A Sad Situation
01/17/2008
There was a very tragic accident at a Jonesboro elementary school Tuesday. A mother dropped her child off and some how the child was dragged under the mothers car and run over. After several hours at the hospital the doctors were not able to save the child’s life. Of course it was the main news item for the day with reporters interviewing parents as they picked up their children from school. It was a comment from a grandparent picking up their grandchild that really irked me.
First a little back story so you will under stand the comment. This school has a policy that all kindergartner’s are to be dropped off in the back lot if before 8 a.m. The reason for this is that the school has chaperone’s out their to help the child out of the car & wave to the parent that they can go on once the child is safely out of the way. After 8 a.m. parents are to use the front lot and walk the child into the building.
This particular morning, evidently the mother of the boy in this news item, dropped her child off at the front but did not walk the child into the building.
Now, the comment that this grandmother made-"If they would just have someone out their for another 15 minutes it would help". Excuse me?
First of all, the school is going way out of the way to provide the chaperone service in the first place. Second, the school has set up a protocol that if followed, should provide safety. Why should the school change their policy? Shouldn’t parents or whoever is dropping the child off just follow the established protocol? Why should the parents responsibility for getting the child into the school safely end by just pulling up to the curb?
Yes, we all run behind sometimes and it can ruin your whole morning. But, what is worse, suffering the wrath of a disgruntled boss because you’re late or suffering the rest of your life because you’ve run over and killed your child? Not to sound cruel or heartless but I’d bet that would make you really late for work.
It’s indeed a very sad and tragic accident.
Blog365 – 17/365
OMG, that is so sad.
That poor mom, she will never get over this.
That’s just so sad. At Shorty’s school we have a drop off / pickup line.. Most of the time there’s only one (maybe two) teachers out there in the mornings. Watching all the kids come in. In the afternoon there are four. They let the kids ( K-3) only come out 4 at a time and that’s only when their names are called. We have to put the kids names in the window of the vehicle. It’s really smooth going and prevents tragedies like this from happening.
that was really heart breaking.imagine the pain of parents having to going thru the ritual of funeral of their own child.god bless them with peace.
Very sad to hear and its a miracle we don’t hear of more accidents daily. I see poor parenting choices every day when I drop BJ off in the morning. Some parents in a rush get out of the car line and park across the street and let the kids try to navigate a street crossing with cars wizing by….Stay safe and hug a child today.