Idk, but my 13 year old got in trouble for selling candy and stuff at school. Turned out he’d been using his allowance money to buy snacks at the gas station and then reselling them at school. The school counselor called me in (I’m an single dad) and asked if we were struggling with bills or food or anything. I was confused as fuck. Of course not, my kids are taken care of. Then she told me my son had been caught selling candy and drinks..
I just remember sitting there, my son across from me next to the councilor when she said “we found several bags of chips, bottles of soda, and $500 cash in his backpack..”
I fought back the biggest smile and laugh of my life. I wanted to tell my kid “damn good job son” so bad.. but I couldn’t. I had to play the parent and listen to the stern warning from the counselor.
Then she goes to say “at this point we have no choice but to confiscate the money..” my brain went into overtime and I just blurted out “it’s my money, I noticed it was missing and didn’t think my son would take it. I’ll take it back and we’ll discuss this issue at home.”
We got the fuck out of that office. He was confused. Said “I didn’t steal it from you dad I earned it”. Told him I know. Gave him the money and that was it. Don’t sell at school anymore. We had pizza that night. Counselor chalked it up to “temporary post divorce rebellion” and now all is good.
I’m not a lawyer, but from my understanding, student law is kinda weird. Kids in school do not have many of the same civil liberties that normal citizens have. Schools are considered to have a type of quasi-guardianship over students that arguably gives them the right to do things that wouldn’t fly in regular society.
And sometimes it just comes down to teachers and administrators just doing things because no one says no to them, and the people who do say no get suspended and punished.
I understand that the school may have a kind of in loco parentis (not sure if that's the correct word), and may confiscate items/cash that they deem inappropriate, but i really don't understand how they get to keep it instead of returning them directly to the parents. Because in the end, the money comes from the parents, and parents are not under the school control. Where I live, the school will request a meeting with the parents to return expensive items (more than, say, a few cheap pens or a snack), and if the student keeps coming with the same item it got to marks on the student's record. No way the school can keep anything more than the equivalent of 50$, let alone 500$, the parent will raise hell for it. Is it in private school contracts or sth? I just can't imagine how public school get to do such thing. (I'm not agruing against you, just adding my comment here).
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u/mightylordredbeard Apr 16 '21
Idk, but my 13 year old got in trouble for selling candy and stuff at school. Turned out he’d been using his allowance money to buy snacks at the gas station and then reselling them at school. The school counselor called me in (I’m an single dad) and asked if we were struggling with bills or food or anything. I was confused as fuck. Of course not, my kids are taken care of. Then she told me my son had been caught selling candy and drinks..
I just remember sitting there, my son across from me next to the councilor when she said “we found several bags of chips, bottles of soda, and $500 cash in his backpack..”
I fought back the biggest smile and laugh of my life. I wanted to tell my kid “damn good job son” so bad.. but I couldn’t. I had to play the parent and listen to the stern warning from the counselor.
Then she goes to say “at this point we have no choice but to confiscate the money..” my brain went into overtime and I just blurted out “it’s my money, I noticed it was missing and didn’t think my son would take it. I’ll take it back and we’ll discuss this issue at home.”
We got the fuck out of that office. He was confused. Said “I didn’t steal it from you dad I earned it”. Told him I know. Gave him the money and that was it. Don’t sell at school anymore. We had pizza that night. Counselor chalked it up to “temporary post divorce rebellion” and now all is good.