was going to give it to her the next day, but for some reason only the teenage brain can understand, she instead decided it would make sense to just leave it unattended in a particular classroom, where it got stolen. The administrators looked at tapes of the hallway outside the classroom, but couldn't figure out anything.

She also had her gym locker broken into and her new, nice sneakers stolen.