Last Tuesdays Strike

[Lori]

I received a letter from my daughter's college regarding her absence

last Tuesday.  It is asking me to state why she wasn't

there.  She wasn't there because all but one of her teachers were

on strike.  That is what they (the teachers) told her the day

before the strike.  The letter I received in the mail also stated

that a list of the striking teachers was sent home on

Monday.   My daughter said no list was given to her.  I

don't know if she is "stretching the truth" on this one or not, but she

insists no list was given to her.  I did find it odd that they

said a list was sent as it never has been before.  I did check the

Cahier de Correspondencce and there was no evidence of any note or

staple, etc.  On the previous strike day (the week before), I had

to call the school a bizillion times (line always busy) to get through

to find out which teachers WERE on strike in order to determine whether

daughter should go on to school or not. 

Question is, should I just mark down that she was sick or should I tell

the facts - daughter said she wasn't give list, all but one teacher

said they would strike,  they struck the previous Tuesday, and so

on and so on.  plus ....  I have also decided that strike or

no strike, I will send her to school.  I do not wish to get any

further letters in the mail.  Which reply should I give??  I

have to send it back Monday morning.

Thanks.

[Dotty0]

Lori

I would tell the truth.  You can't go far wrong then.

Dotty

[Teamedup]

I would do as Val2 has started doing and mark sick. Unauthorised absence goes on the record.

[Lori]

Dotty O - I can really appreciate the honesty thing as I am a real

stickler for that, but I remembered reading - here on the forum - how

unexcused absences (such as it would be if I tell the truth) will stay

on my daughter's record through her educational life here.  That

is why I was concerned.

Teamedup - that is exactly what I thought.   It is kind of

hard NOT to tell the truth as the whole thing is really annoying and I

would like to make that known.  However, I don't want to do it at

the expense of my daughter.

[Teamedup]

One could be philosophical about this and say that you and daughter were 'sick'. Using the other sense of the word, as in being sick (fed up) about something, works in french too and in this case, sick about the strike.

So would you be lying, if just using perhaps a different truth.

 

The trouble here is a lack of communication between the college and yourself and that is not your fault. So why should your daughter have a 'record'.

[Beryl]

Could you find out if any of your daughter's friends had this letter before you decide one way or another?  You could then put the onus back on the college if you find out that nobody had had one.

[Mistral]

In all the collèges I have worked in, I have never heard of a list of striking teaching being given to parents. Most teachers would explose if they heard about this. Whether or not they strike is a personal matter and as far as I know publishing a list of strikers is illegal. In most schools the CPE discretely asks teachers and then tells any pupils who ask and most teachers will tell pupils if they ask politely and at an appropriate moment (memories of  "now who can tell me what Mrs Rogers was doing? Yes, Anthony..?" "Madame, vous faites grève demain?" come to mind) Although some won't tell because they haven't yet made up their minds (they do have until the start of lessons on the strike day to do that) For the same reasons, schools won't tell parents when the phone in either. 

This does mean you have to rely on what your child tells you and they don't always get their information directly from the teachers. If a friend says Mme X is absent, they are going to believe it, or if they hear that Mr Y usually strikes, they can interpret it as being certain he won't be there. One class told me that because I wasn't striking they would have 5 heures de perm. So I went through their timetable with them. It turned out that only the teachers before and after lunch were absent (so that did make 3.5 hours without a lesson) but of the 7 hours of lessons they were supposed to have that day, they were only missing one hour of art and one hour of sport. All the other teachers were there. They were as surprised as me with the result.

Nor can a school refuse any absence signed by the parents, regardless of the reason. Absence justifié means that the parents know the pupils was absent, accept the reason and sign the absence slip. Nothing more. What you should have done is sent your daughter in with a signed absence on Wednesday in the same way you would have done if she had been ill. Most parents write "grève" but you could always write "absence de professeurs". I still don't understand how Val's son's school can refuse strike as a justification. If it's signed by the parents, they should accept it.

Schools do need to have these absences justified, even if it's for a strike. They are just making sure that you are aware that she wasn't at school on Tuesday. That she wasn't skiving. My CPE doesn't check absences on strike days, the pupils know this and there are loads of pupils who are dropped off at the gate and somehow fail to get any further. They spend the day with friends wandering around town, while their parents think they are at school. If they were my kids, I'd want to know.

[Lori]

teamedup - I like your philosophical attitude.  Makes sense to me.

Mistral - In the past, I have never seen a list distributed telling who

is on strike and who is not.  It makes the situation much more

confusing and annoying.  This is the first strike day letter I

have gotten.  I think I may write back the truth and ask them to

send me a copy of the list of striking teachers they supposedly sent

home (since I did not see it and daughter says she did not see

it).  I plan to add that from this day forward my daughter will go

to school whether there is a strike or not - as, for me, it is

virtually impossible to get the real facts prior to the strike

day.  So, she may be stuck in permanence all day - well I prefer

that than these types of letters.  I won't add that part in to my

response.  I'm not trying to be difficult, but the whole strike

situation affects the students too and the teachers don't seem to give

a rats patooty about that. 

I can ask another parent if they received a list - no problem - and good idea.

Thanks to all who have replied.  Always appreciated.

Lori

[timc17]

We send the kids to school regardless. If it turns out their teachers are on strike the school lets them call us so we can collect them.

 

[Lori]

timc17 - that is exactly what I intend to do in the future.  Have informed daughter and that is that...

thanks.