Nebraska Family Forum

It is the Mission of the Nebraska Family Forum (NFF) to promote education policies in our state that preserve and protect parental authority and the integrity of the family. In so doing, we will preserve the cooperative and respectful relationship between school authorities and parents, preserve a family-centered community, and provide a well-rounded education for our kids.

Friday, October 7, 2011

The Slingwine Family

We have not been pulled before a social worker or been sent a letter from the county attorney, yet, but I know it will happen. My husband and I took our 2 girls out of school for 6 days to attend a family wedding (destination) out of the country. This was a wedding that had been planned for 18 months, we wrote letters (not emails) to the schools to inform them of the dates and reasons why my girls would not be in school. I was following district policy. As I expected, when we returned home we had 2 letters from the girls schools informing us that even though they had "excused" absences that we would be referred to the county attorney at the 10 day mark.

This has resulted in many discussions in our home between the girls, my husband and I, into the probability of home-schooling. You see I recently went back to school after being a stay-at-home mom for 23 years. I was accepted into a Physical Therapy program and will graduate in approximately 20 months. As someone who will be looking for a job in the healthcare field, having a criminal record because I chose to take my children to their sisters wedding will result in my never being able to get a job in my field in ANY state since it will surely follow me. Not only would a criminal record prevent me from being employed, it would also prevent me from being a coach to my girls in any city league including the Y. Another one of the things I do because of MY children.

Everything I have done in my life since having children ( I have 4, my oldest 2 are in college) has been about whats best for MY children. I was a stay -at-home mom because my husband and I decided that was what was best for OUR children. I volunteered in the schools because of MY children. We took our kids out of the country for a family wedding because it was the best thing for OUR children. They learned so much in seeing a different part of the world then they would have seen in a classroom or by reading a textbook. They had a lesson on Geography, History, political climate in another country, zoology and even a lesson on the power of lobbyists in America and what happens here can effect another countries economy.

Our kids have gone to Nebraska specifically Millard Public Schools for 14 years, but we are ready to homeschool because I can't afford to have a criminal record because I was only doing what was right for MY children.

Anne Slingwine
Millard Public Schools
Omaha, NE

I have tried to appeal to the Governors "common sense" that he talks so highly of, but I think I must have read the wrong definition. This law IS going after ALL parents, no matter the reason for the absence and I have trouble finding the common sense in that.

1 comment:

Scott Klinger's BlogOctober 07, 2011

I received a similar letter last year. Apparently the school system didn't think the death of my wife was important enough for my daughter to miss so much school.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

The Personal Impact of Nebraska's School Attendance Law

We began collecting stories in April of 2011 and will continue to collect them as long as the law is abused. The stories we have collected demonstrate how our community has been impacted by Nebraska's school attendance law that counts all absences rather than "unexcused" absences for purposed of "truancy".

It may seem by the district by district breakdown that the law has impacted Millard Public Schools the most, but it is important to note that the Nebraska Family Forum grew out of the Millard Parent Society and therefore the awareness within Millard Public Schools is longstanding.

Out of the 3000+ cases referred to the Douglas County Attorney last year only 400 came from MPS. For every story collected here it is reasonable to assume that they represent dozens more who are affected who have not written their thoughts in a public way.

Nebraska Family Forum: What we Stand For

Mission:

NFF Guiding Principles:

Family is Key: We believe the family is the single most important element to a child’s ability to learn and be successful in school and life, and parents are the foundation upon which family success rests. For this reason, it’s imperative that the state honor the authority of parents as they exercise their natural rights, obligations, and responsibilities to raise, manage, direct, and educate their children.

Freedom in Education is essential: We believe that flexibility in education, school choice, stimulating curriculum, quality teachers, and innovative education reforms are essential to a family centered education. We support policies that will lead to greater parental influence in education innovation, curriculum, and choice.

Family struggles are a healthy part of life: We believe that the fundamental right of a parent does not cease to exist simply because a parent may fail to be a model parent. Parents often struggle to meet the needs of their children, but this is not in itself sufficient cause for unwanted and unwarranted government intrusion into family life. We join with Father Steven Boes of Boys Town in "proclaiming that not only are there no bad boys, as Father Flanagan taught, but there are no bad families.” There is always at least one person in a family that wants what is best for their children and is willing to ask for and receive the help they need.

Government Intrusion can be Harmful: We believe that the right of parents to raise their children without undue government interference is a fundamental liberty that has long been protected by the Constitution of the United States and is not void upon the enrollment of ones child in a public school. We warn that governments who seek to micro-manage the everyday choices of parents in pursuit prescribed outcomes, will do great harm to the integrity of the family and by extension, the well-being of children and society as a whole.

The Simple Truths

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves. ~ Ernest Dimnet

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~ Oscar Wilde

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. ~ William Butler Yeats

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~ B. F. Skinner

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~ G. M. Trevelyan

Every educated person is a future enemy. ~ Martin Bormann

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly. ~ Michel de Montaigne

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. ~ Mark Twain

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. ~ John W. Gardner

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding. ~ Ezra Pound

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~ Robert M. Hutchins

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. ~ Albert Einstein

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~ A. A. Milne

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ~ Albert Einstein

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. ~ Abraham Lincoln

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. ~aya Angelou

Dad kept us out of school, but school comes and goes. Family is forever.

I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids. ~ Dolly Parton

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Nebraska Family Forum

Pages

Search This Blog

Friday, October 7, 2011

The Slingwine Family

1 comment:

Elkhorn Public Schools

Gretna Public Schools

Lincoln Public Schools

Community Voices

Open Letters

Omaha Public Schools

Millard School District

Outstate Nebraska

The Facebook Effect