Jamestown bans decorating student lockers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe too many parents are coming in, and disrupting school by decorating. It doesn't say students can't decorate their friends lockers, just parents can't. Must be a reason parents are specified.

Perhaps, but again, you'd think an explanation for what appears to be an arbitrary policy change would be given.

I don't think too many first and second graders would decorate their lockers. I do think parents might want to do something like that on their birthday.

It has never once occurred to this parent to want to do something like that on my kids' birthdays. I think it is completely bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't like this because invariably there will be children who never get their lockers decorated, and those children will feel left out. And for some of those children it won't really matter much (because their parents shower attention on them in other ways), but for a few it will matter because they never get that kind of attention, and this will be just one more way they see that they get the short end of the stick in life. Since there are absolutely no downsides to discontinuing this practice, why not stop it if it makes even just a few children feel bad?

Well, the downside of continuing the practice is that it ends a tradition and makes children who've done it in the past feel bad because they don't get to do it anymore.

I wonder if this is really a SAHM/WOHM thing, where only the SAHMs have the opportunity to help decorate lockers and the WOHMs have complained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe too many parents are coming in, and disrupting school by decorating. It doesn't say students can't decorate their friends lockers, just parents can't. Must be a reason parents are specified.

Perhaps, but again, you'd think an explanation for what appears to be an arbitrary policy change would be given.

I don't think too many first and second graders would decorate their lockers. I do think parents might want to do something like that on their birthday.

It has never once occurred to this parent to want to do something like that on my kids' birthdays. I think it is completely bizarre.

Just because someone does something differently from the way you think doesn't make it bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe too many parents are coming in, and disrupting school by decorating. It doesn't say students can't decorate their friends lockers, just parents can't. Must be a reason parents are specified.

Perhaps, but again, you'd think an explanation for what appears to be an arbitrary policy change would be given.

I don't think too many first and second graders would decorate their lockers. I do think parents might want to do something like that on their birthday.[/quote


I don't think it is an "arbitrary" policy change. It says parents, and if you are a parent who wants to decorate your child's locker, ask why you can't. If it is, like I suggested (I am the poster who originally stated maybe too many parents are coming in), you have your answer and you can ask one of your child's friends to maybe put on a special card from you or something, when they decorate your kid's locker.

Also, is Jamestown an ES? They have lockers? That is what is bizarre to me in this whole exchange...It isn't bizarre to not want parents in the building constantly with decorations, and the need to go to the office and sign in for that, versus legitimate conferences with teachers etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe too many parents are coming in, and disrupting school by decorating. It doesn't say students can't decorate their friends lockers, just parents can't. Must be a reason parents are specified.

Perhaps, but again, you'd think an explanation for what appears to be an arbitrary policy change would be given.

I don't think too many first and second graders would decorate their lockers. I do think parents might want to do something like that on their birthday.[/quote


I don't think it is an "arbitrary" policy change. It says parents, and if you are a parent who wants to decorate your child's locker, ask why you can't. If it is, like I suggested (I am the poster who originally stated maybe too many parents are coming in), you have your answer and you can ask one of your child's friends to maybe put on a special card from you or something, when they decorate your kid's locker.

Also, is Jamestown an ES? They have lockers? That is what is bizarre to me in this whole exchange...It isn't bizarre to not want parents in the building constantly with decorations, and the need to go to the office and sign in for that, versus legitimate conferences with teachers etc.

Yes, Jamestown is an ES. All grades but K and 5th have lockers, and that's because 5th is in the trailers.

It is absolutely an arbitrary policy change since it's actually a long-standing tradition to do this at the school. The kids usually do it for each other, but parents do help. The principal evidently rudely accosted one mother who was doing it the first week of school and made a comment about how not all parents have the time to do it, which makes me suspect the other pp was right when she suggested this is really more subjective than an issue of crowding in the hallways (which aren't that crowded).

I don't think this was happening during school hours, anyway. But maybe it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't like this because invariably there will be children who never get their lockers decorated, and those children will feel left out. And for some of those children it won't really matter much (because their parents shower attention on them in other ways), but for a few it will matter because they never get that kind of attention, and this will be just one more way they see that they get the short end of the stick in life. Since there are absolutely no downsides to discontinuing this practice, why not stop it if it makes even just a few children feel bad?

AGREE!

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a weird N. Arlington SAHM show-offy thing the school is probably tired of. Not surprised if parents were constantly visiting and disrupting. Save your celebration for at home! School is for learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a weird N. Arlington SAHM show-offy thing the school is probably tired of. Not surprised if parents were constantly visiting and disrupting. Save your celebration for at home! School is for learning.

Please. Parents don't do this to show off to other parents. Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Lockers in an ES? Do they have combination locks?

[Anonymous]

I hope that you have a committee that decorates everyone's locker on their birthday. Otherwise that would be horrible for the poor little kids whose parents can't spend the time to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesus, have people got nothing better to do than go into school and decorate their kids lockers? Never mind banning the practice, I would have them locked up for being nuts.

Agree with this. Has nothing become cringe-worthy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a weird N. Arlington SAHM show-offy thing the school is probably tired of. Not surprised if parents were constantly visiting and disrupting. Save your celebration for at home! School is for learning.

Please. Parents don't do this to show off to other parents. Give me a break.

Ok, then to prove to other children that your child is more special and has parents who love him more? Celebrate your kid all you want at home but the fact that parents want to carry it over into school IS show-offy. This really would never occur to me as a parent - hell I can barely make it to work. Ain't nobody got time for that.

[Anonymous]

OMG!!! I can't believe this is happening in an ES school (or any for that matter).

OP if you came on here looking for support, god help you. This is truly one of those helicopter parents thing gone wrong.

Cheers to the principal for putting a nix on this.

[Anonymous]

And p.s. - if this was children decorating other children's lockers, I'd be okay with it. But PARENTS, give me a break. Stay out of the school. School is for learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG!!! I can't believe this is happening in an ES school (or any for that matter).

OP if you came on here looking for support, god help you. This is truly one of those helicopter parents thing gone wrong.

Cheers to the principal for putting a nix on this.

Agree 100%!!!