One dad in Alabama was stunned this past month when his third-grade son returned home with a stamp on his arm of a smiley face with text underneath.
At first, Dad thought it was a reward from a teacher or a joke played by another kid, but the truth was much more disturbing.
When he realized exactly what he was looking at, the father, Jon Bivens, took to the local news, The Huntsville Times, to air a disturbing complaint.
Much like this girl forced to cover up for wearing a tank top, Bivens’ son had been called out and publicly humiliated for a very minor infraction, one that he had little control over.
After all, kids in grade school, generally aged between 5 and 11, can’t exactly be held to a very high level of accountability, and definitely don’t deserve to be bullied by their teachers and the school administration.
And what exactly was this little boy’s big mistake? Read on below to learn the details behind the story.
[H/T: The Huntsville Times/AL.com]
At first glance, Jon Bivens thought his son had been rewarded for good behavior with a smiley face stamp on his arm.
Then, he noticed the writing underneath and realized that his third grader had been stamped with the words, “I Need Lunch Money.”
Shocked at first, he didn’t register the implications of the stamp.
As it turns out, the elementary school that Bivens’ son attends, Gardendale Elementary in Gardendale, AL, operates its cafeteria with refillable charge cards.
Students who buy lunch at school swipe the card to pay for lunch.
Parents keep the cards refilled by topping them up with money from time to time and are notified if the balance runs low.
Bivens understood the card system, but was shocked by the method of delivery.
His little boy brings a packed lunch to school almost every day and rarely needs lunch money, unless he wants to buy a special treat from the cafeteria.
As a result, he almost never has to use his school lunch card and his parents decided not to top it up so close to the end of the school year.
Still, Jon Bivens told The Huntsville Times that he was stunned by the way that the school had chosen to convey the message to him as a parent.
He says that, in the past, the school had called or sent emails or letters to remind parents of the balance.
The stamp, which he calls a “brand,” was typically a communication of last resort for the school.
Bivens says he received no direct contact, and adds, “When you start stamping a message on a child's body instead of calling…it's not okay.”
He also calls the stamping, “a form of bullying.”
From his perspective as a parent, it was completely uncalled-for behavior from the school.
He also notes that the timing was especially hard to understand.
His son was just days away from finishing the third grade, with school finishing up before the end of the month of June.
He had no reason to think his son would need more money on his card before the end of the year, and thinks the school needs to entirely rethink how they communicate with the kids and with their parents.
Do you agree with Bivens about how the school handled this dilemma?
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