Over the Edge

What does it take to push a girl who's had a bad day, that is PMSing, with 2 rambunctious boys, over the edge on a Friday evening?

A lunch letter from my kiddo's elementary school....

I get home from a day of having to deal with a mouthy, rude, disobedient, little boy; a day of missing the rigoramo of kindergarten graduation; the blues of there still being 8 days until the end of school; having a toddler that decides he wants to go to bed at 5:11 pm; having a husband that makes me really feel like I need to pull money out my arse to support his VERY ANNOYING car audio hobby.... The list could go on, I suppose. I'm really having some PMS symptoms.

Anyway, Andrew brings me this very official looking letter. It states that his lunch account is overdrawn by $2.40. It also stats that we need to send money otherwise his grade card will be held. There's some information about how the district has a no charge policy and there was a little chart showing how much money Andrew would need for the rest of the year. At the end of the letter the principal had cc'ed the cafeteria manager and Andrew's school file.

Now, I know what happens if a child's account is severely overdrawn. The lunch lady gives the kid some graham crackers and a milk until money comes in. I don't want my kid to starve, so I pay. In the past there have been times when it took the FOREVER to cash my check or Andrew took the cash and did stupid stuff with it. They now have a pay method that is online. I use it all the time. It does take up to 2 days for a credit to show up on a child's account.

Well, I paid on Wednesday morning at 6:30 am. Friday was the second day. I don't think the lunch lady checked her books before sending this letter home. I immediately wrote an email response to the principal and Andrew's teacher. I also requested that a copy of the email be attached to the letter they sent home and put in Andrew's student file as well. Here's my response to the letter:

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing regarding a letter that I received Friday evening, May 15th. The letter stated that Andrew's lunch account was overdrawn by $2.40 as of May 14th. On May 13th, I electronically deposited $20.00 in to Andrew account via the online pay method through the district website, giving him a balance of $20.60. The website stated that it would take up to two days for a credit to show on his account.

In trying to be proactive and let the school know that I had taken care of his lunch account, I sent a copy of my confirmation to school with Andrew on Wednesday. He says that he gave it to his teacher; I cannot confirm or deny that because I'm not there. I would have sent my confirmation in a lunch envelope, but I never received one stating that his account needed to be replenished. Had I gotten an envelope, I could be certain that the cafeteria manager would have gotten my confirmation of payment.

Here is the confirmation information:Payment Confirmation The Kansas City Kansas School District has received your payment request.Account Name: Mikesha D Bradner Amount Paid: $20.00Date: 5/13/2009Transaction Number: ********Payment Type: Credit Card. Please allow up to two school days for processing your payment.

There have been other times that I have tried to deliver a confirmation that I had paid on Andrew's account and was told that it did not matter if I sent the confirmation to school. Please do not withhold mailing my son's grade card because of a delayed turnaround time with the district's online payment method or because I didn't receive notification my son's lunch account was getting low.

I am requesting that a copy of this email be attached to your letter and put in Andrew's student file. Please provide a copy for the cafeteria manager, if necessary. Thank you and have a great day.

I used my position with the district to email this on Friday night. I got the principal's email from our groupwise account. I wasn't in the mood to wait until Monday to send anything. It just really pissed me off that I would get this letter. We are NOT the people in the school that take advantage and have our kids running to the principal to ask for lunch money to eat. We support many functions monetarily at the school, and up until this year Andrew has generally been a law abiding citizen of the school. Don't come to me with some form BS letter! I take care of my kids. I am VERY involved in Andrew's academic career. As as principal, you should know the families that are on point with everything. Just like teachers are expected to differentiate instruction for the children, principal's should differentiate for families that do what's expect and families that don't.

This letter totally had me blowing my top! DON'T MESS WITH ME!