Oh My F***ing God!

Here is an actual email (with edits only made for safety) I received from my child's school today. Talk about scary!

October 13, 2005

Dear ***** Families,

We have recently become aware of an adult male who has been observing **** High students from the property to the west of **** High School's boundary. This individual is listed on the sexual offender registry. The Police have informed us he has been on the church property to the west on more than one occasion. While the police have notified us he has broken no laws, we are working with the appropriate legal authorities to enact additional restrictions regarding his presence near our campus grounds. This individual, who drives a red blazer, now has a legal order restricting him from being on the school district's campus grounds at any time. We would like everyone to be aware of this information.

At *****, we will continue to keep our building and children secure by following our normal safety procedures that were shared in our Friday, October 7th ***** ******, and heightening our awareness. Classroom teachers have discussed "stranger danger" in homerooms today and will continue to discuss general safety rules. Children who are in the temporary classrooms outside will now be coming in and out of the building as a class.

To help our children become knowledgeable and aware, it is important to have discussions at home.
Some rules that may be great to review/reinforce are:
· Don't answer a stranger's personal questions or requests for help.
· Tell your teacher if a stranger is watching children in school or on the playground.
· Don't use public bathrooms alone. Be sure to leave as soon as you can.
· Don’t give information over the telephone to strangers.
· Don't answer the door unless you know who's there, and your parents have said it is OK.
· Never accept presents from a stranger.
· Do not obey a stranger who wants to take you somewhere, even if they say they are teachers, police officers, or clergymen.
· NEVER, NEVER GO FOR A RIDE OR A WALK WITH A STRANGER.
(Taken from Who Is a Stranger and What Should I Do? by Linda Walvoord Girard)
Some additional questions you may want to discuss with your child:
· Is it ever OK to help a stranger?
· When should I be polite to a stranger?
· Whom can I trust in our neighborhood?
· Who can I accept a ride from?
· When I'm away from home, who can I trust?
· When is it NOT OK to obey grownups?
· Does our family have any special rules about strangers?

Together, we will continue to provide a safe environment for our children to ensure success. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Thank you,

**** ******
Principal

Not only does the risk of panic with this run extremely high, but to be honest, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I'm sorry, but I'm all for chemical castration, actual castration, whatever it takes to keep perverts locked up or otherwise away from any child. Plus, I've read this book mentioned in the email, and it's an excellent resource for parents. The only problem is, not every perv is a stranger. I speak from first hand experience. This instance, it is a stranger menacing children, however, it isn't always. At any rate, I'm thoroughly pertrified and beyond pissed off at our justice system's apparent lack of public protection when it comes to these sickos. All I can say is, whoever this jerk is, one step towards one of my kids will result in a strong desire for the police to catch him before I do. Prison doesn't scare me. People like this? They scare me. They're all over and they look like the next door neighbor. And sometimes, they are.

To top it off, shortly after being told by my daughter that there was something I would be getting from school (the above email), my middle child fell from a hayloft in a barn about 10 feet to land directly on top of a wooden beam type thing. He hit his knees and his arm. One knee swelled up about six times its normal size within minutes. He couldn't walk on it or anything. That was a trip to the emergency room. After two hours of waiting and a couple x-rays, we're informed that he bruised the bone. Apparently, this is quite painful, but not dangerous. At least it wasn't broken. Of course, he's miserable, trying to keep it elevated, taking ibuprofen, and feeling bound up in an Ace wrap. Plus, he's pissed that he didn't get crutches since 1) the attention they draw; 2) he's proud he can use them and I can't; and 3) he swears it hurts too much to walk on still. Arggh! Get one kid partially straightened out adn this one tries to break himself! I'm just gonna buy stock in Prozac, Ace, and reserve my straight-jacket-padded-room-white-coated-attendant lifestyle now. Save myself the hassle. The next one to be a teenager is a girl!