Every week, I eagerly turn to the Police Beat in our local paper to find out the latest and not-so greatest of our community. Yesterday, I rolled my eyes at the 16-year-old kid who was busted with marijuana and wrote a letter defending his use of weed by quoting the Bible. How utterly religious of him.
I looked at my two young children and thought “How glad I am I don’t have to worry about this yet.” But then I kept reading.
The next story was about cocaine found at a preschool. I was initially upset but then became enraged when I realized it wasn’t just any preschool: it was at the playground at my daughter’s preschool.
The school administration somehow thought it was not important to relay the information to parents that illegal drugs had been found on the premises during school hours. These same officials who somehow deem it necessary to print off hundreds of fliers detailing banal “issues” such as the dangers of letting children use the handicapped door opener.
I addressed the issue at school that morning. The director was stupefied over it all. She said she called the police to investigate and her supervisor advised her to not go public with the information. She defended herself: “We did not know it would get printed in the paper.”
Obviously.
Do I blame the school? Definitely not. They likely had nothing to do with the cocaine being there.
Do I blame how they handled it? Definitely. I firmly believe that anything illegal on school property should be made known. Parents have the right to be informed so they can reinforce safeguards to their children if they see something out of place.
Their lack of responsiveness to the situation demonstrates a serious lapse of judgment and even after I addressed the issue, there was a foreboding lack of accountability.
The director assured me it will likely be an isolated incident, to which I respond, “Doesn’t every chain of incidents begin with just one?”
But I certainly hope she is right.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 